PROFILE FOR THE - dlgrma.qld.gov.au · process was based primarily upon a review of the literature and professional expertise. 2 WETLAND AND TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION AND HABITATS Key

BASELINE PROFILE FOR THE

KAILI VALLEY WETLANDS

A part of BMT in Energy and Environment

R.B17973.002.00.doc

September 2010

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G:\Admin\B17973.g.gwf_Caley_EMP\R.B17973.002 - DJB.doc

1 BACKGROUND

Kaili Valley Wetlands (Wetlands) is a large coastal wetland complex located on the central Queensland coast near Bowen (Figure 1-1). The Wetlands represents one of the largest intact wetland systems between Townsville and Bowen, covering an area of ~5,154 ha. The Wetlands is one of 10 wetlands in Queensland listed under the Directory of Important Wetlands of Australia (DIWA), and is referred to in the Directory as the Abbot Point – Caley Valley Wetlands.

The Wetlands occurs within a landscape that has been substantially altered by clearing, and ongoing pressures associated with agricultural activities. Vegetation within the site, while modified, presently represents a key fauna movement corridor of state significance. The Wetlands is within the Abbot Point State Development Area (SDA), which includes prime industrial land to cater for industry of regional, state and national significance as well as land requiring environmental management, the Wetlands. The Wetlands also adjoins an international port facility (Port of Abbot Point). As the land-holders of the part of the Wetlands within the APSDA and as the regulator of material changes of use throughout the entire Abbot Point SDA, the Coordinator-General and the Department of Infrastructure and Planning (DIP) recognise the need to ensure that future development does not lead to unacceptable impacts to wetland values. DIP has commissioned BMT WBM to prepare an environmental management plan (EMP) for the part of the Kaili Valley Wetlands within the APSDA (the site).

The Kaili Valley Wetlands EMP study is comprised of the following stages:

Stage 1 - Baseline data collation and review;

Stage 2 – Community consultation to identify and scope issues to be considered in the EMP;

Stage 3 – Development of the EMP report;

Stage 4 – Community consultation on the findings of EMP report; and

Stage 5 – EMP finalisation.

This Baseline Profile for the Kaili Valley Wetlands provides a profile description of the Wetlands as well as background information for the Stage 2 community consultation phase of the project.

The Baseline Profile was prepared on the basis of existing information1. The baseline description of the Wetlands was initiated by undertaking a process of information collation and literature review. Relevant existing information was sourced from the following:

1 The information expressed in this Baseline Profile has not been field verified. Field verification however, did

inform some of the source documents and may be conducted as part of the later stages of the EMP process.

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• published scientific papers;

• database records (EPBC, Department of Environmental Resource Management (DERM), Wildlife Online, etc.);

• quantitative data (bird count data, etc.);

• mapping products (vegetation and wetland mapping);

• management plans, strategies and other policy documents; and

• grey literature from internet searches and other sources of data.

Each article of information was collated to a cursory level sufficient to determine its relevance to the study. The collected information was then reviewed to prioritise and identify information of direct relevance to the baseline study. Following the information collation and review phase, the study team collectively identified the potential ecosystem services/benefits of the Wetlands. This process was based primarily upon a review of the literature and professional expertise.

2 WETLAND AND TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION AND HABITATS

Key Hydrodynamic Processes

In the wet season, the Wetlands can be 18 km long and 6 km wide (GHD 2009). Fresh water is provided by local runoff from the Salisbury Plain and the slopes of Mount Roundback and Mount Little. Spring, Table Top, Main and Mount Stuart creeks drain into Curlewis Bay to the northeast, while Six Mile, Goodbye and Saltwater creeks drain into the main body of the Wetlands. Saltwater Creek is also connected to the up-gradient Euri Creek and Don River systems during flood events. During the wet season there tends to be a reversible movement of fresh and brackish waters westwards from the Wetlands and into Curlewis Bay.

During the dry season, however, tidal movements tend dominate the system (GHD 2009). With very limited inflow, much of the Wetlands dries and loses vegetative cover. Under dry conditions the wetted section of the Wetlands can contract to the area known as Lake Kaili, in the centre of the Wetlands, which provides one of the few permanent non-tidal waterbodies in the area.

Based on limited available groundwater information, it is thought that groundwater levels would be relatively shallow toward the Kaili Valley Wetlands, with increasing depth to the water table at the higher elevated areas. During extended dry periods groundwater may be the predominant source of the water to the Wetlands, provided the Wetlands are largely tide locked.

