2021-06-17 OM Agenda - Item 2 - Attachment 1 - Draft Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Management Plan 2021-2026

Council Staff will be trained and accredited in
bushland regeneration techniques, assessing
bushland for resilience (BOA), best practice weed
species management that minimises herbicide usage
(particularly in urban areas or adjacent to
waterways), fauna monitoring techniques, and data
collection using electronic devices.

Contractors need to demonstrate that all staff are
proficient in bushland regeneration and invasive
species management and are operating using the
same best practices as outlined within the SE Qld
Ecological Restoration Framework Guideline and
Manual.
                                                          Figure 25 - Council staff and contractors need to become
                                                          proficient at field-based electronic recording of pest species
                                                          and use of Council’s Pest Management Database
8.4.3       Fire Management.
Noosa’s bushland reserves contain many native vegetation communities that are fire adapted and
in the absence of fire, may lose species diversity. Management of these reserves for fire is dealt
with separately in the Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Fire Management Plan.

Extended periods without a fire in these native vegetation communities can lead to a large build-up
of fuels (leaf litter and woody material) that create suitable conditions for intense fire with adverse
impacts on biodiversity values, human safety, and the built environment.

The Queensland Herbarium’s Regional Ecosystem Fire Guidelines 2016 are the recommended fire
regimes for regional ecosystems and broad vegetation groups within South East Queensland.

In urban areas some smaller reserves have a medium to high fire hazard and present a potential
risk to adjoining residents. Some reserves in these areas may not be able to be burnt at all due to
health risks to adjacent residents from smoke, and the potential for a prescribed burn to escape
containment lines with a change in wind direction. In these instances it is important to plan for a
potential wildfire by ensuring fire trails are of adequate width for response crews to access the
reserve to conduct firefighting activities.

In the absence of fire in many reserves containing fire adapted native vegetation there will be a
change in plant species composition, e.g. reduced recruitment of eucalypts, an increase in
rainforest species with an associated change in faunal species, and the dunal systems reverting to
more mesic communities with a loss of Banksia integrifolia.


8.4.4       Recreational Trails

Council has an extensive network of trails within the hinterland (Noosa Trail network). This trail
network is mainly within unmade road reserve so is outside the scope of this plan. However, a
Noosa Trail Masterplan has been developed and is guiding future development and maintenance
of the trail network.

Where the trail network passes through bushland reserves it should be inspected every 6 months
at least and maintained regularly to prevent erosion, weed incursions, illegal campfires and
damage to vegetation. Within the bushland reserve network there also exists a number of
recreational trails, for example the Cooloola Great walk commences within Arthur Harrold Nature
Refuge.



Noosa Bushland Reserves Strategic Management Plan 2021 – 2026                                          Page 41