Not all the species listed will be present
The Area Search results give you a list of all the threatened species recorded in the Natural Values Atlas within your area of interest (called here the ‘activity footprint’) and 5 km around it. Depending on what sort of habitat occurs within the activity footprint, not all the species listed here will occur within it.
To determine which of the listed threatened species you may need to further take into account, consider:
Which habitats occur within the activity footprint? Consider what sort of habitats occur within the activity footprint - for example, dry forest, pasture, alpine woodland or native grassland. Remember that not all threatened species live in untouched wilderness - some can live in drains or nature strips!
Then click on the 'show habitat' link (on the right of the Animals and Plants list headings) to see which habitats they have been found in. You can exclude any species which clearly do not occur in any of the habitats present in the activity footprint. For example, if there is only dry forest and some pasture in the activity footprint, you could exclude any wet forest species, lake species or alpine species. The online Species Management Profiles may also provide more information about what habitats each species occurs in (found in the Key Points section).
Not all species are covered, but you may also be able to exclude other species for which there is no detailed 'habitat' information, by considering the general environment of the activity footprint. For example, the list may include the Spotted Handfish, a marine fishfrom the Derwent River, whereas your activity footprint is an area of dry eucalypt on Mt Nelson.
To remove a species from the list, hover the cursor over the species' name, and press the 'x' that appears to the left. To return to the complete list, press Show Full List (at the top of the page).
What if it looks too complicated? If you are unsure which habitats occur within the activity footprint, or you have difficulty in relating the habitats described for each species to what you believe occurs within the activity footprint, you may need to seek advice from an
environmental consultant.
Do you need to do a survey?
Only limited patches of Tasmania have been subject to dedicated surveys for threatened species. This means that the Natural Values Atlas, while being the best central source of information, should not be taken as necessarily a complete or comprehensive record of which threatened species occur or are likely to occur in an area.
The following provides a guide to whether you may need to do a survey for threatened species:
- If you know that a threatened species has been recorded from your property, you may still wish to survey to determine whether the species is still present, and to ascertain where within the site the species occurs.
- If a species has been recorded within 5 km of your area and there is suitable habitat present withinthe activity footprint, you may need to survey for the species.
- In some areas of Tasmania which have been very poorly surveyed, the absence of a species within a 5 km area may not necessarily mean that the species does not occur in the region. In this case, if there is suitable habitat for the species within the activity footprint, you may need to survey for the species.
- If you are still not sure whether you need to do a survey, seek professional advice from an environmental consultant, or contact the Threatened Species & Marine Section.
Planning survey times Many species are only reliably detected during a survey at a certain time of year- for example when they are flowering. Knowing when surveys should be done can be of great help to your planning process.
Click on the 'show survey' link (on the right of the Animals and Plants list headings) to see when the best times of year to survey for species that might be present in your activity footprint.
Check the online profiles for more information on what is required for a survey. In some cases this work may require specialexpertise and/or a permit.
What else to consider?
Check out the Planning Ahead page for more advice and guidance on how to go about planning your activity around threatened species. The Activity Advice pages provide more detailed information and advice on specific activities such as subdivisions, construction, clearing vegetation, etc. Alternatively, click on the Online Profile for each of the species in your Area Search results and read more about individual species which may occur in your area.
