Native Vegetation - What is native vegetation?
Native Vegetation Home | What is native vegetation | Why is native vegetation important | What is the status of our native vegetation
How are we managing Victoria’s native vegetation better |
| What is native vegetation? Native vegetation means plants like trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses that would have grown naturally in Victoria before European arrival. It does not include plants that originate from other parts of Australia or from other countries. Victoria has a wide range of vegetation types, including alpine meadows, mallee, grasslands, grassy woodlands, forests, heathlands, wetlands and coastal scrub. Some of our plants (and animals) are found nowhere else in the world. Our native vegetation is described in terms of Ecological Vegetation Classes. Why is native vegetation important? Native vegetation provides ecological services, such as:
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While broad-scale clearing has reduced, clearing is still occurring. Clearing of native vegetation and degradation of our land has led to many of the environmental problems we face. The Australian Native Vegetation Assessment 2001 showed that Victoria has some of the poorest catchment and landscape health in the country:
“Are we making a difference? The simple answer is yes, but not enough!” (VCMC 2002) |
Policy
Victoria's Native Vegetation Management - A Framework for Action was released in 2002. The main goal of 'the Framework' is to achieve a Net Gain in the extent and quality of our native vegetation. Most concern for native vegetation focuses on clearing, but maintaining and improving the quality of our vegetation is just as important. The Framework establishes a standard method for measuring the quantity and quality of our native vegetation, and the relative value of improvements we make to vegetation quality. This enables Victoria to provide more targeted and cost-effective incentives and to be more accountable for vegetation losses and gains.
The Framework has a three-step approach to consider when someone is considering any native vegetation removal:
- 1. Avoid adverse impacts, particularly through vegetation clearance
2. If impacts cannot be avoided, minimise impacts by careful planning, design and management
3. If clearing must occur, the clearing must be offset
See the Permit Applicants page for tips on how to avoid, minimise & offset.
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Regulations, including planning permits
A priority for implementing Net Gain is to avoid clearing. Victoria's native vegetation is protected through law. There are duty of care responsibilities and since 1989, landholders wanting to clear native vegetation must have a planning permit from their local council, although there are some exemptions.
The Permit Applicants page details planning permit requirements.
The new ‘whole-of landscape’ approach includes reforms to the regulations that make them easier to implement. The changes mean simpler processing for applicants and local councils, a clearer role for DSE and new strategic tools like Property Vegetation Plans and Precinct Plans that enable better environmental outcomes and improved planning certainty in different situations.
A Property Vegetation Plan (PVP) is an agreement between a landholder and DSE. It has a term of 10 years, and can be the basis of a planning permit, providing more certainty and flexibility for landholders.
Precinct plans can be developed to assist decision making on native vegetation retention and clearing over larger areas. These will be useful in urban and other areas where intensive development is proposed.
Local Government plays a key role in helping to achieve net gain and reduce land clearing. This is because planning permits to remove native vegetation are issued by local government. The Framework and its three-step approach are now important considerations for determining whether a permit to clear native vegetation should be granted. The Local Government section contains information that, along with training, will support local councils in assessing planning permit applications that propose clearing of native vegetation.
To reduce the administrative burden on local government, the assessment process for local Government has been simplified under the new ‘Whole-of landscape’ approach. In addition, DSE will assess all proposals that need technical expertise.
Net Gain will only be achieved through a combination of voluntary and government assisted efforts to improve the amount and quality of native vegetation across Victoria. To support this goal the Government is increasing its investment in native vegetation management through incentives and trading. Part of this investment includes financial support for landholders:
- BushTender can pay landholders to protect and improve the quality of their native vegetation
- CarbonTender can pay landholders to create 'carbon sinks' of replanted native vegetation
- EcoTender can pay landholders for actions that achieve a number of environmental benefits including reduced salinity and improved water.
Each of these schemes allocates funds through an auction based process. Periodic payments are provided to successful landowners under contract.
- In addition BushBroker helps identify and register offsets, and promotes trading in native vegetation credits. It can provide an income stream for landholders who provide offsets for clearing by other people.
- Land for Wildlife will continue as a successful voluntary program, providing information and support for landholders conserving native vegetation and habitat for wildlife.
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Urban growth area planning
| The new ‘Whole-of landscape’ approach focuses on achieving the objectives of the Framework at a regional level. In the urban context this means identifying high value native vegetation early in the planning process, so that such sites are avoided when designating future urban growth areas. A planning tool has been developed to assist this, termed a Precinct plan. Precinct plans can be developed to assist decision making on native vegetation retention and clearing over larger areas, including over multiple properties. This will enable more strategic decisions to be made about the most important areas to be retained, rather than relying on decisions on an ad hoc site-by-site basis. The Plan for Melbourne’s Growth Area avoids areas of native vegetation with high conservation values and allows native vegetation to be considered earlier in the development approval process. Council Green Wedge Management Plans identify environmental resources that should be protected. Linking People and Spaces (2002) committed to the creation of six new parks in Melbourne’s growth corridors. |  |
Victoria has a thorough and comprehensive information base and an advanced system for measuring our achievements in protecting and enhancing native vegetation. This includes:
- Maps of pre-1750, extent and bioregional conservation status of native vegetation across Victoria
- Ecological Vegetation Class benchmarks
- Vegetation Quality Assessment Manual that describes the habitat hectare method for determining the quality of a site's native vegetation.
- Gain Calculator and Technical Guidelines to calculate the improvement in vegetation quality as a result of particular management actions.
- Revegetation Planting Standards which establish minimum performance targets for revegetation activities that contribute net gain and offseting.
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