2015-04-28 Attachment 2 to item 5 Planning and Organisation Committee Agenda - Pest Management Plan 2015-2019

10 Environmentally Significant
   Areas

The designation of Environmentally Significant                   Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act
Areas (ESA) under the Land Protection Act                        1999 (Cwlth), section 181;
provides an added protection against weeds and
pest animals for areas of ecological importance.           (e)   a declared Ramsar wetland under the
                                                                 Environment Protection and Biodiversity
The owner of land where a class 3 pest is                        Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth);
causing (or likely to cause) adverse economic,
environmental or social impacts on an adjacent             (f)   an area of high nature conservation value
ESA (or on the owner’s land if it is within or                   under the Vegetation Management Act
adjacent to an ESA) may be issued with a                         1999;
pest control notice requiring them to take
                                                           (g)   an area, other than State-controlled land,
action against the pest. The notice may also
                                                                 identified in a local government’s pest
be extended to apply to a species that is not a
                                                                 management plan as an area that has
declared pest if it is considered to threaten the
                                                                 special environmental significance for native
survival of native wildlife in the area or if it affects
                                                                 wildlife; or
the area’s capacity to sustain natural processes.
                                                           (h)   a wild river area.
In practice, the issue of a pest control notice
would usually only be considered as a last resort.         Part (g) of this definition provides for the inclusion
A preferable outcome would be the establishment            of areas of local ecological significance as
of a local partnership of land managers that would         designated ESAs.
work together to control pests.
                                                           Additional ESAs identified by this plan under
The term ‘adjacent’ is not defined in the Land             section 78(7)(g) of the Land Protection Act include
Protection Act. When determining adjacency for             all land owned by the Noosa Council that is
this purpose, consideration needs to be given to           managed for conservation purposes (this includes
the biological characteristics of the pest species         any land added to the NSC conservation estate
in question. For highly mobile or dispersible pest         after this Plan takes effect).
species, ‘adjacent’ might be taken to include a
greater area than for less mobile or dispersible
pest species.

Declared Environmentally Significant
Areas

Section 78(7) of the Land Protection Act defines
an ESA as any of the following:

(a)   a protected area;

(b)   land dedicated as a reserve for
      environmental purposes under the Land Act,
      section 31;

(c)   a world heritage area listed under the World
      Heritage Convention;

(d)   an area supporting a critically endangered
      or endangered ecological community in
      the list established under the Environment
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