DevelopmentWA are progressing with the development of the Phase 2 development area at Neerabup, with associated environmental approvals underway. The likely approvals pathway will be referral to the Commonwealth under the EPBC Act and a Native Vegetation Clearing Permit application submitted to the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) under Part V of the EP Act.
To support the environmental approvals process, revised biological assessments that refresh those completed in 2008 and 2012 were required. FVC was engaged to undertake the full suite of ecological surveys at the 225 hectare site in spring 2024 and beyond, which included:
- detailed flora and vegetation assessment
- targeted significant flora surveys
- targeted significant ecological community assessment
- basic fauna assessment
- targeted conservation-significant fauna survey
- targeted Black-cockatoo habitat assessments
The site is known to support a number of conservation-significant features, including flora, ecological communities, fauna and habitats. In order to appropriately document the significant values, it was necessary to scope the work to address multiple field surveys across appropriate seasonal timeframes. The highly experienced team at FVC were able to mobilise large teams to the site over eight separate mobilisations, and despite the dense population of ticks, the ecologists enjoyed observing and recording all of the important ecological information that will facilitate avoidance of impacts and will inform environmental offsets for any unavoidable impacts.