Press Release - January 11 2006
In 2002, Victoria released a framework for managing native
vegetation. The framework established a strategic direction
for the protection, enhancement and revegetation of native
vegetation across the state. Since the release of the framework
a number of initiatives have been developed to implement the
framework objectives. One key initiative has been the creation
of tenders by the Australian Government offering payment for
the management and maintenance of native vegetation on private
land.
One such tender project currently underway is the PlainsTender
on the Victorian Volcanic Plain. The Volcanic Plain Bioregion
covers 2.3 million hectares extending across south-west Victoria.
This region now contains only 4.5% native vegetation, most
of which is on private land. The protection of these areas
is regarded as crucial to ensure the conservation of a number
of native species of flora and fauna.
As with all tenders, it is of primary importance for the
assessment and bidding process to occur in an organised and
fair way, for this reason the PlainsTender bidding process
has a number of steps:
- Firstly, landholders register an expression of interest.
- Next, an assessment is performed to score the site
for existing vegetation quality, maintenance and possible
improvement.
- A management plan is formulated for the landholder
that lists and orders tasks on which they will bid.
- Landholders submit sealed bids nominating the payment
required to undertake agreed actions in the management plan.
- Bids are assessed on: current conservation value of
the site, and amount of service offered and cost.
- Successful bidders then sign contracts and a process
of periodic payments and reporting commences.
To assist with this complex process, Corangamite Catchment
Management Authority (CCMA) who manage the PlainsTender project,
commissioned Spatial Vision to develop the PlainsTender Management
System. This system is designed to assist CCMA in managing
the tender process from beginning to end. The application
provides tools to assist with the assessment, bidding and
on-going management process. The application has been designed
to be simple to use, as well as easy to modify so that it
may be used for future auctions
For further information please contact :
Scott Manley
Ph: (03) 9691 3000
email info@spatialvision.com.au
Copyright © Spatial Vision, Monday, 23-January-2006
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