Attachment 1 to Item 53 - Roadside Vegetation Management Plan

H AW K E S B U R Y C IT Y C O U N C IL R O AD S ID E V E G E T AT IO N M AN AG E M E N T P L AN
subdivisions or changes in area zonings will need to be balanced with the conservation of road reserve
values.
In addition to the above considerations, consideration of State and Commonwealth biodiversity
conservation legislation, such as the TSC Act, EP&A Act and EPBC Act, are required when planning for
the management of roadside vegetation. This is because while the planning component of roadside
vegetation management will not significantly impact matters protected under these Acts, the
undertaking of works may result in significant impacts on protected matters.
3.3 ENDANGERED ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES
There are a number of Endangered Ecological Communities (EECs) present within the Hawkesbury
LGA, which are also present within HCC’s roadside reserves. These EECs need to be conserved since
they have been heavily cleared in the past and represent the last examples of vegetation communities
of their type. The EECs that have been recorded in the Hawkesbury LGA (NSW NPWS 2002; DECC
2008) include:
• Blue Gum High Forest;
• Castlereagh Swamp Woodland;
• Cooks River Castlereagh Ironbark Forest;
• Cumberland Plain Woodland;
• Freshwater Wetlands;
• River-Flat Eucalypt Forest on Coastal Floodplains;
• Shale/Gravel Transition Forest;
• Shale Sandstone Transition Forest;
• Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest;
• Turpentine-Ironbark Forest; and
• Western Sydney Dry Rainforest.
Conservation of EECs within roadside environments must be balanced against other essential roadside
management requirements (road safety, fire protection, suppression and control, and/or utility
provision). Management of roadside environments supporting EECs should also ensure that in addition
to the protection of EECs, threats to the integrity of the EECs, such as weed invasion and disease, are
considered, with steps taken to minimise these risks.
3.4 THREATENED FLORA AND FAUNA
A total of 34 threatened flora species and 52 threatened or migratory fauna (1 invertebrate, 7 frogs, 2
reptiles, 2 fish, 35 birds, and 15 mammals, 7 of which are bats), listed under the TSC or EPBC Acts,
have been recorded within the Hawkesbury LGA (DECCW 2009; DEWHA 2009). Some of these may
be present within roadside reserves under HCC’s management, or directly adjacent to these areas, and
thus, the management of flora and fauna habitat needs to be considered and balanced against other
road management works for road safety or fire protection and prevention.
Threatened flora species and threatened fauna and migratory species that have been recorded within
the Hawkesbury LGA are listed in Appendix A.
3.5 NATIVE WILDLIFE / FAUNA HABITAT MANAGEMENT
Wildlife habitat, in its broadest definition, includes any vegetation or other physical structure that meets
an animal’s needs for food, shelter, and/or reproduction. Habitat provided by indigenous vegetation
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