3.5.2 Ecological assets


3.5.2.1 Description

Of the 1652 water-dependent ecological assets in the Hunter subregion (Bioregional Assessment Programme, Dataset 1), a total of 731 are in the zone of potential hydrological change (Table 26), including 72 assets in the ‘Surface water feature’ subgroup, 12 assets in the ‘Groundwater feature (subsurface)’ subgroup, and 647 assets in the ‘Vegetation’ subgroup. Note that often assets from different data sources may represent essentially the same biophysical entity; for example, Lake Macquarie appears in 11 different data sources, reflecting a range of different values for this asset.

Table 26 Ecological assets in the assessment extent and zone of potential hydrological change


Group

Subgroup

Asset class

Water-dependent assets

Water-dependent assets in the zone

Ecological

Surface water feature

Floodplain

9

2

Lake, reservoir, lagoon or estuary

100

33

River or stream reach, tributary, anabranch or bend

66

29

Wetland, wetland complex or swamp

30

8

Ecological

Groundwater feature (subsurface)

Aquifer, geological feature, alluvium or stratum

24

12

Ecological

Vegetation

Groundwater‑dependent ecosystems

587

270

Habitat (potential species distribution)

836

377

Total

1652

731

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 1, Dataset 2)

There are 921 water-dependent assets outside the zone, which are therefore very unlikely to be impacted.

Of the ‘Surface water feature’ subgroup assets outside the zone, 2 are Ramsar-listed wetlands (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 3), 13 are wetlands in A directory of important wetlands in Australia (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 4), 65 are from the NSW Wetlands 2006 data source (NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water, Dataset 5) and 53 are from the WAIT (Water Asset Information Tool) database (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6), which includes the Ramsar-listed Hunter Wetland Centre (referred to as Shortland Wetlands in the asset register) and Kooragang Nature Reserve (Figure 59), as well as the Hunter River Estuary, Hexham Swamp and Brisbane Waters.

Figure 59

Figure 59 Distribution of springs and assets from Ramsar within the assessment extent

ACRD = additional coal resource development; PAE = preliminay assessment extent

Data: Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 3), Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8, Dataset 9)

Of the 12 ‘Groundwater feature’ subgroup assets outside the zone, 4 are springs. There are no other springs in the water-dependent asset register.

Of the 776 ‘Vegetation’ subgroup water-dependent assets outside the zone, 317 are in the ‘Groundwater-dependent ecosystems’ asset class and 459 are in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class. Assets in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class that are outside the zone include several endangered ecological communities (EECs) and threatened ecological communities:

  • endangered ecological communities:
    • Camerons Gorge Grassy White Box Community (EEC)
    • Gosford LGA Umina Woodlands Community (EEC)
    • Hinterland Red Ironbark (110a)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Hinterland Red Ironbark (110b)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Hunter Red Ironbark (18h)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Lower Hunter Beyer's Ironbark Low Forest (17c)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Lower Hunter Grey Box Grassy Forest (17i)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Lower Hunter Narrow-leaved Ironbark Forest (17m)(EEC Lower Hunter)
    • Red Ironbark (110a)(EEC Lower Hunter)
  • threatened ecological communities:
    • Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia Threatened Ecological Community
    • Lowland Subtropical Rainforest on Basalt Alluvium in NE NSW and SE Qld Threatened Ecological Community
    • Natural Grasslands on Basalt and Fine-Textured Alluvial Plains of Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland.

Also very unlikely to be impacted are two Important Bird Areas (Birds Australia, Dataset 10), which are entirely outside the zone:

  • Brisbane Water Important Bird Area
  • Hunter Estuary Important Bird Area.

Forty-eight parks and reserves (CAPAD; Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 11) are very unlikely to be impacted, including, amongst others:

  • Brisbane Water National Park (CAPAD)
  • Camerons Gorge Nature Reserve (CAPAD)
  • Hexham Swamp NRS Addition - Gazettal in Progress (CAPAD)
  • Hunter Wetlands National Park (CAPAD)
  • Karuah National Park.

Potential habitats of 14 species listed under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 12) and two additional species provided from the WAIT data source (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6) are very unlikely to be impacted. These include 11 plant species, three birds, the Booroolong frog (Litoria booroolongensis) and the beady pipefish (Hippichthys penicillus).

