It’s Partly About the Name
I say ‘spring’ surveys, but it won’t be a surprise to anyone that traditional spring does not entirely conform to the main flowering season here.
No season even lasts as long as three months! Many species appear briefly then disappear, making hay in a harsh climate.
Guidance Statement 51 (EPA, 2004), the principal guiding document for flora and vegetation surveys in Western Australia, does not even mention ‘spring’. The terminology it uses is ‘appropriate timing’.
Yet the ‘spring’ survey has found its way into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) vernacular.
So a botanical survey in Perth in November might represent spring in a traditional sense, but is it appropriate timing?
Cultural Baggage
Colours of kamberang in Perth Banksia Woodland. Hypocalymma robustum (Swan River Myrtle). © Kelli McCreery 2015.
It is not going to be a surprise to anyone either, that traditional Aboriginal seasons more accurately reflect seasonal cycles.
In the south west of Western Australia, the Noongar season of kamberang correlates with the main flowering season. This roughly translates to September and October. I say roughly, because Noongar seasons change when the environment says it’s changing, not when the calendar says it should. Kamberang for example starts earlier near Geraldton and later near Albany.
What does it matter?
Approximately 40% of our flora consists of short-lived species. Species that are present for one or two months then disappear.
Is a flora and vegetation survey valid if 40% of the floristic diversity is missing from it? Ninety new species are discovered every year in Western Australia, how many are being missed in that 40%? How many rare species and communities are being missed? Considering that in EIA, the odds are these ecosystems will be lost forever, do out of season surveys represent a proper historical record?
Perspective
Colours of kamberang in Perth Banksia Woodland. Banksia ilicifolia (Holly Leaf Banksia). © Kelli McCreery 2015.
Dark diversity refers to species that occur in an ecosystem, but for whatever reason aren’t present when you do a botanical survey. In our ecosystems, oddities pop up all through the year. This means that whenever you do a survey, many species will go unrecorded. The very least we can do is survey during the season when most species are visible. To not respect requirements for seasonal surveys is sabotaging what already represents the barest minimum.
The most common response is that projects cannot afford to wait for an appropriate season. Feasibility studies for projects span many years. Waiting a few months is not a problem for well-managed projects. In fact it saves time in the long run.
Environmental consultants have one responsibility in EIA and that is to provide appropriate information and independent advice to the EIA process. When clients pressure us to do a survey ‘now’, we should possess the knowledge to be able to explain why that isn’t in their long-term interests. And if they insist, we need to be able to say ‘no, this is a legal process and our guidance is crystal clear on the matter of seasonality’.