Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Action planning approvals
Stage 2 of the O’Herns Road Upgrade was referred for assessment under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Action 1999 (EPBC Act). The project was deemed a Controlled Action under the Act, as parts of the project contained habitat for federally listed threatened species including the Golden Sun Moth and Growling Grass Frog.
The Preliminary Documentation for the EPBC approval was made available for public comment between 9 October 2018 and 22 October 2018, during which no comments were received.
EPBC approval was granted in June 2019, and the necessary conditions required to enable the approval were met in early July 2019.
See the EPBC planning approval documents below:
EPBC Act
The EPBC Act enables the Australian Government to join with the states and territories in providing a national scheme of environment and heritage protection and biodiversity conservation. The EPBC Act focuses Australian Government interests on the protection of matters of national environmental significance, with the states and territories having responsibility for matters of state and local significance.
Growling Grass Frog Conservation Management Plan
Our environmental assessments identified a movement corridor for the federally listed Growling Grass Frog. A Growling Grass Frog Conservation Management Plan was developed to protect Growling Grass Frog populations and described what protocols will be in place to ensure their habitat and connectivity was maintained along Edgars Creek during and after the O’Herns Road Stage 2 Upgrade.
See the Growling Grass Frog Conservation Management Plan below.
Protection of flora and fauna
We protected flora and fauna in the project area through environmentally sensitive design and construction methods. We did this by:
- creating dedicated areas of habitat in compliance with our environmental approvals
- protecting trees and other sensitive vegetation with ‘no go zones'
- having a dedicated environmental specialist to oversee the protection of any sensitive vegetation.