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Tidal exchange into the Wetlands occurs mainly via Mount Stuart and Branch Creeks in the western sections of the site, and possibly Saltwater Creek in the eastern section of the site. Tidal flushing of the Wetlands is partly constrained by two artificial barriers. One of the barriers (known as the outer bund) is located across Mount Stuart Creek. The outer bund is thought to have been constructed to improve habitat values for waterfowl. The outer bund partially isolates the site from tidal influences, and is likely to impede the movement of aquatic fauna such as fish. This appears to have resulted in localised mangrove die-back. The inner bund is located east (upstream) of the outer bund, and incorporates a water delivery pipeline to the Port of Abbot Point and vehicle access (GHD 2009). The effects of the inner bund on wetland hydrology, water quality and ecology have not been investigated in detail to date.

Regional Ecosystems

Regional Ecosystem (RE) mapping within the region has been undertaken by the Queensland Herbarium, with additional field verification undertaken within the Abbot Point State Development Area by GHD (2010) and DIP’s consultants (2010). REs are vegetation communities that are consistently associated with a particular combination of landform, soil and geology, and are unique to individual biogeographic regions. The site contains a mosaic of both wetland and terrestrial REs. Some of these REs are analogous to DIWA wetland types.

Based on Queensland Herbarium mapping, 32 REs have been recorded within the Wetlands within the DIWA boundary. These encompass coastal dunes, estuarine vegetation, palustrine wetlands, and terrestrial vegetation RE types. However, only 28 REs were noted in the DIP (2010) study as this covered a smaller study area. Some changes to RE mapping were proposed by DIP (2010) and GHD (2010) as a result of field verification surveys, but to date, these changes have not been incorporated into Queensland Herbarium mapping.

Of the REs recorded in the Wetlands, one RE is equivalent to a Threatened Ecological Community listed under Commonwealth environmental legislation (the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, or EPBC Act), namely RE 11.2.3 - Microphyll vine forest ("beach scrub") on sandy beach ridges and dune swales. This Threatened Ecological Community, which is listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act, occurs in a strip along the eastern edge of Abbot Point adjacent to the Wetlands and also in two locations on the northern edge of Abbot Point between Mt Luce and Bald Hill. This community is also listed as Of Concern under the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

The RE mapping, together with waterbody mapping, has been used by DERM to map Queensland wetlands. The DERM wetland map for the site is shown in Figure 1-2. Note that this map has not been subject to detailed field verification.

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Functional Zones

The Kaili Valley Wetlands is composed of diverse coastal and inland wetland types. On the basis of DERM RE and wetland mapping (Figure 1-2), together with data describing physio-chemical characteristics of the Wetlands, five broad functional zones have been identified in the site:

Coastal Water Zone

The Wetlands contains a small section of open coast between Mount Stewart Creek and Branch Creek. This zone contains coastal open waters, sandy beaches and dune associated vegetation communities.

Estuary Zone

The tidal creeks located on the western side of the Wetlands contain large areas of estuarine vegetation. A mosaic of mangrove forests, saltmarsh, saltpan, and Casuarina dominated wetlands occur within this zone. The spatial distribution and structure of these vegetation communities is controlled by tidal inundation patterns and the freshwater inputs.

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Hypersaline Saltpan Zone

Extensive saltpans occur upstream of a bund structure located across Mount Stewart Creek. Large spring tides can overtop this bund, and also enter the Wetlands via Branch Creek, resulting in periodic intrusion and subsequent impoundment of marine waters. Impounded waters rapidly evaporate resulting in the concentration of salts and the formation of hypersaline conditions during dry periods. When the Wetlands is inundated by flood waters, this zone can become brackish, allowing the development of saltmarsh communities.

Brackish and Freshwater Wetland Zone

This zone is located east of the hypersaline zone, generally in the area upstream of a second bund structure (the inner bund). This zone contains palustrine (marshes) and lacustrine (lakes) that are of a primarily brackish to freshwater nature (varying depending on rainfall and salinity conditions). Palustrine wetland represents the largest wetland type in the Wetlands. It is thought that surface water runoff, groundwater from the regional aquifer and marine water intrusion through the eastern sand barrier system interact to control water quality conditions in this zone. Groundwater processes may dominate during the dry season, whereas catchment runoff would dominate during wetter periods. To date, no studies have considered these processes in detail, nor are changes in wetland vegetation structure and water quality well understood.

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Terrestrial Zone

The terrestrial zone contains a range of small low order streams that are ephemeral in nature. Riparian vegetation along these streams is fragmented and typically narrow, but still retains values (albeit degraded) as fauna movement corridors. The adjacent terrestrial vegetation has been heavily disturbed by clearing, although patches of remnant and high quality regrowth occur in places.

