Appendix C - Ecological Assessment

                                                                                                 Hollett Road Ecological Assessment
                                                                               Minor Change Application - 191 Hollett Road, Noosaville




2           Site investigations

2.1         Background
It is noted that the ecological assessment for the original application 1 was undertaken over a decade ago.
Over the intervening period, regrowth vegetation has expanded on site and the conservation status of some
species and ecological communities may have changed. As such, an assessment of the adequacy of
existing original assessments was undertaken. Changes in vegetation cover could potentially result in
establishment of habitat for threatened plants and koalas. To this end, these also require consideration.

2.2         Method for assessing adequacy of existing studies
2.2.1       Vegetation
With reference to changes in vegetation cover, the current Department of Natural Resources, Mines and
Energy’s, Regulated Vegetation (Category B area - remnant vegetation) and associated Regional Ecosystem
map (version 10) corresponds with the extent of mapped Regional Ecosystem (version 4) in effect in 2003
(refer to Extract 3). This area is consistent with the extent of remnant vegetation shown in PMAV
2018/002202. All areas of remnant regulated vegetation are retained in the approved development
configuration.
Following the review of the Ecological Assessment Report (prepared by Cardno Pty Ltd (dated 5 September
2006)), it was determined that further assessment was required to quantify the increase in regrowth
vegetation from 2003 to the present. Historical aerial photography from 2003 of the subject land was
assessed to determine the extent of regrowth (excluding mapped remnant vegetation) as shown in Figure 1
of Appendix C. The 2003 historical aerial was sourced from Q imagery (Maroochy Shire Orthophoto Project
9445, Scale 1:12500, Run 1 076-087). It was determined that in 2003, there was approximately 19.57 ha of
regrowth within the subject site.
At the time of the ecological assessments (2006 and 2008) there were also areas of regrowth over which the
development was approved. That is, there were areas of regrowth that were approved for clearing.

2.2.2       Threatened Plants
A review of the threatened species recorded as potentially occurring on site as part of the original ecological
surveys was conducted. None of these species were recorded during the original ecological surveys. We
reviewed the species previously recorded at the site in the original ecological surveys and found that none of
these had changed status from Least concerned to Near Threatened or threatened.
A desktop assessment was undertaken to review contemporary databases (i.e. EPBC Act Protected Matters
Report (PMST) (Appendix D) and the State’s Wildlife Online (WO) Extract (Appendix E) both extracted on
21/2/19 for a 5km radius surrounding a point located approximately central within the site i.e. -26.4276,
153.0426).

2.2.3       Koala use
To gain an understanding as to whether koalas utilise the regrowth vegetation, coordinated assessment
activity was undertaken using the Koala Rapid Assessment Method (KRAM) (Woosnam-Merchez et al.,
2012)2. The KRAM is a flexible method and relies on practitioners to develop their own methodology that is
based on set parameters. The parameters utilised for this survey included:
         Locating a 100 meter (m) transect in the community along which three 10x10 m plots were
          established at randomised intervals on alternating sides as illustrated in Plate 1 below.




1
  Prepared by Cardno Pty Ltd (dated 5 September 2006) on behalf of J Hofmann & the Information Request Response prepared by
Cardno Pty Ltd (dated 18 February 2008) on behalf of Noosa Land Pty Ltd
2 Olivia Woosnam-Merchez, Romane Cristescu, David Dique, Bill Ellis, Robert Beeton, Jeremy Simmonds, and Frank Carrick (2012)
What faecal pellet surveys can and can't reveal about the ecology of koalas Phascolarctos cinereus. Australian Zoologist: 2012, Vol. 36,
No. 2, pp. 192-200.



WE19010 | 27 November 2019                                                                                                           14