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 GE T AT ION M AN AG E M E N T P L AN
Executive Summary
This Roadside Vegetation Management Plan (RVMP) has been prepared for the Hawkesbury Local
Government Area. The development of this RVMP involved an analyst of existing information for the
road network and included Hawkesbury LGA Vegetation Mapping, threatened species records, land
ownership, geology and soils mapping. This analyst identified priority roads to be surveyed during the
roadside vegetation surveys and grouped roads into one of three classes, high, medium or low
conservation priority. During the survey 364 km of roads were surveyed, including all high priority
roads, 18 medium priority roads and 11 low priority roads. These results have been mapped in a series
of map books and identify the condition of the roads assessed as determined through the surveys.
The surveys recorded a total of 364 plant species, including 244 native species, three of which are
listed under the NSW Threatened Species Act 1972 and two of these are listed under the
Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. A total of 83
introduced species of flora were observed, of which 14 are listed as Noxious Weeds under the NSW
Noxious Weeds Act 1993. Additional to this five of these weed species are Weeds of national
Significance (WoNS).
This RVMP outlines broad management prescriptions to be undertaken for road construction and
maintenance activities in a way which will have minimal impact on the biodiversity of roadsides. Other
roadside activities that are addressed here include management of Ecological Communities, weed
management, fauna habitat management, management of road construction stockpiles, fire
management, the installation of utilities and erosion and sedimentation prevention works.
As part of this RVMP a roadside signage strategy has been developed to identify high priority
conservation areas and some medium priority conservation areas. This enables work crews to take
precautions in areas of high and medium conservation priority areas so as to have minimal impacts on
native vegetation on roadsides. Associated with this is the development of a fact sheet to educate
council workers and community members about the importance of roadside vegetation.
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