Ecoscape was engaged in August 2019 to provide the following services for the project:

• undertake NMRT Malleefowl mound monitoring training
• monitoring of known Malleefowl mounds
• ground truthing of LiDAR results for potential Malleefowl mounds.

The results of the Malleefowl mound monitoring and review of the recorded images of Malleefowl at mounds has provided baseline data that can be used to compare future monitoring results for the Covalent Lithium Mt Holland Project site. 

There is one active mound and 30 inactive mounds within the development envelope that were identified as requiring annual monitoring as a result of the surveys.  There are 14 mounds within the development envelope that were determined to be either not mounds or long unused mounds that were assigned as Do Not Monitor using NMRT monitoring methods.

A temporal analysis determined two active mounds at MM23 and MM17 were active consecutively, so it is feasible to estimate that there are two breeding pairs within the local area.  The individual seen visiting MM53 and MM56 could potentially be one of the two pairs but is unlikely that a paired bird would be investigating inactive mounds.

Trail cameras identified four different Malleefowl mounds were visited by Feral Cat.  This included both active Malleefowl mounds.