2020-06-09 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                        9 JUNE 2020


the period of 1 July 2020 to 31 December 2024. The region would be divided into four survey
areas with a different area surveyed each quarter. Inspections would be undertaken in each
area at the following times:
A.    Survey Area 1: 1 July to 30 September each year until the end of 2024, for the localities
      of Cooroy, Cooroy Mountain, Tinbeerwah, Cooroibah and that part of Doonan that is
      within the Noosa Council boundary;
B.    Survey Area 2: 1 October to 31 December each year until the end of 2024, for the
      localities of Black Mountain, Federal, and those parts of Ridgewood and Eerwah Vale that
      are within the Noosa Council boundary;
C.    Survey Area 3: 1 January to 31 March each year until the end of 2024, for the localities of
      Kin Kin, Pinbarren, Cooran and that part of Como that is within the Noosa Council
      boundary; and
D.    Survey Area 4: 1 April to 30 June each year until the end 2024, for the localities of
      Cootharaba and Boreen Point.
The Surveillance Program will involve authorised Council officers visiting a selection of private
properties in each area (usually with the owner present) to record the presence or absence of
prohibited or restricted invasive plant/s or animal/s using a mobile mapping system (ArcGIS
Collector App).
Examples of Prohibited plants or animals are Tropical Soda Apple (Solanum viarum), Water
Soldiers (Stratiotes aloides), Red-eared Slider Turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) and American
Corn Snakes (Pantherophis guttatus).
Examples of Restricted invasive plants or animals are Fireweed (Senecio madagascariensis),
Groundsel Bush (Baccharis halimifolia), European Fox (Vulpes vulpes) and Feral Red Deer
(Cervus elaphus).
If prohibited invasive species are found on a property this information will be referred to
Biosecurity Queensland for their follow up as they are the lead agency for prohibited invasive
species.
If restricted invasive species are found on a property, the landowner is formally advised and
provided with information on what has been found and how to carry out control of the plant/s or
animal/s on their property. A written or verbal request to take reasonable action to control the
plant/s or animal/s may also be provided at this time.
If this action is not taken, the council officer may issue a statutory order under the Biosecurity Act
2014 requesting that control be undertaken within 30 days. If this order is not complied with it, the
Council officer could then arrange for a contractor to enter and clear the property of the restricted
invasive plant/s or animal/s at the landowner’s expense.
During the past four years of the previous Biosecurity Surveillance program (2016 – 2020) a total
of 45 written requests were made to landowners for the control of restricted invasive plant/s on
their properties. This resulted in 13 Biosecurity orders being issued and only 3 instances where
enter and clear action was taken.
As the statistics of the previous surveillance program indicate, the focus of the program is
primarily about educating landowners about the invasive species that are present in our area and
how they can be effectively managed on their properties to reduce their impact.
Previous Council Consideration
Ordinary Meeting Minutes, 18 August 2016, Item 1, Page 8
That Council note the report by Pest and Contracts Officer to the Services & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 9 August 2016 and approve the following Biosecurity Surveillance
Program for the Noosa Council region in accordance with section 235 of the Biosecurity Act
(2014):
A.    Survey Area 1: 1 July to 30 September in each of the four years from 2016 to 2020 for the
      localities of Cooroy, Cooroy Mountain, Tinbeerwah, Cooroibah and that part of Doonan that
      is within the Noosa Council boundary;

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