2 David Low Way - Attachment 2 - Ecological and Bushfire Assessment Report 9-8-17

                                                                                         Ecological and Bushfire Assessment Report
                                                                                             Lot 71 on MCH 2854, Castaways Beach



4, indicates that the vegetation on the Site does not in fact satisfy the requirements for classification as either
an Environmental Protection Area or as an Environmental Enhancement Area.

Table 5-3       Environmental Protection Area criteria
 Criteria                                               Site Specific Assessment of Compliance

 Vegetation that falls within the Environmental Protection category comprises regional ecosystems that
 possess at least one of the following environmental values or criteria—

 1)   The regional conservation status under            Not Applicable
      the Queensland Vegetation Management
                                                        Neither RE12.2.5 nor RE12.2.14 have an Endangered status pursuant
      Act 1999 is “Endangered”;
                                                        to the VM Act 1999.

 2)   It forms habitat for threatened or                Not Applicable
      protected fauna (sic flora) species, as
                                                        No threatened flora or fauna species have been identified on the site
      identified in Vegetation of Noosa Shire;
                                                        and the site generally does not contain habitat typically associated with
                                                        threatened flora species recorded in the site locality.
                                                        Whilst the site may provide some general habitat resources for a small
                                                        number of highly mobile threatened fauna (i.e. bird and bat species) it
                                                        is not classified as an area of essential habitat for any threatened fauna
                                                        species and does not contain critical habitat resources (i.e. roosting,
                                                        nesting sites, obligatory food trees) for any threatened fauna known to
                                                        occur in the site locality.

 3)   It is ‘rare’ or naturally restricted regionally   Not Applicable
      or locally, as identified in Vegetation of
                                                        Vegetation of Noosa Shire (ed 2, 2003), Table 17.1 lists:
      Noosa Shire; or
                                                           RE12.2.5 as not being “rare or naturally restricted”; and
                                                           RE12.2.14 as being “rare or naturally restricted”.
                                                        However the basis for the listing of RE12.2.14 is not clear as RE12.2.14
                                                        is widely distributed along the Noosa Shire coastline and has a remnant
                                                        extent of 606 ha and pre-clearance extent of 652 ha of which 73% is
                                                        located in public conservation reserves.
                                                        In this respect the distribution, remnant and preclearance extents of
                                                        RE12.2.14 is greater or equivalent to several other Land Zone 2 REs
                                                        that are not listed as being “rare or naturally restricted” including:
                                                           RE12.2.8 (Remnant 660ha; pre-clearance 668 ha – 99% reserved);
                                                           RE12.2.11 (Remnant 367ha; pre-clearance 381 ha – 96%
                                                            reserved); and
                                                           Re12.2.15 (Remnant 217ha; pre-clearance 301 ha – 58%
                                                            reserved).
                                                        In comparison the distribution, remnant, preclearance and reserved
                                                        extents of RE12.2.14 are also substantially greater than all of the other
                                                        Land Zone 2 REs that are listed as being “rare or naturally restricted”
                                                        including:
                                                           RE12.2.1 (Remnant 26 ha; pre-clearance 29 ha – 68% reserved);
                                                           RE12.2.3 (Remnant 17ha; pre-clearance 45 ha – 38% reserved);
                                                            and
                                                           RE12.2.13 (Remnant 53ha; pre-clearance 95ha – 24% reserved).

 4)   The extent reserved within protected              Not Applicable
      areas in Noosa is ‘low’, as identified in
                                                        The cited report Vegetation of Noosa Shire (ed 2, 2003), Table 17.1
      Vegetation of Noosa Shire.
                                                        lists both RE12.2.5 and RE12.2.14 as having a High extent reserved
                                                        within the Noosa Shire.




8 August 2017                                                   Cardno                                                          14