80 Boffa Miskell Ltd | Waihi North Project | Terrestrial Ecology Values and Effects of the WUG | 22 June 2022 design to increase particulate dispersion and gaseous emission; fencing and a clearance buffer around vent shafts to prevent animal access. • Supervise vegetation clearance on Willows Road Farm to ensure fauna are not harmed, relocate lizards / notable invertebrates following the procedures in the Submanagement plans associated with the Ecological and Landscape Management Plan. • Supervise vent site clearance and relocate frogs, lizards, invertebrates and habitat elements found within the clearance footprint during vegetation clearance46. • Intensive pest control within 633 ha of the WUG surface footprint to deliver benefits specifically for Archey’s frogs but with wider benefits for fauna and vegetation (refer to Pest Management Plan for details). • Kauri dieback management protocols and surveillance, as described in the CFP KDMP. • Rehabilitation of the Willows Road and CFP Project Areas at the conclusion of mining 8.5 Biodiversity Offsetting / Compensation 8.5.1 Definition and Background Biodiversity offsets and compensation are measures taken to counterbalance any residual adverse impacts after implementation of the effects management hierarchy47. As previously noted in Sections 6.4.2 and 6.5.2, biodiversity offset and compensation measures proposed for this project include: • Enhancement planting to account for temporary loss of vegetation within the footprint of vent raises. This action is proposed to occur outside, but immediately adjacent to, the Project Area. • Pest control to address uncertain, but potential residual effects on Archey’s frogs resulting from blast vibration, vent shaft discharges and potential failure of avoidance and mitigation measures associated with construction of the vent shaft. This offset comprises intensive pest control within 314 ha of high-quality habitat for Archey’s frog to the east and west of the WUG surface footprint. • Research funding to assess efficacy of pest control to benefit frog populations; and ongoing Archey’s frog distribution and abundance studies across the Coromandel Peninsula. Both of these actions are proposed to occur outside, but immediately adjacent to, the project footprint. 46 For the avoidance of doubt, prior to vegetation clearance, vent sites must have had no recorded frogs and to have been fenced to exclude frogs and other fauna within 5 days of the final frog survey. In the event that a frog / frogs were not detected during surveys, but were detected during clearance, they would be relocated out of the fenced area following the protocols described in the proposed consent conditions (Part E of the AEE, (Mitchell Daysh, 2022)). 47 We note that Maseyk et al., (2018) define biodiversity offsets as “A measurable conservation outcome resulting from actions designed to compensate for residual, adverse biodiversity effects arising from activities after appropriate avoidance, remediation, and mitigation measures have been applied. The goal of a biodiversity offset is to achieve nonet-loss, and preferably a net-gain, of indigenous biodiversity values”. For consistency with our assessment method, we have used the EIANZ definition.
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