3 FAUNA

Threatened Fauna

A range of threatened species are known to occur in and adjacent to the Wetlands, most of which are not considered as wetland dependent species (i.e. species of birds and reptiles). Notwithstanding this, the Wetlands provides a critical habitat for many of these species, by providing a relatively intact habitat, in an otherwise disturbed landscape. Threatened species recorded at the site include:

• Squatter Pigeon (Geophaps scripta scripta) – listed as Vulnerable (Queensland and Commonwealth). This species would favour terrestrial habitats.

• Black-throated Finch (Poephila cincta cincta) – listed as Endangered (Queensland and Commonwealth). This species would favour terrestrial habitats.

• Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) – listed as Endangered (Queensland). This migratory wader species favours coastal and estuarine habitats.

• Dunmall’s Snake (Furina dunmalli) – listed as Vulnerable (Queensland and Commonwealth). This species favours terrestrial habitats.

• Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) listed as Vulnerable (Queensland). This species occurs in coastal and estuarine habitats.

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Squatter Pigeon Dunmall’s Snake

Little Tern Saltwater Crocodile

Birds

The site has high habitat value for waterbirds. The coastal and estuarine habitats, together with the saltpans, represent feeding and roost areas for a range of migratory and resident shorebird species. The more brackish and freshwater sections of the Wetlands represent important waterfowl feeding, roosting and breeding areas. Waterfowl are described as “extremely abundant” east of causeway (inner bund) in the wet season, with hundreds of individuals recorded (GHD 2010). The Wetlands provide one of Queensland’s largest and most northerly coastal nesting areas for Black Swans (Cygnus atratus). The more permanent waterbodies in the site represent important dry season refugia, although specific values have not been examined in detail.

Black Swan

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Twenty one listed Migratory Wetland and Migratory Marine bird species under the EPBC Act have been recorded inhabiting the Wetlands or adjacent areas. Of those, 19 are Migratory Wetland species and two are Migratory Marine species.

There are approximately 60 species of Migratory Wetland species which use the East Asian-Australasian Flyway which includes the Wetlands (Australian Nature Conservation Agency undated). It is one of eight major flyways in the world (Birds Queensland 2010). The East Asian-Australasian Flyway Site Network covers 31 sites across 10 signatory countries (DEWHA 2009).

Mammals

Twenty three species of mammals have been recorded in vegetation adjacent to the Wetlands (GHD 2010 - survey sites 1 and 2, DIP 2010). These included five introduced species including Dingo (Canis lupus dingo). The remainder are listed as Least Concern except for Short-beaked Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) which is listed as Special Least Concern under the Queensland legislation, mainly because of the special cultural significance of the animal.

Reptiles

Two species of freshwater turtles have been recorded in, and adjacent, to the Wetlands. Both species are listed as Least Concern under Queensland legislation. Furthermore, Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Flatback Turtles (Natator depressus), both listed as Vulnerable under Commonwealth and Queensland legislation, were noted as nesting along the beach between Abbot Point and Euri Creek (Bell 2003), although nesting activity has not been investigated in detail within the coastal zone. Evidence of Saltwater Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) has been found on the downstream section of Goodbye Creek on the eastern side of Wetlands (DIP 2010).

Twenty two species of non-aquatic reptiles have been recorded in and adjacent to the Wetlands. As mentioned in section 4.2 one species, Dunmall’s Snake (Furina dunmalli) is listed as Vulnerable under Commonwealth and Queensland legislation.

Amphibians

Eleven native frog species and the introduced Cane Toad (Rhinella marinus) have been recorded in and adjacent to, the Wetlands, in a number of different REs and non remnant vegetation communities. All of these species are currently listed as Least Concern under Queensland legislation and are not listed under Commonwealth legislation.

Fish

There is very limited information on the fish assemblages of the Wetlands. A single snap-shot survey with limited sampling effort recorded nine species, including estuarine and freshwater representatives (GHD 2009). It is likely that the bunds represent a barrier to fish movements between the estuary and the Wetlands (and within the Wetlands). This greatly limits the fisheries habitat values of the Wetlands, particularly to species that migrate between freshwaters and

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marine waters as part of their life-cycle (e.g. barramundi). Most fish species known to occur in the Wetlands have a marine phase or are estuarine species, suggesting at least some connectivity is being maintained at present.

Fauna Movements

A fauna movement corridor extends in an east west direction across the Wetlands. This corridor represents a State wildlife corridor of State significance, connecting the Wetlands to Mount Aberdeen National Park, 40 kilometres south west of Bowen. However there is generally poor north – south connectivity between the coastal plains to the ranges due to extensive clearing for grazing. This loss of connectivity is likely to impact many species groups.

