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

Noosa Civic Expansion
Bushfire Assessment Report




The following sections provide a brief verification analysis of the High to Very High Potential Intensity Bushfire
classifications that have been derived for the Spring Mountain site and adjacent lands.

3.2.1            Potential Fuel Loads
Potential Fuel Loads are assigned to vegetation categories (Vegetation Hazard Classes) formed by
amalgamating land use and vegetation types with a moderately consistent fuel load and structure. The
Potential Fuel Load assigned to each Vegetation Hazard Class is generally representative of the higher fuel
load expected for the typical vegetation types, landscape and site conditions within each Vegetation Hazard
Class and approximates the 80th percentile fuel load of the “long unburnt condition” for the class (generally
greater than 10 years without burning)2.
The Vegetation Hazard Classes (VHCs) and their associated Potential Fuel Loads that the State based
bushfire hazard mapping is based on are presented in Table 3-9 along with an indication of the presence and
location of each VHC in the Noosa Civic expansion site locality as per the corresponding table for the SPP
1/03 hazard assessment (refer Table 3-4).

Table 3-9        Vegetation Hazard Classes (VHCs) and associated Potential Fuel Loads
    VHC       VHC description                  Potential Fuel Load         Site Specific Assessment of Presence3
                                              (tonnes per hectare)
     1        Melaleuca communities                      33                Present – Melaleuca quinquenervia dominated regrowth
                                                                           communities are associated with low-lying areas
                                                                           adjacent to Eenie Creek and to the south of the Noosa
                                                                           Civic expansion site.
     2        Open      forests         /                30                Present - Turpentine (Syncarpia glomulifera) dominated
              woodlands - shrubby                                          regrowth open forest with a shrubby understory is the
                                                                           dominant vegetation type within and immediately
                                                                           adjacent to the Noosa Civic expansion area.
     3        Tall open forests                          28                Absent
     4        Heath communities                          27                Absent
     5        Exotic and hardwood                        26                Absent
              plantations
     6        Cypress and Casuarina                      20                Absent
              communities
     7        Open      forests         /                19                Absent
              woodlands – grassy


2
  While there is likely to be considerable variation between potential and actual fuel loads (which will change in many cases from season
to season, year to year and site to site), the assumption of a Potential Fuel Load is appropriate for informing land use planning decisions
to mitigate bushfire risk because it is rarely possible to assume the ongoing management of reduced fuel loads in hazardous bushland
adjacent to areas proposed for human settlement. Where land use planners have high confidence in the ability and commitment of adjacent
landholders to manage fuel loads at reduced levels, it would be possible to adjust the calculation of Potential Fuel Loads and the Potential
Fire-line Intensity of adjacent hazardous bushland accordingly.

3
  Based on consideration of the vegetation community classifications given in the Noosa Civic Ecological Assessment Report (Cardno,
2014) and RE types listed in each VHC in Appendix A of Leonard et al, 2014. In accordance with Leonard et al (2014), small patches of
a single Vegetation Hazard Class less than 1 ha are assigned the same VHC as that which dominates the surrounding landscape (i.e.
the area is assigned the same VHC as the surrounding urban landform); and corridors of potentially hazardous vegetation less than
100m wide, that are isolated from other patches of high fuel load VHCs by more than 100m, are assigned the same VHC as that which
dominates the surrounding landscape.

QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd                                       Version 2                                                       23 April 2015
J13041_Bushfire Assessment V2.docx                      Commercial in Confidence                                                  Page 12