Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

Discussion in 'General chat' started by kimbo.parker, Mar 23, 2009.

  1. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    Re-vegetating the landscape is good, we know that.
    Using local provenance natives is also good, we know that.
    Diversity is good...and we do that. But unless you are re-veging a zone5- you would want to be a bit concerned about how the established thing is going to look.
    Yes...'Look',,,because if it looks like 'bush' it is 'bush'!
    The significance of this is bloody huge!
    You can't harvest bush, bush has rights in this country.
    You may obtain some permission from a government department to do some discreet collecting, a license...to harvest a crop on your own place!

    To me, narrow and fixated ; when I reveg. which is all the time - I want full permie rights to harvest my system.
    The system must be recognizable as a 'plantation' (shudder) even though it will do its best to evolve to bush.
    Small holders who reveg possibly tens of acres of their own dirt with their own seeds and seedlings, time effort etc. wouldn't want to have some 'pencil neck who has planted zip tell them their forest is bush,,,would they?

    Imagine your mature climax wood-lot you'd planted as a young permie being a nice bit of 'bush' (to your neighbour). One day you 'kick the chainsaw in the guts' and the next day some government department is in your face about 'your environmental terrorism' :lol:
    regards, Kimbo
     
  2. thepoolroom

    thepoolroom Junior Member

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    Re: Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

    I was talking to someone from our local council about something similar. Here in Kiama, we need council permission to cut down (or even trim!) trees taller than 3 m.

    I had wanted to plant fruit trees and keep them trimmed to a manageable size, and also to plant firewood trees and coppice them to provide a small but continuous flow of firewood. I was quite specific in my questions because I didn't want them to think I was going to be cutting down bush trees. I wanted to plant these trees specifically for these uses.

    The answer was that you can't do it without council permission. And it costs $20 per tree to get that permission! That's not a one-off payment, either, it's $20 each time you want to cut/trim it. Ridiculous.

    There is a way you could get around it by becoming recognised as some kind of tree farm, but that wasn't economic or practical for someone doing this on a small scale (like, an acre or two).
     
  3. Luisa

    Luisa Junior Member

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    Re: Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

    This doesn't sound right to me. If you were in Qld I could advise you but all states do things differently. All I can do is ask you some questions and see what we come up with.

    First, who have you been talking to? Only the local council? Or the relevant stat govt depts? Some local councils are dodgy-as and some just can't get good staff. There has been an explosion of demand for planners and there are few qualified planners around. Many of us have qualifications in a vaguely related field and are learning on the job. Mistakes are made. I would be talking to the relevant state govt depts too, not just council.

    Is your block zoned residential or rural? You need to be sure of the zoning, as the legislation that applies is often determined by the zoning. Remember councils can be dodgy and they can make mistakes. If you have doubts talk to the state govt dept of 'local government planning' or similar.

    How is 'native bush' defined? What does the legislation say? Talk to the state govt dept which administers the legislation and see what they say. That would be the dept of land management or natural resource mgt or veg mgt or similar. Do they also do the veg mapping? If not, talk to the dept that does the mapping too.

    You will be particularly interested in whether and how they define remnant/old growth from regrowth/replanted veg. At what point does regrowth become remnant? And how do they define a veg community? If you plant only a few species and they are not those which occur locally or which occur together in natural communities, how will the govt dept map them? If they don't fit in one of the recognised natural communities, it should be obvious that they are not a natural community.
     
  4. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    Re: Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

     
  5. Luisa

    Luisa Junior Member

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    Re: Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

    Is there any option to have your place mapped with the remnant and regrowth or replanted veg distinguished, and locked in place? Here we have PMAVs - property map of assessable vegetation. It is a legally binding document. The govt and you agree to which bits are remnant (and can never be touched) and which bits are currently cleared or young regrowth and once they are mapped in a PMAV, you get to keep clearing rights over the regrowth in perpetuity. In other words it is a snapshot at a point in time so time ceases to be an element.

    I also find the idea of not being allowed to trim a bit odd but then they always say we do things differently in Qld!! Usually that's not a good thing. Here you can clear or trim individual trees or clear for a house on rural blocks, but not broadscale clearing.
     
  6. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    Re: Think before you reveg. BUSH at yourplace.

    Touche Jose!

    I have never heard of such a thing. I want one . (I think)
    Tell me, when the government maps the veg on my property,
    and identifies remnant and regen...(easy enough I have stands of 35 yr regen.,and they are clearly distinguishable from ancient remnant), could they then somehow exercise some caveat over it, beyond the existing restrictions on clearing and malicious damage to habitat.

    Here is the acid test...do they charge for this service? (beyond some nominal fee)
    Jeeze, I want my veg mapped for my selfish reasons, not for theirs.

    Still I must follow this up,,,if the snapshot won't hurt ,,I'll buy it.

    P.S isn't there a certain irony in this though,,,the hippy now has to prove his reveg to the government else they might mistake it as theirs (bastards).
    and I am ingratiated to you,
    regards, Kimbo
     

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