GERROA SAND MINE EXTENSION – SEVEN MILE BEACH GREATER GLIDER POPULATION
Given that this application is being treated as a modification of the earlier 2008 application, and the Seven Mile Beach Greater Glider population was declared an Endangered Population after this 2008 approval, impacts on this endangered population were not considered in the original determination.
The 2008 approval enabled the removal of Blackbutt dune forest and Bangalay sand forest, which was primary Greater Glider habitat for foraging and nesting and it didn’t have regard for the dispersal patterns and habitat requirements of the Greater Glider. Under the circumstances of this modification to the original application and the changed legislation, we believe it is appropriate to reconsider these impacts to ensure the glider population at Seven Mile Beach remains viable.
The impact assessment of the Greater Glider population in the Fauna and Flora study by Mills is cursory, occupying one paragraph and doesn’t consider impacts of fragmentation of habitat or dispersal patterns. It doesn’t assess whether the action proposed is likely to have an adverse effect on the life cycle of the species that constitutes the endangered population such that a viable local population of the species is likely to be placed at risk of extinction.
In order to make such assessment consideration must be given to minimising fragmentation of habitat and maintaining viable habitat corridors.
The Greater Glider is in decline across its range in SE NSW. In the SMB Greater Glider Population Nomination to the Scientific Committee, Daly sites loss of habitat due to sand mining as one of the threats to this population at SMB. He questions whether the area of habitat is capable of continuing to support a viable population in perpetuity. This suggests that very careful management of habitats, increasing connectivity between habitat fragments and forest regeneration projects with appropriate species needs to be proactively pursued to ensure the survival of this endangered population.
The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act conservation advice for this species advises:habitat loss and fragmentation as a threatening process with catastrophic consequences. It sites studies that indicate the species have relatively low persistence in small forest fragments (Click for link to the Report of the Threatened Species Scientific Committee)
The NSW Scientific Committee determination for the Seven Mile Beach Endangered Population sites habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation as threats to this population. It also states the species has relatively poor dispersal ability and is particularly vulnerable to habitat alteration.
While we agree with Mills’ assessment that, the site has scattered trees the removal of which would have little impact on this species, we contend that the Blue Angle Creek corridor, including the compensatory planting, may not be adequate to ensure this species can disperse along the corridor and access the fragmented vegetation to the west which contains an area of prime glider habitat, (blackbutt forest).
Mills sites a Koala “In tree on western side of road between Gerroa and Gerringong, 1⁄2 km north of Beach Road intersection” being entered into the NSW Wildlife Atlas for the Gerroa area December 15, 2005.(Click for Flora and Fauna Assessment for extension of Cleary Bros sand Quarry Gerroa, Municipality of Kiama 2006)
Studies by Norm Robinson for Wollongong University in the early 1980s indicates that koalas were present at Seven Mile Beach at that time. Our Society members have never seen a koala in this area but there may still be a remnant population. It is interesting to note the position of this sighting on the eastern side of the dredge pond because the swamp mahogany, which is the preferred habitat for the koala, is in the fragment on the western side of the dredge pond.
If this species is still present in the area it would need to move between the eastern and western sides of the dredge pond, and the Blue Angle Creek Corridor would be the most likely route.
Many ground dwelling species will also use this Blue Angle Creek corridor, these include the endangered spotted tailed quoll (which spends time on the ground), antechinus, bush rat, echidna, bandicoot and swamp wallaby as well as many reptile and amphibian species. Some of these species prefer open ground rather than forested areas. Opportunities for these species to travel between habitats will be reduced by the new dredge pond.
Once the dredge pond is excavated there won’t be further opportunity to expand the Blue Angle Creek Corridor and it will limit opportunities to develop the broader indicative SRCMA/Berry corridors. (appendix 4 – click to see)
The Mills 2018 Flora and Fauna Report doesn’t indicate where compensatory planting will occur and provides no current landscape plan. It fails to adequately consider the adverse effect of the new dredge pond of the viability local Greater Glider population. This Report is really an adjunct to his 2006 Assessment for the application this modification is based on.
The environmental impacts of severing the east/west link to extend the dredge pond, which resulted in the fragmentation of the western vegetation unit, was a significant issue identified the 2008 LEC decision. The court response was to require a compensatory 50-meter buffer on the western side of Blue Angle Creek. However, this decision was not required to consider impacts of this fragmentation on the SMB Greater Glider population, but it must have had a considerable impact on this population.
One would assume if an original application can be significantly modified after the LEC has made its determination then conditions of consent could also be modified to reconsider the impacts of the combined applications on the new endangered status of the Greater Glider population.
Alternatively, it could be argued that the new dredge pond will make expansion of the corridor between the two dredge ponds impossible in the future and this should be a reason to extend the buffer to ensure the western vegetation fragment can be adequately accesses by this species into the future. Consideration should also be given to the opportunity to give expression to the SRCMA/Berry biodiversity corridors which coincides with the southern part of the modification proposal.