2021-06-08 P&E Agenda - Item 6 - Attachment 1 - Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Management Plan 2021-2026

1. Introduction
Noosa Shire is internationally recognised as being a destination of choice for residents and visitors
alike. The shire contains extensive areas of natural bushland and areas of biodiversity value that
are of significance internationally.

Noosa shire entirely comprises the land areas of the Noosa Biosphere Reserve, making it an area
that is globally recognised as having outstanding environmental values, whilst achieving a
balanced relationship between humans and the environment.

The Noosa Biodiversity Assessment Report commissioned by Noosa Council revealed that 55% of
the shire’s terrestrial area contains native vegetation, and that approximately one third of the shire
is under some form of protective tenure. These protected tenures include National Parks, Nature
Refuges, Voluntary Conservation Agreements and Council’s bushland reserves. These 178
Council bushland reserves cover a total area of 3,469 hectares and protect a remarkable range of
native ecosystems.

Noosa’s bushland reserves play an important role in protecting biodiversity, acting as wildlife
corridors between large core areas of native vegetation, contributing to good water quality in the
shire’s waterways, and providing residents and visitors with a range of nature-based recreational
opportunities. The community is very much engaged in the management of many of these
reserves, with an active Bushland Care program in place within the shire.

The Noosa Bushland Reserve Strategic Management Plan is the operational mechanism for the
implementation of several targets identified within the Noosa Environment Strategy. The Noosa
Bushland Reserve Network delivers values across all 4 themes of the Noosa Environment
Strategy, namely: Biodiversity; Waterways, Wetlands and Coasts; Sustainable Living; and, Climate
Change Adaptation and Resilience.


This Bushland Reserve Strategic Management Plan;
    describes the values and threats to biodiversity within Council’s bushland reserve network
    analyses tenure and protective status
    prioritises individual reserves for active management based on a set of values and
       feasibility of achieving reserve resilience
    provides a series of recommendations at both the planning and operational levels to
       achieve cost effective outcomes.


1.1    Council’s Bushland Reserve Network
Noosa Council’s bushland reserve estate is termed ‘network’ to acknowledge the interconnection
between land parcels in terms of movement of native animals and dissemination of plant pollen
and propagules. The complex (and largely unknown) patterns of wildlife movement on seasonal,
altitudinal and diurnal scales transcends reliance solely on protected areas as repositories for
biodiversity. Native vegetation within road reserves, and both rural and urban private properties
playing a major role as both habitat and corridors for native species.

A snapshot of the bushland reserve network’s biodiversity values indicate that the reserves:

      Contain 413 hectares of ‘Endangered’ and 1,345 hectares “Of Concern” Regional
       Ecosystems (Biodiversity Status under the Vegetation Management Act 1999).
      Protect a number of poorly-conserved Regional Ecosystems. For example the endangered
       rainforest community (Regional Ecosystem (RE) 12.5.13) at Cooroibah Conservation Park
       is one of the largest protected patches within the greater Sunshine Coast region of this
       poorly-conserved Commonwealth-listed Lowland Subtropical Rainforest.

Noosa Bushland Reserves Strategic Management Plan 2021 – 2026                                  Page 5