In the following sections, assets that intersect the zone of potential hydrological change and are potentially at risk of impact due to additional coal resource development are identified. For the purposes of the bioregional assessment (BA), the magnitude of risk to an asset is broadly equated to the magnitude of the potential hydrological changes in potentially impacted landscape classes with which the asset is associated. Note that many hazards that lay outside the scope of the BA may pose a risk to assets (see Section 2.3.5.2 of companion product 2.3 for the Hunter subregion (Dawes et al., 2018)) but are not dealt with in this analysis.

For most assets, an asset was deemed to be associated with a landscape class if it shares an assessment unit with that landscape class. The exceptions to this were species and vegetation communities, whose association with landscape classes were assigned based on knowledge of the ecology of the species or community. The latter include:

  • GDE vegetation types
  • species listed under NSW’s Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC) and the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)
  • NSW endangered ecological communities
  • vegetation listed under the Commonwealth’s EPBC Act.

The assets deemed to be ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ are those where there is at least a 50% chance of the modelled hydrological change exceeding a defined threshold for the hydrological response variables relevant to the landscape class with which it is associated (i.e. the hydrological response variables in the receptor impact models; see Section 3.4). The thresholds chosen to identify the ‘more at risk’ assets are:

  • wet and dry sclerophyll forests: drawdown due to additional coal resource development exceeding 2 m in an assessment unit shared by the asset
  • forested wetlands: drawdown due to additional coal resource development exceeding 2 m; change in the return period of overbank flow greater than 0.5 events per year in the 30 years preceding 2042; or change in the return period of overbench flow of greater than 0.05 events per year in the 30 years preceding 2042 in an assessment unit shared by the asset
  • landscape classes in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group (i.e. permanent or perennial streams and lowly to highly intermittent streams): increase in zero-flow days of more than 20 per year.

The numbers of assets within the zone that are identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ due to additional coal resource development are summarised in Table 27, together with the potentially impacted landscape classes with which they are associated. Twenty-three assets in the ‘Surface water feature’ asset class and 187 in the ‘Vegetation’ asset class were identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. Since many assets are associated with multiple potentially impacted landscape classes, the numbers in Table 27 for the ‘Vegetation’ assets do not sum to 187 and likewise, the numbers for the ‘Surface water feature’ assets do not sum to 23. Assets that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ are described in more detail in the following sections, with particular emphasis on nationally listed assets.

Note that many assets have very large areas relative to the areas or lengths of impacted landscape classes (see Section 3.4); hence, even assets that are identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ generally only have a small fraction of their area potentially impacted.

Table 27 Ecological assets in the zone of potential hydrological change that are identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ due to additional coal resource development based on their association with potentially impacted landscape classes and exposure to hydrological change


Group

Subgroup

Asset class

Wet and dry sclerophyll forests

Forested wetlands

Landscape classes in ‘Riverine’ landscape group

Ecological

Surface water feature

Floodplain

0

0

0

Lake, reservoir, lagoon or estuary

10

10

0

River or stream reach, tributary, anabranch or bend

5

13

3

Wetland, wetland complex or swamp

0

0

0

Ecological

Groundwater feature (subsurface)

Aquifer, geological feature, alluvium or stratum

0

0

4

Ecological

Vegetation

Groundwater‑dependent ecosystems

60

40

3

Habitat (potential species distribution)

61

77

18

Total

136

140

30

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2)

3.5.2.2 ‘Surface water feature’ subgroup

Of the 72 ‘Surface water feature’ subgroup assets identified in the zone of potential hydrological change in the Hunter subregion (Table 26), 67 were associated with potentially impacted landscape classes (Table 28). Of these, 23 have a 50% chance of experiencing hydrological change above the thresholds specified in the previous section. All 23 are associated with forested wetlands; 15 are also associated with wet or dry sclerophyll forests; and 3 are associated with landscape classes in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group. These assets are from the NSW Wetlands 2006 (Dataset 5) and WAIT (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6) data sources.

Four assets are derived from DIWA: Colongra Swamp important wetland, Lake Macquarie important wetland, Tuggerah Lake important wetland, and Wyong Racecourse Swamp important wetland (Figure 60). These are either not associated with potentially impacted landscape classes (see Section 3.4.2) or the probability of there being a hydrological change above the defined threshold is less than 50%.

Given the limited extrapolation of surface water modelling results from model nodes to the wider stream network, it is possible that there are other assets that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ associated with potentially impacted streams that have not been identified.

