Client Success Story
Underpinning
Victoria's Native Vegetation Management Framework
David Parkes, Parks, Flora and Fauna Division,
Natural Resources and Environment
Spatial
Vision is assisting the Department of Natural Resources and Environment
(NRE) with a series of fundamental information products and tools
that help underpin the implementation of the Native Vegetation
Management Framework recently launched by the Victorian State
Government. These products and tools include, Ecological Vegetation
Class mapping, an interactive CD for distributing information
to local government for planning, tools for monitoring catchment
activities and a system for assessing and tracking planning permit
applications for native vegetation clearing.
David Parkes,
of the Parks, Flora and Fauna Division, NRE, and a key player
in the development of the Framework, notes that "native vegetation
is one of the foundations of catchment health and biodiversity
conservation, and natural resource managers are increasingly recognising
their critical need for 'knowledge management' in this area. We
are working to integrate policy development, decision-making processes,
technical tools and key datasets so that these managers can make
better informed and more effective steps towards our goal of a
net gain in the extent and quality of native vegetation in Victoria.
Our vegetation mapping datasets provide both the broader context
and the local detail for decisions about native vegetation and
we see the provision of these datasets to the wide range of stakeholders
through a variety of products as a very important part of our
business. Spatial Vision has been chosen to work with us on several
of these projects: they have the necessary technical and project
management skills, and have strong experience in the building
of vegetation mapping datasets. Importantly, Spatial Vision also
has a clear understanding of our broader 'knowledge management'
agenda, and the ability to assist us in taking practical and timely
steps along the right path."
Statewide
Ecological Vegetation Class Mapping- Final Pieces of the Jigsaw
1st July
2002 was a significant day in the quest to complete ecological
vegetation class (EVC) mapping across Victoria. A workshop held
at Spatial Vision's offices helped put the finishing touches on
a preliminary map of pre-1750 vegetation for the North West (NW)
of the State, the last remaining area of the Victoria to be mapped.
This map will enable the NW Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs)
to develop their regional Native Vegetation Management Plans that
identify priorities for biodiversity management.
Figure
1 : Preliminary modelling of pre1750 vegetation for the North
West Victoria (122kb)
The workshop
saw an impressive cast of well renowned botanists and members of the
NW Ecological Vegetation Class Mapping Project Steering Group review
the preliminary work prepared by the project team. This preliminary
work involved the modelling of pre1750 and extant (remaining) vegetation
for the entire study area and forms the first key milestone for the
NW Ecological Vegetation Class Mapping project.
The joint project
is being undertaken by Spatial Vision, the Arthur Rylah Institute of
the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, and Ecology Australia.
The project involves mapping pre-1750 and extant vegetation for the
Mallee CMA, and extensive areas of the Wimmera and North Central CMAs,
a total study area of about 6 million ha. Importantly the project provides
a unique opportunity to bring together the best expertise in terms of
vegetation mapping and spatial information modelling.
While the project
requires detailed mapping of ecological vegetation class information
and will take another 12 months to complete, a preliminary output required
by the CMAs was a modelled version of broad vegetation units. In addition
to climate and terrain information, a key input to any such modelling
process is soil information. In the absence of suitable soil information
for the area, the Spatial Vision utilised digital radiometric survey
information as a surrogate for soil texture. The digital radiometric
survey was originally collected by Minerals & Petroleum Victoria as
part a minerals exploration program and had largely remained unused
and untested for other applications. The integration of the digital
radiometric with climate and terrain surfaces proved to be very successful.
The results of the spatial modelling by Spatial Vision were well received
by expert botanists involved in the project, and the three CMAs. The
digital radiometric data used in this project could also be utilised
by many rural land managers concerned with land use, land suitability
and sustainability issues.
The project
is now focussed on the field work component of the project which involves
more detailed mapping of existing vegetation and validation of the modelling
rules used to estimate the 1750 distribution of vegetation communities.
Highlighting
the Loss of Native Vegetation
The preliminary
mapping of EVCs for the NW area of Victoria has enabled statewide statistics
on pre-1750 and extant vegetation to be prepared for the first time.
These statistics highlight the changes between the pre-1750 and extant
distribution of vegetation types, and the current level of protection
offered to extant vegetation by its current land management status.
This information has been used to assign a Conservation Status to unique
combinations of EVCs and Victorian Bioregions. This Conservation Status
rating is then used as a key input into the formulation of biodiversity
management plans and strategies at a State and regional level.
Figure 2: Preliminary
map of pre-1750 Native Vegetation based on EVC groupings. (105kb)
Interactive
CD-ROM for Local Government Planning
Spatial Vision
is also supporting NRE in its implementation of the new Native Vegetation
Management Framework for Action by producing a statewide series of maps
showing the Bioregional Conservation Status of EVCs. The maps will be
loaded on to an interactive CD and distributed to Local Government to
assist them in identifying areas of high conservation value. This information
will be incorporated into Local Planning Schemes, and will be used in
the assessment of native vegetation clearing proposals.
Figure
3: CD of vegetation maps to support implementation of Victoria's
Native Vegetation Management Framework (44kB)
Monitoring
Catchment Activities
Spatial Vision
recently completed the development of the NRE Catchment Activity Management
System (CAMS) that enables the recording of on-ground works in catchments.
Importantly, CAMS enables NRE and CMA officers to record and monitor
the plans and outcomes of publicly funded grants. The system also provides
users with the ability to generate standard letters and basic GIS tools
that draw on corporate spatial information.
CAMS was described in the last edition of SV News. Figure
4 : CAMS Java GIS Capture Screen
Native
Vegetation Permit Tracking System
Spatial Vision
is currently working closely with NRE to develop the Native Vegetation
Permit Tracking System (NVPTS). The NVPTS further enhances the Department's
workflow focussed Statutory Planning management system to record the
details and spatial location of applications for clearing native vegetation.
The NVPTS will provide users with access to NRE corporate spatial information
and the ability to record decisions made including recommendations for
vegetation offsets. The system will be available to NRE officers and
via secure extranet to statewide CMA and Local Government authorities.
Future editions of SV News will further describe progress with the NVPTS. Figure
5: Part of the NVPTS assessing net gains in vegetation.
Managing
Native Vegetation in NSW
Spatial Vision is undertaking very similar work in NSW for the National Parks
and Wildlife Service to that undertaken in Victoria to support
the new Native Vegetation Management Framework. This project
involves producing a series of maps and area statements on
a Local Government Area basis for the Cumberland Plain region
(which is essentially the western area of Sydney) that show
the current distribution of ecological communities and areas
of conservation significance based on current and pre-1750
vegetation mapping and modelling. A CD is again being produced
to assist Local Government and other interested parties in
the management of significant areas of remnant native vegetation. Figure
6: The Cumberland Plain CD
For further information
about these projects, please contact Stephen
Farrell.
Click here for
more information on the Victorian
Native Vegetation Management
Copyright © Spatial Vision, Tuesday, 24-September-2002
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