VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PLAN for Bidjigal Reserve - Land

Vegetation Management Plan - Bidjigal Reserve7 BASIS FOR MANAGEMENTThe following section Basis for Management; is also largely generic in nature. It has been included inthis VMP in order to provide important background information, and to create a framework for therehabilitation and restoration of native vegetation in Bidjigal Reserve. Protocols for indigenousrevegetation (planting) and weed control have also been included.7.1 Native Vegetation in the Urban Landscape“To be successful in terms of providing the greatest benefit for the least cost, themanagement of vegetation in the urban landscape - whether it involves contrived(landscaped), semi-natural or natural vegetation - needs to be cognisant of a numberof principles which define both what can be done, and how it is to be done. Suchprinciples are the aesthetic, the functional, the socio-political, and the scientific”(Hitchmough 1994).Much of the bushland in Baulkham Hills Shire is surrounded by established residential development,while incremental development in new suburbs means that bushland which has hitherto been freeof urban impacts will soon be subject to the pressures that open space/parkland in a denselypopulated area incurs. The challenge for the land manager is to provide on-going management ofthese important bushland reserves in accordance with each of the principles listed above.7.2 Guiding PrinciplesThe management of any natural area should be guided by the following broad principles:• To protect bushland remnants from further loss and the effects of existing and futurethreatening processes;• To identify all biodiversity and geo-diversity elements;• To conserve significant items/areas by mitigating or removing threatening process andpromoting those natural processes required to ensure long-term viability;• To enhance species diversity in highly simplified or degraded remnants not capable ofrestoration and in non-remnant areas;• To provide corridors and linkages between remnants to facilitate movement and toencourage the flow of genetic material; and• To provide opportunities for passive recreation in a controlled manner consistent with itsecological values.The potential for natural waterbodies or man-made features such as farm dams, detention basins orconstructed wetlands created to facilitate more effective stormwater management, and to createhabitat for native flora and fauna should also be recognised.UBM Ecological Consultants Pty Ltd 132