Appendix 3: Vegetation Descriptions for Willows Road Farm and Potential Vent Raise Sites Boffa Miskell Ltd | Waihi North Project | Terrestrial Ecology Values and Effects of the WUG Table 4: Survey details from Archey’s frog searches at Site 4. Date Survey Effort (hrs) Average Temperature (C°) Average Relative Humidity (RH) % Number of frogs found 31/03/2021 6 16.5 96 0 Suitability for vent site: The vegetation, presence of pig rooting (i.e., high natural disturbance), and lack of habitat associated with fauna is potentially suitable for a vent site. The site location outside the paper road deems the site of low priority for further survey at present. Site 5 An emergent tawa tree dominates the centre of the site (25 m tall). The canopy is dominated by ponga and nikau. Rewarewa, mahoe and mapou are also present. Grouped together in the top corner of Site 5 are other large tawa. The depth of the leaf litter is substantial from the rewarewa and tree ferns. The site is well-drained due to sloping landform. Epiphytes are present on trees. The forest floor has limited seedlings and saplings. Some young wheki and Blechnum fraseri are present. The vegetation is suitable habitat for Archey’s frogs, but less so for lizard and bat species. Other survey information: Site 5 was surveyed for Archey’s frogs over two nights in 2021 (Table 5). Temperature was cool (<13 C°) for the first survey night, with relative humidity at 100%. The second survey night had conditions more suitable for frog emergence (Table 5). Vegetation, leaf litter and soil were recorded as ‘Moist-Wet’ during the first survey night and leaf litter and soil were moist, but vegetation was dry on the second night (Cree 1989). Two frogs were located within the site. No ‘Threatened / At Risk’ invertebrate species were identified. Table 5: Survey details from Archey’s frog searches at Site 5. Date Survey Effort (hrs) Average Temperature (C°) Average Relative Humidity (RH) % Number of frogs found 15/04/2021 4.5 10.6 100 0 21/04/2021 6.5 15.2 100 2 Suitability for vent site: Site 5 avoided ‘Threatened / At Risk’ plant species, but large tawa trees were present within the site. Additional survey nights are needed to determine frog abundance. Specific surveys for bats, lizards and invertebrate species will need to occur when weather conditions are appropriate. The site is not within 100 m of an identified wetland. Site 5 is potentially suitable as a future shaft site.
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