DPI Update (Issue 53)

JOHN MITAS, General Manager Minerals and Extractive Operations reports on the Temporary Loss of Native Vegetation

ONE of the areas that causes most confusion in understanding Victoria’s Native Vegetation Management – A Framework for Action (NRE 2002) is what constitutes temporary loss in native vegetation? Put simply, if a landform is being reinstated back to its original, or near to, its form then the loss can be considered temporary and treated accordingly.

DSE’s framework rules state that the rarity value of the vegetation is taken into account when calculating off sets for the removal of vegetation. This means that if a type of vegetation is particularly endangered then planting alone will not compensate for its loss and a certain percentage of the replacement must be in the form of protection of another area of the same vegetation.

Where loss is considered temporary, however, the loss can be replaced with 100% re-vegetation as per the DSE’s Native Vegetation:

Re-vegetation Planting Standards – Guidelines for establishing native vegetation for Net Gain accounting (DSE 2006). An example of this might be temporary tracks which will be re-vegetated once the project has finished.

It is important to note that the removal of medium and large old trees will not count as temporary loss as they cannot be quickly or easily replaced in the short term.

Further information can be found on page 7 of the Native Vegetation Management Guidelines for the Earth Resources Industries (DPI 2009). This provides further references to the various DSE guidelines.

The above article is an extract from the August 2010 DPI Newsletter and
is available at the following link: http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/whats-new/minerals-andextractive-operations-newsletter

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