4 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES

On the basis of a review of existing information, together with consideration of the DIWA nomination criteria, a range of key environmental values supported by the site have been defined (Table 4-1). Table 4-1 also shows the habitat types that support these key environmental values.

Preliminary conceptual models have been developed for the Wetlands and are shown over-page. Conceptual models are essentially illustrations that use symbols or drawings to depict the important features, processes and management issues. Conceptual models are a tool through which detailed technical concepts can be summarised in a non-technical way.

The conceptual models shown over-page illustrate important ecosystem patterns and processes that underpin key environmental values supported by the Wetlands. ‘Seasonal’ conceptual models have been presented (wet/summer and dry/cool seasons) to illustrate the changes to use of the Wetlands over time by waterbirds, fish and other fauna. For illustrative purposes, wet/summer and dry/winter periods have been combined in these conceptual models. To a large extent, differences between times will reflect changes in hydrological conditions (e.g. fish breeding). However there are seasonal changes in ecological processes that are largely independent of wetland hydrology, such as turtle nesting and migratory shorebird movement patterns. The Wetlands also provide important ecological functions during drier periods, particularly from the perspective of providing drought refugia (e.g. Kaili ‘Lake’) for fish and other wetland-dependent species.

The models will be used in the Kaili Valley Wetlands Environmental Management Plan study to illustrate important ecological features and the processes that affect these features. As our knowledge of wetland ecosystem processes improves, the conceptual models will be refined and updated.

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Table 4-1 Relationship between key environmental values (EV) and broad habitat types

Environmental Value Habitats

Coastal areas and estuarine vegetation

Palustrine & lacustrine wetlands

Riparian vegetation & streams

Terrestrial vegetation

Relevant Fauna Components

Threatened Species 1. Habitat for threatened species

Landscape Ecology 2. Mosaic of relatively intact wetland and terrestrial vegetation communities in an otherwise disturbed and fragmented landscape

Functional Habitat Values 3. Diverse and abundant waterbird populations 4. Fauna movement corridor (terrestrial and wetland species)

5. Dry season refugia for wetland dependent species

6. Migratory and resident waterbird feeding and nesting areas

7. Refugia and habitat for non wetland-dependent fauna

8. Habitat for fish & fisheries spp. 9. Habitat and breeding sites for wetland-associated reptiles & amphibians

Human Uses 10. Fishing areas

11. Port buffer

Blue shading – habitat important to the maintenance of the EV; light blue = habitat provides a supporting role for the EV

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5 ECOSYSTEM STRESSORS

Key ecosystem stressors include:

• Bunds - which affect hydrology, water quality and aquatic fauna movements wihin the Wetlands.

• Weeds - Various listed and environmental weeds have been recorded in the Wetlands and surrounds, and may effect native vegetation populations.

• Altered fire regimes - Fire regimes within and adjacent to the Wetlands have been altered through to vegetation clearing and weed infestation (particularly introduced grasses). This is likely to have a pronounced effect on vegetation and fauna communities, and ecosystem functioning.

• Fauna – Domestic cattle and wild pigs have caused localised damage to the ground and vegetation, which is likely to exacerbate weed invasion and native plant regeneration.

• Catchment pollutant loading – agricultural lands would likely represent a primary source of nutrients and sediments to the Wetlands, although modelling would be required to quantify relative loads of different land uses.

6 REFERENCES

Bell I. (2003) Turtle Population Dynamics in the Hay Point, Abbot Point and Lucinda Port Areas Project funded by the Ports Corporation of Queensland Conducted by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.

Birds Queensland (2010) Conservation of birds. Queensland Ornithological Society Inc. Accessed: August 2010 Available: birdsqueensland.org.au/conservation.php

DERM (2009) Vegetation communities. Accessed July 2010 Available: www.derm.qld.gov.au/vegetation/bioregions.html

DEWHA (2009) The East Asian-Australasian shorebird site network. Accessed: August 2010 Available: www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/migratory/waterbirds/infosrn1.html

GHD (2009) Abbot Point Coal Terminal X110 Expansion Infrastructure Development Project Draft Voluntary Environmental Assessment for North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation Limited.

GHD (2010) Proposed Abbot Point Multi Cargo Facility Draft Environmental Impact Statement for North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation Limited.

Department of Infrastructure and Planning (2010) Abbot Point State Development Area Multi User Infrastructure Corridor Study.

Documents

PROFILE FOR THE - dlgrma.qld.gov.au · process was based primarily upon a review of the literature and professional expertise. 2 WETLAND AND TERRESTRIAL VEGETATION AND HABITATS Key