Bushland Management
Of the almost 2800sqkm of land within the Hawkesbury LGA, 71% is contained within National Parks, Nature Reserves and State Recreation Areas.
About 1.2% of the Local Government Area is parkland managed by Hawkesbury City Council. Our Bushland Management program focusses on the many natural areas under Councils care.
Fire Management
Fire management aims to take measures to prevent damage to life and property from bushfires, and to ensure that as far as possible, bushfire management is compatible with the other objectives of Plans of Management.
Bushfire hazard reduction is undertaken where there is an identified high hazard to assets on the land or on surrounding land, in accordance with the Hawkesbury Bushfire Risk Management Plan. As far as possible, bushfire hazard reduction shall be by mechanical means and will be undertaken along property boundaries. Hazard reduction programs are to include an adequate environmental assessment and will be implemented in a manner which protects the biological diversity.
Where appropriate, specific parcels of community land will have a fire management plan prepared and adopted.
For information on how to best prepare your property see here.
Native Fauna
Impacts on wildlife and habitat need to be taken into consideration whenever any management activity is proposed (such as bushland regeneration, weed control, bushfire hazard reduction, recreation activities, etc).
The control of feral animals (foxes, wild dogs, feral cats, etc) may need to be undertaken within natural areas. See Pest animals for more information.
In addition, the use of natural areas for exercising or training of domestic animals (eg horses, dogs, cats, etc) is an activity which is incompatible with the protection and management of native fauna and habitat so should only be done with consideration of the natural environment.
Weeds
For the purpose of vegetation management in natural areas, a weed is regarded as any non-indigenous plant. Measures are to be implemented to control and manage existing and future processes leading to weed invasion and sources of weeds which are invasive of natural areas. An important element of weed control is understanding of the causes of weed invasion and taking measures to minimise them.
Weeds create management problems in that they have ongoing maintenance requirements, which remove scarce resources from other areas of management. They also make it difficult for the community to perceive a natural area as a viable land use where the land in question is weedy and overgrown.
There are two different areas of responsibility with regard to weeds, in that Priority weeds are dealt with by the Hawkesbury River County Council under the Biosecurity Act and environmental weeds are dealt with by contractors or day labour by Hawkesbury City Council.
Weed control is implemented in such a way as to minimise negative environmental impacts. Different techniques are required in varying situations, especially along watercourses, which are very sensitive to pollution impacts. An important part of control is the regular monitoring of weeds in natural areas on an ongoing basis.
The Hawkesbury River County Council manages Priority Weeds in the Hawkesbury LGA. Visit here to see the full list of Priority Weeds.
For information on controlling weeds on your property, go to https://weeds.dpi.nsw.gov.au/.
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