what’s new pussycat? wild-life in the anglesea heath alcoa anglesea 2007 environment report september ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 air Air Monitoring Stack Monitors Average Maximum Opacity g/m3 10-minute average 0.060 0.271 Stack SO2 kg/min 1-hour average Licence limit 100kg/min 63.87 79.95 SO2 1 hour ppb Average Maximum Community Centre 3 112 Primary School 4 142 Mt Ingoldsby 2 126 Scout Camp 10 157 Camp Wilkin 4 201 Camp Road 4 160 Ambient Monitors Ambient Monitors SO2 Maximum 1 hour averages (ppb) Date 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Community Centre 3 4 3 2 3 12 3 3 95 26 1 3 91 2 2 20 3 3 112 2 2 3 106 3 2 3 3 3 3 2 Primary School 0 0 0 1 2 Mt Ingoldsby 3 2 2 4 76 26 8 9 14 126 2 Scout Camp 53 - - 2 2 7 21 24 43 17 3 143 58 85 72 2 Camp Wilkin 1 1 1 2 98 142 9 Camp Road 8 0 1 1 2 EPA Intervention Level 210 EPA Air Quality Objective 200 Alcoa Local Standard 170 1 2 1 35 68 50 134 1 5 10 29 42 1 21 9 19 141 0 2 27 1 5 138 0 20 129 1 1 1 142 1 1 5 1 2 0 0 6 0 0 36 0 16 11 155 0 5 6 4 28 32 125102157 12 1 1 1 84 1 1 17 2 37 33 26 0 145127 0 2 0 74 0 0 2 125 20 159 2 2 121 3 2 201 3 2 4 74 2 1 150 1 5 4 0 12 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 water Water Storage Barwon Water storage levels for the Geelong system at 28.8% capacity. Stage 4 restrictions apply. Water Discharge ML September Total Ashponds (SP1) 113 1217 Mine (SP4) 0 0 Water Monitoring SP1 SP4* SP3 18/09/2007 Ashpond Mine Final EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result EPA limit Lab Result pH 4-10 8.6 3-9 3.3 5-9 7.1 Susp. Solids 100 4 100 2 30 <2 Colour 50 5 50 4 50 4 Aluminium 10.00 0.14 10.0 1.4 5.500 0.057 Iron 10.00 0.25 20.0 7.3 4.000 0.056 Zinc 0.400 0.016 2.000 0.080 0.300 0.020 * Although there was no formal discharge, a broken pipe did see a leakage of mine water at SP4 thus a full set of analysis was completed. WATER WATER USAGE PER MONTH (ML) Date JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT Town Water 0.7 0.7 0.9 1.1 0.9 2.3 1.7 1.9 1.4 11.6 Bore Water 274 253 280 241 246 182 205 227 221 2129 Mine Water 81 71 76 83 80 86 98 87 87 749 NOV DEC TOTAL 300.0 3000 250.0 2500 200.0 2000 150.0 1500 100.0 1000 50.0 0.0 500 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 feral cats Feral cats (Felis catus) probably became established in Australia soon after the arrival of the first Europeans. However, they may have arrived earlier via the trading routes from south-east Asia, shipwrecks or visits by European ships, especially on Australia’s west coast. Feral populations now occupy most parts of the mainland, Tasmania and some offshore islands. Feral cats are believed to be responsible for the extinction or decline of native marsupials and birds in Australia. They have caused the extinction of several wildlife species on islands and contributed to the disappearance of many ground dwelling birds and mammals on the mainland. They are listed as a known or perceived threatening process for 58 native species under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999. For management purposes, cats are divided into three categories — domestic, stray and feral — although individual cats may move between categories. Domestic cats are owned and cared for and stray cats are those found roaming cities, towns and some rural holdings. Feral cats, which survive without any human contact or assistance, are the main target of control programs. Although many agencies and organisations commit significant resources to managing feral cats, there is little reliable information on the impacts of feral cats, or on the benefits of controlling feral cats. This situation is at least partly due to uncertainty about the ability to accurately and precisely estimate the relative or absolute abundance of feral cats or the impact of control operations on populations. Feral cats may occur at very low densities in some habitats and a large proportion of the population may be averse to detection meaning there are few techniques for estimating the absolute abundance of feral cats. Other techinques that are used to assess fox and rabbit populations, such as spotlighting, are unlikely to detect anything with such discrete populations. However a research project currently being conducted in the Anglesea Heath may change all that. Researchers for the Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Arthur Rylah Institute are evaluating the methods of estimating the abundance of feral cats with the aim of providing recommendations for a national monitoring protocol to estimate the absolute and relative abundance of feral cats. The research is investigating current methods used to estimate the abundance of feral cats track counts (recording tracks of feral cats on sand plots) and capture (cage and/or leg traps) as well as new techniques such as motion/heat detection sensor cameras and hair collection devices for DNA-based analysis. Sounds like the purrfect setup to find an Otway panther...... ANIMALS OF THE ANGLESEA