Appendix D Terrestrial and Aquatic Biodiversity - Environment ...

3.6 Weeds
Weed data was collected for the project area using NT Flora Atlas database records (NRETAS) and also
records requested from the NT Weeds Branch. The results indicated that the MLA areas area mostly weedfree,
however the haul road and port areas are located within catchments that contain several declared
weeds and also weeds of national significance. The presence of the weeds is likely due to the existing land
use being pastoralism. Existing weed information is presented in Figure 8 and more detail about weeds (and
pests) is provided in Appendix F of the EIS.
Figure 8: Existing weed records for the project area
3.7 Existing Flora & Fauna Records
The project area and surrounds have been subject to very little biological research, leaving an uncertain
picture of the biological richness of the Southern Gulf of Carpentaria (Griffiths et al. 1997).
For this project, two sets of desktop flora and fauna surveys were undertaken – a combined one for the MLA
areas and haul road, and another for the port facility and stockyard (see Figure 9 and 10). The areas
encompassing both the MLA areas and haul road contain similar habitat and so a combined desktop survey
was appropriate. Given that the region has experienced limited historical surveying, a large area of
contiguous habitat was included within the scope of the desktop survey. The other desktop survey was of a
10 kilometre radius of the proposed port location to incorporate the particular habitats of this area that are
different to those of the rest of the project. Both surveys comprised records from the database searches
mentioned in Section 2.1. In addition, NT listed threatened species that are not federally listed but that
could, from assessing distribution, occur within the search areas were also included. Obvious errors, such
as those arising from data entry, were vetted.
Client: Western Desert Resources Ltd Page 44 of 150
Doc No. DW120004-C0302-EIA-R-0036
Doc Title: Appendix D – Terrestrial Biodiversity Technical Report