A new study of native vegetation will help inform the assessment of development proposals, future land use and conservation planning in the Greater Geraldton Region.
Jeremy Dawkins, WAPC Chairman congratulated the project partners for initiating the survey that was identified by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as important in providing a regional context for land use planning decisions that have the potential to impact on native vegetation.
"The information gathered by the survey will be particularly useful for structure planning by local governments, conservation planning by the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) and formal assessments of development proposals by the EPA," Mr Dawkins said.
The WAPC recently appointed Ecoscape to conduct the survey on behalf of the project partners. The survey will map vegetation types (associations) in an area extending from Devlin Pool Road, south of the Greenough River, to Coronation Beach in the north, and east to the foothills of the Moresby Ranges.
Ecoscape is currently compiling information from previous vegetation studies within the area, and will undertake field surveys in spring 2008. Information collected will be compiled into a technical report, due in March 2009, which will identify vegetation associations of regional significance.
The survey is an initiative of the WAPC and Department for Planning and Infrastructure (DPI), in partnership with the DEC, City of Geraldton-Greenough, Shire of Chapman Valley, LandCorp and Department of Agriculture and Food.
The survey has received funding from the project partners, with a contribution from the EnviroPlanning project.
The EnviroPlanning project, aims to develop new ways to make land use planning more responsive and effective as a tool for supporting natural resource management in Western Australia.
EnviroPlanning is a statewide project sponsored by the Australian Government through the Natural Heritage Trust and is a joint initiative of the WAPC, DPI and WA Local Government Association.
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Media contact: Natasha Farrell (08) 9264 7518 / 0408 955 604