Wambo Coal AEMR 2010-2011 - Peabody Energy

2010-2011 AEMRDiurnal bird monitoring identified 78 bird speciesacross 26 survey sites, including seven threatenedspecies. Current management practices within theRWEP areas of Wambo Coal Mine appear to beappropriate for the conservation of bird species.Variation evident in the results across the years ofmonitoring is most likely related to natural variationin species diversity, natural variation in speciesabundance and variation inherent in the samplingdesign, and not to current management practises.No threatened owl species responded to callplayback surveys. Due to the large home rangearea of the target owl species and the relatively few(four) call playback sessions undertaken each year,it is not unexpected that threatened owls speciesare rarely detected.Spotlighting surveys identified the CommonBrushtail Possum as the most common arborealmammal species in RWEP areas of Wambo CoalMine. Across four years of annual monitoring onlythree arboreal mammal species have beenidentified. The Common Brushtail Possum wasidentified each year and the threatened YellowbelliedGlider and Squirrel Glider were recorded forthe first time in 2010.There is no evidence to suggest that currentmanagement practices or mining activities arehaving any negative impact on fauna species.Riparian monitoring identified Stoney Creek asbeing in good condition, and North Wambo andSouth Wambo Creeks in moderate condition.Current bank erosion problem areas are a result ofhistoric land management practices.Recommendations have been made to addressproblem erosion areas and to undertake othermanagement actions that will lead to increasedmonitoring condition scores for all three creeks..Page 60