2020-07-07 Planning & Environment Committee Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                         7 JULY 2020


Tenure Issues

The first tranche of transfer of land into National Park occurred in 2019. This was the first 357ha of
State Forest to be transferred into National Park. There are no further tranches scheduled for the
next 3 years.

It is important to note that the Council does not have any tenure or formal access rights at this
stage. That will only arise after the first five year period when the Council has a right to become
trustee of Conservation Park over the former PLA pine areas. In the meantime, the State has
issued access permits for third parties who wish to assist in the remediation of these former forestry
areas.

Community tree planting

With the surrender of the Plantation License
Area by HQP in the north-east corner of Ringtail
Forest, it has been possible to undertake a
number of tree planting events. With funding
organised by the Koala Crusaders through the
philanthropic    arm     of   the     BodyShop
organisation, there have been two major
community tree planning events of McKinnon
Drive with the most recent one occurring on 29
February 2020. Funding has also been donated
by Peppers Noosa Resort and Tourism Noosa
(Trees for Tourism Program) to these
community tree planning events. Philanthropic
donations from the BodyShop have so far
resulted in approximately $155,000 worth of environmental restoration work in the north-east and
eastern section of Ringtail forest with more than 27,000 trees planted to date by Landcare with
3,500 of those trees planted on community tree planning days. Perhaps the most pleasing element
of the community tree planning days has been the significant number of younger people getting
involved. More tree planting is planned using donated funds from Peppers Noosa Resort and
funds raised by Tourism Noosa.

Communication

The project partners have been coordinating in relation to advice to the community about
harvesting operations - both the reasons for this harvesting occurring and also potential impact of
harvesting trucks etc. This is coordinated through the Transition Committee members. As an
example, consultation occurred with the Pomona State School to identify that DAF contractor
harvesting trucks will not transition past the School during school drop-off/pickup times. Further,
signage has been erected to advise residents of the temporary closure of parts of Trails 7 and 8 of
the Hinterland Tracks and Trails to enable harvesting to occur safely.


2.    Opportunity to further enhance the project

This project has attracted both state and national attention. It has already won the following awards:
     Best project in Local Government in Queensland for Collaboration (LGMA 2019 Awards)
     National LG Professional Australia Federation Award 2019 for Partnerships and
      Collaboration.




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