Arrow Energy has provided cleaner
energy to Queensland through coal
seam gas (CSG) production in the Surat
and Bowen Basins since 2004.
Arrow proposes to expand its CSG
operations in the Surat Basin through
the Surat Gas Project. The need for the
project arises from the growing demand
for gas in the domestic and global
markets and the associated expansion
of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export
markets.
This fact sheet summarises key findings
of the Terrestrial Ecology Impact
Assessment undertaken as part of the
Surat Gas Project Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS).
EIS Terrestrial Ecology
Impact Assessment
Surat Gas Project
April 2012
Introduction
The Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) and
Environmental Protection Regulation 2008 provide the
framework for protection of terrestrial ecology values.
The Nature Conservation Act 1992 (Qld) protects listed
flora and fauna, and the Vegetation Management Act
1999 (Qld) protects remnant native vegetation including
high value regrowth. Matters of national environmental
significance including listed threatened terrestrial species
and communities, and listed migratory species are protected
under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) (EPBC Act).
Historic vegetation clearing in the Southern Brigalow Belt
bioregion has reduced the extent of many of the preEuropean settlement vegetation communities e.g. natural
grasslands and brigalow communities. Remnant vegetation
communities exist as isolated patches of intact, disturbed
and regrowth vegetation of varying size, shape and
distribution. Many of the remnant communities are located
along and in road reserves, or in non-agricultural and nonindustrial areas e.g. Chinchilla Sporting Shooters Range.
3D Environmental in association with Ecosmart Ecology
carried out a Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment of the
Arrow Energy Surat Gas Project development area which is
within the Southern Brigalow Belt bioregion.
As the locations and design of production facilities and
production wells are yet to be finalised, field survey
sites for the Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment were
selected based on habitat sensitivity, likelihood of exposure
to threatening processes including project impacts, and
representativeness of the range of environmental values
that exist across the project development area. Periods
when the likelihood of detecting most fauna species was
relatively high were targeted for field surveys.
identified in the project development area, as well
as areas known or potentially possessing significant
or sensitive plant and animal species. Quaternary
sites were used to verify vegetation community
(regional ecosystem) mapping. Secondary sites
assisted classification of the regional ecosystems, as
well as providing information on species composition
and structural components. This information was
augmented with woody species counts to determine
abundance at tertiary sites.
•
Impact assessment to identify the magnitude of
potential impacts on the identified terrestrial ecology
values from project activities.
Reference sites established in undisturbed or lightly
disturbed vegetation communities of the project
development area formed the basis on which an assessment
of the remnant or non-remnant status of specific vegetation
communities could be made. These sites also provided a
benchmark for the assessment of the vegetation community
condition and biodiversity values.
What are the issues and
potential impacts?
Potential impacts on the terrestrial ecology environment
resulting from project activities include:
•
Habitat fragmentation and isolation of populations
where vegetation clearance has the potential to impact
on intact linear strips of remnant vegetation that
What did the Terrestrial Ecology
Impact Assessment involve?
The Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment identified
sensitive flora, fauna and vegetation communities as listed
under Commonwealth and State legislation (in addition
to regionally significant species that are not necessarily
listed under legislation) and possible impacts that would be
experienced.
Key assessment measures included:
•
Desktop studies to identify the terrestrial ecology
environment through review of existing databases and
site-specific information for the study area (as defined
by project development area).
•
Field surveys to verify the results of the desktop studies
including vegetation type and quality, presence of
terrestrial plants and animals and habitat suitability.
Surveys occurred at 399 sites, as shown in Figure 1.
Survey sites were representative of all ecosystems
Figure 1 Terrestrial flora and fauna survey site locations
EIS Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment
•
facilitate terrestrial fauna species movement between
larger patches of remnant vegetation.
Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment
key findings
•
Habitat loss or degradation and fauna mortality where
vegetation clearance occurs and potentially results in
fauna mortality through direct impact or displacement.
•
Edge effects where project activities encroach on
the perimeter of a vegetation community facilitating
disturbance and increased exposure to threatening
processes from adjacent habitats and land uses.
•
Alteration of ecological processes including by fire
(frequency and extent) and by reduced or unseasonal
surface water flows.
Intact remnant patches of native vegetation were found
to be sensitive due to historic land clearing, as they are
microcosms of the once expansive vegetation communities
of the Southern Brigalow Belt bioregion. They were
found to be important refuges for endemic species which
were well represented in the intact remnants. Degraded
or disturbed vegetation was found to have less species
diversity. However, small isolated patches of sensitive
vegetation containing threatened or endangered species
(e.g. native grasslands) were found to persist on the less
arable areas of the project development area.
These potential impacts may be experienced during the
construction, operations and decommissioning phases of
the project. The project activities most likely to adversely
impact on terrestrial ecology environmental values are the
construction of production wells and associated gas and
water gathering systems, and high-pressure gas pipelines.
