MCU14/0106 & OPW15/0001 Appendix F - Ecological and Bushfire Management Response

Noosa Civic Expansion
Bushfire Assessment Report



 SPP 1/03 Vegetation                          Occurrence in Site Locality                Fire Behaviour                       Hazard
 Community                                                                                                                    Score
 Native grasslands (ungrazed),                Not present.                               Fast moving fires, available to         5
 open woodlands, canefields.                                                             fire annually to 4 years.
                                                                                         Usually no ember attack,
                                                                                         radiant heat for >10m,
                                                                                         duration <2 minutes.
 Intact acacia forests, with light            Not present.                               Fires infrequent, usually burn           4
 grass to leaf litter, disturbed                                                         only under severe conditions,
 rainforest.                                                                             relatively slow fires, usually
                                                                                         little ember attack.
 Orchards,       farmlands,          kikuyu   Not present.                               Fires very infrequent, slow              2
 pastures.                                                                               moving, may be difficult to
                                                                                         extinguish,  frequent    fire
                                                                                         breaks.
 Desert lands (sparse fuels),                 Present.     This vegetation type is       Gaps in fuel - usually slow fire        1
 mowed grass.                                 represented by some relatively small       spread.
                                              cleared and actively maintained areas
                                              of land to the north, east and west of
                                              the Noosa Civic expansion site.
 Intact     rainforest,    mangrove           Potential. Over time this vegetation       Virtually fireproof.                    0
 forest, intact riverine rainforest.          type is likely to develop within OS7
                                              Open Space Precinct if fire is actively
                                              excluded from this area. The
                                              vegetation in this area already contains
                                              rainforest    elements      within   the
                                              understory. This fact combined with
                                              the presence of an ephemeral
                                              waterway within OS7 and its future
                                              sheltered position between the existing
                                              Noosa Civic and proposed expansion,
                                              will overtime promote the transition to
                                              rainforest vegetation.

Note: SPP 1/03 Guidelines defines “hazardous vegetation” to be “vegetation communities with a hazard score of 4 or more in Table A3.1
of Appendix 3.”

3.1.2            Slope Hazard Assessment
The topography of the Noosa Civic locality is characterised by coastal plains, waterways and wetlands with
some gentle undulations primarily associated with watercourses and remnant Tertiary surfaces +/- Cainozoic
and Mesozoic sediments.
From a bushfire assessment perspective the relevant slopes to consider are those associated with areas of
potentially hazardous vegetation that would be retained within or adjacent to the proposed Noosa Civic
expansion. To determine the relative prevalence of land that would fall into the various slope categories utilised
in the SPP 1/03 Guideline, predominant land grades over a distance of at least 100m were considered rather
than isolated or highly localised variations in slope.
Table 3-5 summarises the slope types present within the Noosa Civic locality and their equivalent hazard
scores as outlined in the SPP 1/03 Guideline.

Table 3-5        Vegetated slope types and their equivalent SPP 1/03 Guideline hazard scores
 SPP 1/03 Slope Category                      Occurrence in Site Locality                                                  Hazard
                                                                                                                           Score
 Gorges and mountains (>30%)                  Not present.                                                                   5
 Steep Hills (>20% to 30%)                    Not present.                                                                   4
 Rolling Hills (>10% to 20%)                  Not present.                                                                   3
 Undulating (>5% to 10% slope)                Not present.                                                                   2



QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                         Version 2                                                   23 April 2015
J13041_Bushfire Assessment V2.docx                        Commercial in Confidence                                               Page 7