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

                                                                         Information Request Response Report - Ecology
                                                                                                Noosa Civic Expansion



     impacts on marine or terrestrial environments, including koala related offsets, by providing a payment in
     accordance with this policy". QIC Noosa Civic Pty Ltd is proposing to meet its offset obligations in
     accordance with section 2.3.2 of the policy which calculates offset liabilities on an area basis rather than
     tree count. Any additional count will not vary the financial offset obligation.

2.3             Frog Survey
2.3.1           Request Item 58
58. Conduct a targeted frog survey in suitable season and during or immediately following a rainfall event.
a.      Given the wallum sedge frog is known in the immediate area and predicted as having potential to
        occur targeted assessment of this species is required. Additional information on the presence and
        habitat of significant frog species is required. The ‘Survey Guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Frogs’
        (Commonwealth of Australia 2010) recommends that surveys are scheduled to correspond to
        breeding seasons and respond to weather conditions conducive to target species’ breeding activities.
        Given the known/predicted presence of State and Federally listed species it is important that
        methodologies as stated in these guidelines are undertaken. Guidance on suitable methodology can
        be found at http://www.qld.gov.au/environment/assets/documents/plants-animals/biodiversity/wallum-
        sedgefrog.pdf

2.3.2           Response to Item 58
It is acknowledged that the survey was conducted outside of the optimal breeding season (owing to the timing
of commissioning of works). As such, an additional frog survey during optimal breeding season was completed
between 25 February 2015 and 27 February 2015 in a week following heavy rainfall. This complies with the
Commonwealth guidelines that recommend surveys within 1 week of heavy rain between October and
February. This survey revealed additional locations of Crinia tinnula, but failed to located Litoria olongburensis.
Despite this, areas located within the far south of Lot 3 support vegetation that represents potential habitat for
this species. No Crinia tinnula were recorded within the proposed development footprint. Additional detail,
including the results of this survey are provided within the Supplementary Ecological Assessment Report
(28/04/15).

2.4             Listed Flora
2.4.1           Response Item 59
59. Update the ecological reporting to include:
a.      all known or predicted flora species of conservation significance;
b.      update Figure 7 to show the location of all known species of conservation significance; and
c.      provide details of which areas have been subjected to detailed/targeted searches for significant flora.

2.4.2           Response to Item 59
Council’s information request relates to Lobelia membranacea, Eucalyptus conglomerata, Pararistolochia
praevenosa and Glycine argyrea. This issue is addressed within the Supplementary Ecological
Assessment Report (28/04/15). No additional flora species of conservation significance are known or
predicted to occur within the Study Area.
It is acknowledged that Lobelia membranacea was recorded in the flora list of the ecological assessment;
however, the location of the species was not recorded during field surveys conducted between March and April
2013 because this species was not identified as a Near Threatened species under the Nature Conservation
(Wildlife) Regulation 2006 until 2014 (i.e. amendment 1 2014 (9 May 2014)). Additional surveys were
undertaken on 31st March 2015 to confirm our identification and to record the location of all specimens.
Details of this survey are provided in the Supplementary Ecological Assessment Report (28/04/15).
The species in question was determined to be Lobelia quadrangularis and is not listed under the Nature
Conservation (Wildlife) Regulation 2006. At the time of the initial survey (i.e. March-April 2013), the Census
of Queensland Flora listed L. membranacea as present within the Moreton District and records of L.



28 April 2015                                         Cardno                                                        4