Meeting papers

Monitoring
Vegetation extent:
The Noosa Environment Strategy 2019 requires the mapping of extent of coastal foreshore
vegetation every 2 years. Data collection was conducted in 2022 as part of the Coastal Monitoring
Plan under Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan implementation, using two different remote sensing,
drone platform methods Repeated coastal foreshore vegetation extent mapping will contribute to
our understanding of coastal changes and climate change.

Regional ecosystems
The Noosa Environment Strategy 2019 requires the review of changes to the extent and number of
coastal Regional Ecosystems (RE) every five years. Detailed RE mapping was extracted from
State government datasets and collated for EBFRs in 2021 and 2022, as part of the EBFMP
development, and found significant expansion of mapped High Value Regrowth (HVR) and some
expansion of mapped REs.

In 2021 mapped EBFR HVR and RE vegetation was 87.3 ha, increasing to 126.9 ha in 2022. Four
new REs, 12.2.5, 12.2.7, 12.2.13, and 12.2.15, were also mapped in 2022. However, these
increases were probably mostly due to new more detailed and more accurate mapping rather than
more recovered vegetation but will act as good baseline data for future monitoring.

Bushland condition mapping (BOA)
The Noosa Bushland Reserves Strategic Management Plan 2021– 2026 requires BOAs of
significant reserves every five years. The Bushland Operational Assessment (BOA) is used to
gauge condition of bushland in natural areas, based on the resilience (ability of native indigenous
species to recruit and progress towards a representative vegetation community), percentage of
weeds. It is visually shown by easy to interpret colours on maps and backed up my weed
percentages and notes.

BOA has been used in Council’s conservation estate network since 2008, across many of the 148
Bushland Reserves. Its primary function is to inform and assess planning and on-ground
management of natural areas. It identifies the priority and strategic areas for works, the needed
activities and monitors works effectiveness. It can guide operational service levels, resource gap
analysis, contract management and work plan development.

The boundaries and attributes of each condition area and management considerations points are
collected and mapped using a GPS enabled device, with ARCPAD software and creates shape
files. These shapefiles are edited in GIS mapping application to produce coloured maps and
attribute tables. BOA and associated desktop editing, with particular attention to mapping the
boundaries and attributes of each encroachment and private beach access, have been conducted
across the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves since December 2021.

These are a repeat of mapping completed in 2017, although that previous mapping did not map the
private beach accesses or detail each encroachment. The maps and attribute tables collected so
far inform the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Management Plan and will inform the ecological
restoration plans and encroachment recovery for each reserve.


Management Actions

 Action                                                     Responsibility    Timeframe




Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan 2023                                      Page 83


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