Table 28 Ecological assets in the ‘Surface water feature’ subgroup that are in the zone of potential hydrological change and associated with potentially impacted landscape classes


Asset class

Source

Water-dependent assets in the zone

Water-dependent assets associated with potentially impacted landscape classes

Floodplain

NSW Wetlands 2006 (Dataset 5)

2

2

Lake, reservoir, lagoon or estuary

NSW Wetlands 2006 (Dataset 5)

31

27

WAIT Hunter-Central Rivers (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6)

2

2

River or stream reach, tributary, anabranch or bend

WAIT Hunter-Central Rivers (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6)

29

28

Wetland, wetland complex or swamp

DIWA (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 4)

4

4

WAIT Hunter-Central Rivers (Australian Government Department of the Environment, Dataset 6)

4

4

Total

72

67

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2)

Figure 60

Figure 60 Distribution of assets from A directory of important wetlands in Australia (DIWA) in the 'Wetland, wetland complex or swamp' asset class

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 4, Dataset 8)

3.5.2.3 ‘Groundwater feature (subsurface)’ subgroup

Assets within this subgroup are the New England Fold Belt and the following assets nominated by natural resource management (NRM) agencies:

  • NRM-nominated Goulburn River Alluvium
  • NRM-nominated Gunnedah Basin
  • NRM-nominated Hunter River Alluvium
  • NRM-nominated Kingdon Ponds and Tributaries Alluvium
  • NRM-nominated Lachlan Fold Belt
  • NRM-nominated Liverpool Ranges Basalt
  • NRM-nominated Oxley Basin
  • NRM-nominated Sydney Basin – Mangrove Mountain Sandstone
  • NRM-nominated Sydney Sandstone Central Coast
  • NRM-nominated Tuggerah-Gosford Coastal Sands
  • NRM-nominated Wollombi Brook Alluvium.

No ecological landscape classes or models were developed to represent these assets. However, the extent to which these assets also correspond to economic assets (Section 3.5.3) provides some assessment of potential impact.

3.5.2.4 ‘Vegetation’ subgroup

The majority of potentially impacted ecological assets is in the ‘Vegetation’ subgroup. Of the 653 ‘Vegetation’ subgroup assets in the zone of potential hydrological change (Table 26), 536 are associated with potentially impacted landscape classes (Table 29), of which 187 are deemed ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. The ‘Vegetation’ subgroup includes two asset classes: ‘Groundwater-dependent ecosystems’ and ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ (Table 29).

Eighty-eight assets in the ‘Groundwater-dependent ecosystems’ asset class are identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. Sixty are associated with wet and dry sclerophyll forests; 40 with forested wetlands; and 3 with landscape classes in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group. These assets are from the National atlas of groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDE Atlas) (19; Bureau of Meteorology, Dataset 13) and the NSW GDE mapping (69; NSW Department of Primary Industries, Dataset 14).

Table 29 Ecological assets in the ‘Vegetation’ subgroup that are in the zone of potential hydrological change and associated with potentially impacted landscape classes


Asset class

Source

Water-dependent assets in the zone

Water-dependent assets associated with potentially impacted landscape classes

Groundwater-dependent ecosystems

National atlas of groundwater dependent ecosystems including:

  • subsurface presence of groundwater data

34

27

National atlas of groundwater dependent ecosystems including:

  • surface expression of groundwater

38

37

New South Wales High Probability Groundwater Dependent Vegetation with High Ecological Value

204

168

Habitat (potential species distribution)

Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database (CAPAD)

18

15

Climate Change Corridors Coastal - North East NSW

3

3

Climate Change Corridors Dry - North East NSW

21

20

Climate Change Corridors Moist - North East NSW

5

3

Fauna Corridors North East NSW

54

52

Lower Hunter Spotted Gum Forest Endangered Ecological Community EEC 2319

1

1

Birdlife Australia Important Bird Areas

5

5

Threatened species listed under the EPBC Act

92

33

NSW Estuarine Macrophytes

14

14

NSW_ Darling Hardyhead

1

1

NSW Native Vegetation Management (NVM)

4

4

Threatened species listed under the TESC Act

3

3

NSW Travelling Stock Reserve Conservation Values

26

22

Threatened ecological communities listed under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)

3

3

Water Asset Information Tool database

127

125

Total

653

536

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2)

Eighty-nine assets from the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class are identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. Sixty-one assets are associated with wet and dry sclerophyll forests; 77 assets with forested wetlands; and 18 with landscape classes in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group. These assets are from:

  • National EPBC Act Species List (23)
  • NSW TSC Species List (3)
  • Important Bird Areas (3)
  • CAPAD (5)
  • Hunter Lower EEC 2010 E2319 (1)
  • NSW DPI Fisheries (1)
  • Climate change or fauna corridors (25)
  • NSW NVM Management Benefits (4)
  • WAIT (24).

