2022-03-08 Planning & Environment Meeting Agenda

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                 8 MARCH 2022



6.   REPORTS FOR NOTING FOR THE COMMITTEE


3    VEGETATION ASSESSMENT PROJECT UPDATE

Author          Principal Environment Officer, Peter Milne
                Environment Officer-Vegetation Assessment, Vanessa Moscato
                Environment & Sustainable Development Department

Index           ECM/ Environment

Attachments     Nil.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Council relies on having accurate vegetation mapping in a number of ways. Developments
occurring within the mapped Noosa Plan Biodiversity Overlay will trigger environmental
assessment and conditioning to avoid or mitigate impacts. Natural resource managers use
vegetation maps to help inform management actions such as fire management. Up to date
vegetation mapping allows the measurement of Noosa Environment Strategy environmental
targets.
The Queensland Herbarium Regional Ecosystem mapping, first developed in the 1990s and now
at version 12, is used as a base layer for Council’s vegetation mapping systems. Currently
Council’s vegetation mapping is being reviewed to better inform development assessment and
natural resource management programs. This report provides an overview to Council on the
progress of the current Vegetation Assessment Project.
RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Principal Environment Officer and the Environment Officer-
Vegetation Assessment to the Planning & Environment Committee Meeting dated 8 March 2022
on the progress of the Vegetation Assessment Project.

REPORT
The Noosa Environment Strategy 2019 aims for no net loss of ecosystem values across the
shire:
     Strategy 1.1 Protect and enhance existing ecosystems, vegetation networks and habitats.
     Target: By 2030, there is no net loss of ecosystems values across the shire.
     Measurement: Every 5 years updated regional ecosystem mapping will be used to identify
     changes in the number and extent of regional ecosystems.
Consistent with the Noosa Environment Strategy 2019 a vegetation assessment project has
commenced to help measure the success of a no net loss target.
1.   Mapping products
The Queensland Herbarium Regional Ecosystem mapping framework was first developed in the
1990s. Now at Version 12, this mapping is the base layer for Council’s vegetation mapping. The
Queensland Herbarium’s remnant vegetation cover and regional ecosystems are defined at a
scale of 1:50,000, which delineates a minimum area for remnant vegetation of 2.5 hectares in
SEQ. The geology mapping on which the regional ecosystem mapping is based is defined at a
regional scale of 1:100,000. Whilst the regional ecosystem mapping products aim to achieve at
least 80% accuracy across the state, they do not always capture the extent of vegetation
communities at a local level. Furthermore, for ecosystems with less than 40% remaining, the

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