Roadside vegetation Within the Wagga Wagga LGA there is an extensive road network that connects the rural landscape and includes a combination of principal, secondary and minor roads as well as tracks. The vegetation within the adjoining roadside reserves is diverse and ranges from native woodland to scattered paddock trees. Many of the vegetation communities within roadside reserves are listed as threatened ecological communities under both Commonwealth and State legislation and hold significant conservation value. Roadside vegetation can vary considerably and occurs in patches of variable size and is often highly fragmented. This increases the importance of roadside vegetation as stepping stones between remnant patches. Remnants provide valuable wildlife habitat and support areas of core habitat when linked to other vegetation across the landscape. Council has recognised the significance of roadside reserve networks and the benefits these areas provide toward maintaining diverse and functional ecosystems to support native fauna and has developed a Roadside Vegetation Management Plan that will help guide management practices that will maintain or improve conservation significance within the roadside reserves. Council also recognises the need to minimise potential conflict and ensure roadside vegetation is managed to ensure a balance between biodiversity and the ability to maintain community infrastructure and public safety.
Bushfires Bushfires are a natural part of Australia’s environment. Many of Australia’s native plants are fire prone and combustible, and numerous species depend on fire to regenerate. Natural ecosystems have evolved with fire, along with biological diversity, which has been shaped by both historic and contemporary fires. First Nations Peoples have been using fire as a land management tool for thousands of years (Geoscience Australia, 2019) Whether a bushfire will occur depends on the presence of fuel, oxygen and an ignition point source. Fire intensity and speed depends on ambient temperature, fuel load, fuel moisture, wind speed and slope. (Geoscience Australia, 2019) One way to minimise the effects of bushfires is through hazard reduction or fuel reduction and cultural burning. This is a process that takes place before fire season where the fuel load is reduced by controlled burns, mechanical clearing (slashing undergrowth) or reducing ground fuel load by hand. (NSW Rural Fire Service, 2019) Fire practice continues to be used to clear land for agricultural purposes and to protect properties from intense uncontrolled fires (Geoscience Australia, 2019). The loss of biodiversity in fires can also be severe. Almost three billion animals are estimated to have been killed or displaced from the 2019 ‘Black Summer’ bushfires, including 143 million mammals, 246 billion reptiles, 180 million birds and 51 million frogs (Van Eeden, et al., 2020).
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