Given the limited interpolation from surface water modelling results to the wider stream network, it is possible that there are other assets that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ associated with potentially impacted streams that have not been identified.

Nationally significant assets are described in further detail below, along with the three TSC-listed species and the Hinterland Spotted Gum EEC.

EPBC Act-listed species that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ and associated potentially impacted landscape classes are listed in Table 30 and selected assets are shown in Figure 61, Figure 62 and Figure 63. The malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) is the only identified species associated with a single landscape class, namely dry sclerophyll forests. The malleefowl is one of two NSW iconic species, along with the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus), identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. However, Section 3.5.5 indicates that a more detailed analysis of potential impacts to the maleefowl indicate that it may not in fact be at risk. Such an analysis for every asset is however not possible within the current project.

The asset associated with the iconic Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) occurs in the zone but is associated with the ‘Rainforest’ landscape class, which is not predicted to be impacted within the Wollemi National Park.

In addition to being associated with landscape classes in the ‘GDE’ landscape group, the giant barred frog (Mixophyes iteratus) and stuttering frog (Mixophyes balbus) are also associated with permanent or perennial streams and lowly to highly intermittent streams in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group. The giant burrowing frog (Helieoporus australiacus) is also associated with lowly to highly intermittent streams. The potential distribution of the green and golden bell frog (Litoria aurea) is not identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’. The distributions of EPBC Act-listed frog species are shown in Figure 64.

Table 30 Groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes that overlap with ecological assets that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change


Asset namea

Area within zone

(km2)

Wet and dry sclerophyll forests

Forested wetlands

Leafless Tongue-orchid (Cryptostylis hunteriana)

824

yes

yes

Philotheca ericifolia

598

yes

no

Australian Painted Snipe (Rostratula australis)

34.0

no

yes

Biconvex Paperbark (Melaleuca biconvexa)

350

yes

yes

Black-faced Monarch (Monarcha melanopsis)

2682

yes

no

Cattle Egret (Ardea ibis)

2794

yes

yes

Charmhaven Apple (Angophora inopina)

240

yes

yes

Eastern Bristlebird (Dasyornis brachypterus)

681

yes

yes

Fork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus)

3233

yes

yes

Giant Barred Frog (Mixophyes iteratus)

48.4

yes

yes

Giant Burrowing Frog (Heleioporus australiacus)

684

yes

yes

Great Egret, White Egret (Ardea alba)

3233

no

yes

Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus)

1843

yes

yes

Heath Wrinklewort (Rutidosis heterogama)

89.3

yes

no

Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

2010

yes

yes

Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)

296

yes

no

Red Goshawk (Erythrotriorchis radiatus)

526

yes

yes

Regent Honeyeater (Anthochaera phrygia)

2959

yes

yes

Satin Flycatcher (Myiagra cyanoleuca)

3229

yes

yes

Small-flower Grevillea (Grevillea parviflora subsp. parviflora)

372

yes

yes

Spot-tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus subsp. maculatus)

2319

yes

yes

Stuttering Frog (Mixophyes balbus)

403

yes

no

Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor)

1637

yes

yes

aPunctuation and typography appear as used in the asset database.

These species are listed nationally under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2)

Figure 61

Figure 61 Distribution of selected plants in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change

These species are listed nationally under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 12),

Figure 62

Figure 62 Distribution of selected birds in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change

These species are listed nationally under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 12)

Figure 63

Figure 63 Distribution of selected mammals in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change, overlaid with groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes

These species are listed nationally under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 12)

Figure 64

Figure 64 Distribution of selected frogs in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change

These species are listed nationally under the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act 1999.

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 12)

There are three frog species listed under NSW’s Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995: green‑thighed frog, red-crowned toadlet and wallum froglet. These all have extensive potential distributions across the zone (2150 to 3170 km2) and are associated with both potentially impacted GDE landscape classes. These assets represent the potential distribution of three species of frog, all associated with wet or dry sclerophyll forests. The green-thighed frog and wallum froglet are also associated with forested wetlands. The red-crowned toadlet is also associated with ephemeral streams (OEH, 2017a).

