Page 4072 - Week 13 - Thursday, 31 October 2013
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Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment’s report into tree protection. A tree curator, created through consequential changes to the Tree Protection Act, will take responsibility for all tree protection matters in the territory.
The bill continues the role of the ACT Parks and Conservation Service in managing conservation reserves. Conservation officers provide advice to both the land custodian and the conservator.
The Flora and Fauna Committee will be renamed the Scientific Committee and will have a clear role in reviewing and making recommendations on action plans and species conservation plans.
Key strategic documents are retained under the bill and new plans introduced to allow better conservation of species and ecological communities, both within the ACT and where they cross into other states. The nature conservation strategy provides high-level strategic direction.
Action plans will remain the key strategic documents for managing threatened species, ecological communities and threatening processes. A migratory species action plan has been proposed to improve the availability of information on migratory species and their habitats. Native species conservation plans are proposed as a flexible management tool that can be applied to species that are not threatened but require management, such as conservation-dependent species.
The exposure draft bill also contains provisions for controlled native species management plans. These plans will enable the management of native species that cause unacceptable economic, social or environmental damage within a strategic framework and aim to maintain the species while managing its impacts on other species and the ecosystem.
Planning for conservation reserves has been brought into the Nature Conservation Bill. This will bring management planning for conservation reserves under the same act they are managed under. Management of reserves will be more flexible under the act. Activities declarations, backed up by signage, will make it clear what can and cannot be done in each area based on the provisions of a management plan, consistent with the purpose of the reserve and its management objectives. Permits will be issued under the Public Unleased Land Act in consultation with the conservator.
The bill also proposes to include resource protection areas as a new provision for reserve management. This provision allows for parts of reserves to have more restricted access or activities to allow for restoration or rehabilitation or, for example, to protect sensitive breeding habitats of threatened species. This will also ensure that areas can recover quickly—for example, if they are damaged through wildfire. Resource protection areas will be managed by the Parks and Conservation Service.
The bill proposes that the conservator allocates IUCN—the International Union for the Conservation of Nature—protected area management categories to all reserved areas in the ACT. This provision responds to a recommendation by the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment in her July 2011 report into the Canberra nature park.
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