HEATH FERAL CAT (Felis catus) Size: Description: Distribution: Food: similar size to a typical suburban domestic cat with an average adult weight of 4.5kg the most common coat colour of feral cats is striped tabby but blotched tabby and black are also common feral cats are now found in most habitats on the mainland, Tasmania and many offshore islands, although not in the wettest rainforests feral cats are carnivores and can survive with limited access to water; generally eat small mammals but also catch birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and fish; in pastoral regions they feed largely on young rabbits but in other areas feral cats prey mainly on native animals; it is estimated feral cats kill on average ten wildlife items each week FERAL CAT ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 LAND RAINFALL (mm) Month JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC TOTAL 2007 Rainfall 40.0 20.2 25.6 7.3 31.0 37.1 129.4 52.8 17.0 69.2 40.8 43.6 124.0 26.0 47.2 15.8 15.4 29.0 453.6 1968-2006 Average 44.6 43.3 41.5 42.5 53.1 53.5 61.2 60.8 59.6 59.3 61.1 60.6 68.3 73.6 54.1 44.2 498.0 67.0 65.8 130 7 0 0 .0 0 120 6 0 0 .0 0 110 100 5 0 0 .0 0 90 80 4 0 0 .0 0 70 60 3 0 0 .0 0 50 40 2 0 0 .0 0 30 20 1 0 0 .0 0 10 0 0 .0 0 WATER TOWN WATER USE (ML) FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Process 23.9 2000 2006 2007 JAN 11.0 1 0 . 4 0.6 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.1 0.8 0.9 0.6 2.2 0.6 1.5 0.7 1.7 1.2 1.3 1.5 1.5 Amenity2 . 5 11.6 3.8 1.2 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.7 0.2 0.1 0.4 0.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.1 4 0 .0 3 5 .0 2 .0 3 0 .0 2 5 .0 1 .5 2 0 .0 1 .0 1 5 .0 1 0 .0 0 .5 5 .0 0 .0 0 .0 2000 2006 2007 JA N F E B M A R A P R M A Y JUN JU L A U G S E P O C T NO V D E C AIR GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) TOTAL (Mt) & GHG EMISSION EFFICENCY (t/MWh) GHG Mt GHG t/MWh 1990 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 1.42 1.23 1.27 1.50 1.45 1.47 1.31 1.49 1.37 1.34 1.24 1.19 1.21 1.21 1.20 1.21 1.20 1.18 2 1 6 00 00 0 1 .8 1 4 00 00 0 1 .6 1 .4 1 .2 1 2 00 00 0 1 0 00 00 0 1 8 0 00 00 0 .8 6 0 00 00 0 .6 4 0 00 00 0 .4 0 .2 0 2 0 00 00 0 ANGLESEA ENVIRONMENT REPORT SEPTEMBER 2007 environmental improvement Environmental Management Targets September 2007 Total Forecast 2007 Target Reportable Environmental Incidents 1 3* 4 0 Monthly EHS ASAT Audit Completion (%) 100 100 100 90 * The Alcoa Corporate Compliance Group have reviewed the SO2 incidents incurred since 2002, all incidents have now been reclassified from breaches of the Alcoa Local Standard to Non Compliance with Laws and Regulations. Air Emission Targets September 2007 Total Forecast 2007 Target Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 210ppb) 1 3 4 0 Ambient SO2 ( no. readings > 200ppb) 1 4 5 0 Stack SO2 (no. hrs > 100kg/min) 0 0 0 0 SO2 Load Reductions (lost MWh) 7428 18532 24710 N/A GHG Efficiency (t CO2 e/MWh) 1.15 1.18 1.18 1.20 Opacity (10 min av > 0.25g/m normal operation) 0 0 0 0 Water Targets September 2007 Total Forecast 2007 Target Town Water (ML) 1.4 11.6 15.5 14.2 Bore Water (ML) 221 2130 2840 2667 Waste Targets September 2007 Total Forecast 2007 Target Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 9.0 Solid Prescribed Waste to Landfill (t) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3 Mine Rehabilitation Targets 2007 Total 2007 Target 2007 Area Cleared (ha) 2.9 3.5 2007 Area Rehabilitated (ha) 5.0 > 3.5 2005 Mine Rehabilitation Species Richness (%) 103 100 OUR ENVIRONMENT..OUR RESEARCH PARTNERS Alan, what does the job of a Senior Scientist with ARI look like? My job involves initiating and leading research projects aimed at providing robust evidence that informs and supports the development of broader land management policy for DSE and a range of external clients. I am currently working on assessing methods for measuring changes in abundance of feral cats, the safe and effective use of aerial baiting for the control of wild dogs, and assessing the effectiveness of broad-scale fox control. I also provide advice to the Eastern Barred Bandicoot recovery team. Out and about in the forests of Victoria....any panther sightings? Introduced feral predators are my area of expertise. I have seen a few strange things in the bush, but never anything like a panther. I suspect not many people have seen a panther in the wild, so it’s hard to know what people have seen. I certainly think people believe they have seen a large cat-like creature, but belief and fact are two different things. Until somebody actually has one in the hand it will remain in the realms of big foot and the yeti. We hope your enjoying your time in the Anglesea Heath? The heath is a fantastic place, it has a great diversity of flora and fauna and the general setting is certainly ideal for undertaking field work. We hope that our research will enable Parks Victoria and Alcoa to effectively manage the impact of feral cats. ...ALAN ROBLEY