Response to Info Request - Attachment 6b - Ecological Assessment Part 2 MCU18-0015 & RAL18-0001 · MCU18/0015

                                 Ecological Assessment – Attunga Heights



 Performance outcomes   Acceptable outcomes                           Response   Comment
                                                                                 south. While continuous vegetation greater than
                                                                                 10 ha occurs in the locality, connection to this
                                                                                 vegetation from the site is limited to thin
                                                                                 vegetated corridors less than 100 m wide that
                                                                                 contain roads and other impediments.

                                                                                 In addition to being separated from continuous
                                                                                 vegetation regionally, the site also shows a
                                                                                 considerable degree of fragmentation evident.
                                                                                 Areas of exposed sand dominated by Ground
                                                                                 asparagus* (Asparagus aethiopicus) regularly
                                                                                 intersected areas of Callitris forest where a more
                                                                                 protective understorey and layer of leaf litter is
                                                                                 present. The long and narrow shape of the site has
                                                                                 meant that it has been prone to a range of
                                                                                 detrimental edge effects. This has resulted in a
                                                                                 high level of degradation including the presence
                                                                                 of a high proportion of weeds in both vegetation
                                                                                 communities recorded on the site. These edge
                                                                                 effects are likely to have considerably reduced the
                                                                                 corridor value of the site.

                                                                                 As strict compliance with above will not be
                                                                                 achieved on site, due to the proposed clearing
                                                                                 occurring within vegetation less than 100 m wide,
                                                                                 an Alternate Solution (AS) is proposed to achieve
                                                                                 the Performance Outcome 16 (PO16) as discussed
                                                                                 below. It is noted that the following proposal was
                                                                                 devised on site in consultation with Andrew Collins
                                                                                 (Senior Vegetation Management Officer, DNRM) in
                                                                                 January 2016.




Job No: Q12038/RW3                             JWA Pty Ltd                                                           89