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Ecological Consulting

Our Ecology department specialises in legislative compliance and approval processes, with a wide experience in the provision of ecological assessments and biological surveys.

Almost every engineering or development project has some environmental impact.  Succession Ecology assesses, manages and mitigates ecological constraints to your projects, and identifies and amplifies the ecological assets present on your site.

We provide services to support you throughout the lifecycle of your project:

  • At concept design, we generate a baseline understanding of environmental constraints and opportunities.
  • In project development, we provide compliance support with state and federal legislation, including Native Vegetation Clearance Applications, EPBC Self-assessments, and EPBC referrals.
  • In pre-construction, we draft environmental management plans for any necessary issue. 
  • As construction begins, we conduct pre-clearance checks for threatened species and can accommodate short timeframes.
  • In the post-construction and operational stages, we offer landscaping plans, compliance monitoring and perform on-ground revegetation works. As South Australia’s largest collector of native seed species, we can supply native seed for restoration and revegetation.

Legislative compliance

The core of the Ecology department’s activity lies in working with clients to understand and uphold their obligations under state and federal environmental legislation.

At the federal level,

  • We provide self-assessments and referrals of projects under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
  • We prepare environmental management plans (MP), including but are not limited to, Fauna and Flora MP, Threatened Species MP, Weed Mapping and Invasive Species MP, Rehabilitation and Restoration MP, and Erosion Control MP.

At the State level,

  • Our five NVC-accredited consultants provide applications for the clearance of native vegetation under the Native Vegetation Act 1991.
  • We prepare reports to support the clearance of Regulated and Significant Trees under the Planning, Development and Infrastructure Act 2016.
  • We prepare Vegetation Clearance Reports in accordance with DIT’s Environment and Heritage Technical Manual.
  • We provide ecological support for Environmental Impact Assessments under the Hydrogen and Renewable Energy Act 2023.

Flora and Fauna Assessments

Large-scale projects frequently require targeted surveys for threatened species or ecological communities. In designing flora and fauna assessments, Succession Ecology works closely with both clients regulatory agencies to ensure that the methodology used is adequate to fill key knowledge gaps, will remaining appropriate to the scale of the proposed project.

We run fauna surveys across South Australia, from the Fleurieu Peninsula, through the Mid-north, on the Eyre Peninsula, and up in the arid north. Our team has a deep knowledge of the natural history of Australian birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and plants, and we can provide a survey team to suit almost any need.

Ecological Consulting

An effective consultant grasps the goals of their client and foresees the challenges that may stand between them and the achievement of those goals. We work with clients to understand the legislative obligations relevant to their projects and to chart paths to achieve legislative compliance with minimal impact to timelines and budgets. This process of risk mapping and mitigation is done in close consultation with the client because the risk profile of a project varies as it develops, grows, and evolves. We help clients avoid ecological risks where possible, minimise them where unavoidable, restore impacts if possible, and offset any residual risks that remain.

Succession Ecology’s deep experience of large-scale developments, keen natural history knowledge, and thorough experience with environmental legislation allows us to visualise ecological risks to projects as, or even before, they emerge.