Of the asset ‘Darling Hardyhead (Craterocephalus amniculus) Habitat’ from the NSW_DPI_Fisheries_DarlingHardyhead data source, 2 km2 overlaps the zone of potential hydrological change. Darling hardyhead are associated with permanent or perennial streams and lowly to highly intermittent streams. These small fish are usually found in slow-flowing, clear, shallow waters or in aquatic vegetation at the edge of such waters. The species has also been recorded from the edge of fast-flowing habitats such as the runs at the head of pools (OEH, 2017b). Given the relatively small areas of modelled impacts on riverine landscape classes it is unlikely that this species will be significantly impacted.

There are three Important Bird Areas within the zone that are associated with potentially impacted GDE landscape classes: of the 134 km2 of the Greater Blue Mountains Important Bird Area in the zone, 1.5 km2 is associated with forested wetlands; of the 112 km2 of the Lake Macquarie Important Bird Area in the zone, 5 km2 is associated with wet and dry sclerophyll forests and 3.8 km2 with forested wetlands; of 395 km2 of the Mudgee-Wollar Important Bird Area in the zone, 1 km2 is associated with wet and dry sclerophyll forests and about 10 km2 with forested wetlands (Figure 65). These are not associated with potentially impacted riverine landscape classes.

FIgure 65

Figure 65 Distribution of Important Bird Areas in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change, overlaid with groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes

ACRD = additional coal resource development

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Birds Australia (Dataset 10), Australian Government Department of the Environment (Dataset 12)

Five assets from the Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD) are associated with potentially impacted GDE landscape classes (Figure 67 and Table 31). These are not associated with potentially impacted riverine landscape classes. Since 2015, and post-commencement of this bioregional assessment (BA), the Goulburn River National Park has incorporated ‘The Drip Gorge’ (Figure 66) between Ulan and Mudgee (DPI NSW, 2014). This iconic landscape feature has not been assessed as part of the BA, but was identified at Hunter workshops as a locally important feature. The Wollemi National Park is associated with 1.5 km2 of potentially impacted forested wetland.

Figure 66

Figure 66 The Drip Gorge in the western Goulburn River catchment

Source: Martin Krogh (2017)

Figure 67

Figure 67 Distribution of Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD) assets in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change, overlaid with groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes

ACRD = additional coal resource development, FMZ = forest management zone, NP = national park, SCA = state conservation area

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8), Australian Government Department of Environment (Dataset 11)

Table 31 Groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes that overlap with assessment units that are ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ Collaborative Australian Protected Area Database (CAPAD) assets in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change


Asset name

Area within zone

(km2)

Wet and dry sclerophyll forests

Forested wetlands

Goulburn River National Park

161

yes

yes

Jilliby State Conservation Area

89.0

yes

no

Lake Macquarie State Conservation Area

5.2

yes

yes

Unnamed Forest Management Zone 2 Grouped by the NSW Forests Management Area of MORISSET and is a Protected area

8.1

yes

yes

Wollemi National Park

137

no

yes

Data: Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 2)

Three assets in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change are threatened ecological communities (Figure 68):

  • Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) Grassy Woodlands and Derived Native Grasslands of South-eastern Australia Threatened Ecological Community
  • Weeping Myall - Coobah - Scrub Wilga Shrubland of the Hunter Valley Threatened Ecological Community
  • White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland Threatened Ecological Community.

None of these is identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’ due to additional coal resource development. One endangered ecological community (EEC) is identified as ‘more at risk of hydrological changes’: 3.6 km2 of the Hinterland Spotted Gum EEC (Hunter Lower EEC 2010 E2319 data source) is in the zone, of which 1.3 km2 is associated with wet and dry sclerophyll forests. Given its association with wet and dry sclerophyll forests and its location near regions of potentially larger hydrological change, this asset may be at risk due to additional coal resource development.

Figure 68

Figure 68 Distribution of threatened ecological communities in the 'Habitat (potential species distribution)' asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change, overlaid with groundwater-dependent ecosystem (GDE) landscape classes

Data: NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water (Dataset 5), Bioregional Assessment Programme (Dataset 7, Dataset 8)

Two assets in the ‘Habitat (potential species distribution)’ asset class in the zone of potential hydrological change are platypus habitat from the WAIT_ALA_ERIN data source:

  • Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus (Shaw, 1799))(WAIT)
  • Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus)(WAIT).

The platypus asset is assumed to be associated with the ‘Permanent or perennial’ landscape class based on its known habitat and ecology (Grant, 1995). Given the relatively small area of modelled impacts on landscape classes in the ‘Riverine’ landscape group it is unlikely that this species would be impacted.

Last updated:
15 March 2019
Thumbnail of the Hunter subregion

Product Finalisation date

2018
PRODUCT CONTENTS

ASSESSMENT