Arrow’s environmental
protection objectives
The environmental protection objectives for terrestrial
ecology are:
•
To minimise habitat loss and fauna mortality.
•
To avoid or minimise adverse effects on and to protect
terrestrial ecosystems and associated biodiversity and
habitat of state and national conservation significance.
•
To avoid or minimise adverse impacts on and to
protect environmentally sensitive areas.
•
To prevent project activities from introducing or
spreading new or existing exotic terrestrial flora or fauna.
‘Critically endangered’ vegetation communities included
native grasslands on basalt and fine-textured alluvial plains
(found in road reserves and stock routes) and white boxyellow box-Blakely’s red gum grassy woodland and derived
native grassland, which exists in and around Captains
Mountain, south of Millmerran. ‘Endangered’ vegetation
communities comprised brigalow woodland, semi-evergreen
vine thickets, weeping myall woodland and coolibah-black
box woodland. Brigalow is widely distributed throughout
the project development area, whereas semi-evergreen vine
thickets exist only as degraded isolated remnants. Weeping
myall woodlands were not identified during field surveys,
however scattered weeping myall trees were observed
within the more widely distributed poplar box woodlands.
Coolibah-black box woodlands extend along the major
rivers and creeks of the project development area.
Managing terrestrial ecology
Arrow recognises that terrestrial ecology of the project
development area is an important example of the once
expansive vegetation communities of the Southern Brigalow
Belt bioregion and that patches of remnant vegetation
are refuges for flora and fauna species of conservation
significance.
Plate 1 Grassland earless dragon
The primary mechanism for minimising impacts to
ecologically sensitive areas is avoidance. Category A
environmentally sensitive areas and ‘critically endangered’
EPBC Act-listed communities will be avoided. Information
compiled in preparation of the EIS has been used to
prepare constraints maps that will inform gas field
planners and designers on the areas to be avoided, and
the environmental controls (including buffers) required
to manage project activities in and adjacent to sensitive
vegetation communities.
Plate 2 Spotted-tail quoll
(Source: Mark Sanders EcoSmart Ecology)
EIS Terrestrial Ecology Impact Assessment
Figure 2 Terrestrial flora and fauna survey site locations
regent honeyeater were observed in suitable habitat in the
project development area.
Areas of high conservation value are shown in Figure 2
and include the following parks which are listed by the
Queensland Government as Category A environmentally
sensitive areas: Wondul Range National Park, Bendidee
National Park and Lake Broadwater Conservation Park.
The Chinchilla Sporting Shooters Range and three road
reserves (Dalby–Kogan Road, Dalby–Cecil Plains Road and
Dalby–St George Road) were also determined to be of high
conservation value due to the areas being representative of
remnant brigalow and grassland communities, respectively.
An assessment of adverse impacts on terrestrial ecology
values determined that the significance of the impacts was
moderate to low in areas of higher conversation value,
with less significant impacts expected in areas with reduced
conservation value.
Further work
Once the preferred location for project facilities and/
or infrastructure is known an ecological preconstruction
clearance survey will be undertaken to demarcate areas
to be avoided and any buffers around sensitive vegetation
communities or threatened flora species. The surveys will
also document the existing attributes of the site (species
lists and structural diversity) to inform the rehabilitation
method and to determine any necessary site-specific
management measures.
Numerous state and national-listed flora and fauna species
were also identified in association with the vegetation
communities. Habitat for the nationally listed ‘endangered’
bull oak jewel butterfly extends beyond the Bendidee
National Park into the adjoining Bendidee State Forest. A
recovery plan has been developed by the Queensland Parks
and Wildlife Service (Lundie-Jenkins & Payne, 2000) for this
species.
‘Endangered’ reptiles found in the project development
area include the five-clawed worm-skink and the grassland
earless dragon (Plate 1) whose preferred habitat is native
and derived grasslands and the grey snake, which occupies
dry eucalypt forest. One ‘endangered’ mammal, the
spotted-tail quoll (Plate 2), may occur in forested habitats
however, it is considered highly unlikely to occur in the
project development area given that there have been very
few sitings (with only two sitings recorded since 1980) and
suitable habitat within the project development area is
limited. Numerous bird species including the ‘endangered’
Find out more online @
www.arrowenergy.com.au
BRISBANE DALBY MORANBAH GLADSTONE
AE_058_02_12_V2
Further reading
Surat Gas Project EIS:
•
Volume 1, Chapter 17, Terrestrial Ecology.
•
Volume 6, Appendix K, Terrestrial Ecology Impact
Assessment.
For more information
For persons or groups with special communication needs or
persons requiring further information about the Terrestrial
Ecology Impact Assessment, please either contact Arrow
directly or view the Surat Gas Project EIS in any of its
various media forms (i.e. online book format, downloadable
PDFs, DVD or hard copy) via the following:
Telephone: freecall 1800 038 856
Email: suratgas@arrowenergy.com.au
Visit (for both the online book format and downloadable
PDFs): www.arrowenergy.com.au