• Western side of each trunked specimen will be marked with White marker paint to preserve the orientation at the onsite nursery and recipient site. White paint will also help prevent sunburn to parts of the trunk shaded by dense grasses and weeds present on the impact site. Salvage constraints will also be noted to assist in determining the most appropriate translocation method. Noting that plants growing in amongst rock slabs and tree roots are likely to require hand digging and are at greater risk of being physically damaged during salvage operations. Seeds will also be collected if ripe at the time of the pre-clearance survey and provided to the Nursery Contractor for propagation. The opportune collection period for this species is typically between March and June but may be anytime of the year. Plants will be dug and moved to the onsite nursery area, roots will be trimmed and treated with fungicide and insecticide and then potted into the appropriately sized containers in “Cycad Potting Media” and lightly watered in and monitored until leaf and root growth is apparent, when they will be treated against insect attack. They will then be maintained and cared for, for at least 9 months and planted into the recipient site at the commencement of the next available wet season. Each plant will be oriented with western side facing west.
5.4.2
Preparation of recipient site
Mark Recipient Site Prior to works commencing, the recipient site is to be demarcated with flagging tape or similar. Planting areas may be expanded if deemed necessary to accommodate salvaged plants and providing it is safe for machinery to operate in such areas. All existing/insitu C. megacarpa plants within the recipient site are to be marked with coloured flagging tape/irrigation flags (a different colour to the plants to be transplanted). The different colours are so that existing plants are clearly visible to prevent accidental damage during the transplanting operations. A permanent tag will also be fixed to each plant in the vicinity of transplanting locations so they can be easily differentiated from translocated plants throughout the monitoring period and the location recorded. The permanent tag will be aluminium ( or equivalent) attached with a loop of stainless- steel wire (or equivalent). And the GPS location of each of these existing plants will be recorded in the translocation database. Weed control The initial preparation of the recipient site shall involve the control of all weeds that have potential to impact on the health of C. megacarpa plants, particularly Lantana camara, exotic pasture grasses and Lantana montevidensis . Weeds shall be controlled through hand removal and/or spot spraying with appropriate herbicides to establish a weed-free area within the recipient planting areas. Preference shall
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Mundic Gully TSF Translocation Project - Cycas megacarpa
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