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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 782 asked in the Legislative Council on 2 November 2017 by Hon Diane Evers

Parliament: 40 Session: 1


PHYTOPHTHORA DIEBACK MANAGEMENT
      782. Hon DIANE EVERS to the Minister for Environment:
I refer to the answer to question 614 asked in the Legislative Council on 13 September 2017, which mentioned mapping and tools available to develop area-specific plans for priority protection areas—PPAs—to mitigate the spread of Phytophthora dieback at a landscape scale.
      (1) How many of the 100 PPAs have had area-specific management strategies, activities, and opportunities for partnered investment developed and implemented to date?
      (2) When will the government complete the development of any remaining area-specific management strategies?
(3) What is the average cost of developing an area-specific management strategy?
      (4) What action is planned to focus on landscape approaches to controlling dieback in threatened communities, other than the management of PPAs?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. I will just note that there was an extra preamble in the question that I have, but the member did not read it out.
      (1) The priority protection areas, PPAs, were identified through a project managed by South Coast Natural Resource Management in partnership with the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, DBCA, and others. Of the 100 PPAs identified, 75 are on land managed by DBCA. The honourable member can have further information; however, I request that this part of the question be put on notice as the information cannot be gathered in the time available. Nevertheless, a number of the 75 areas coincide with areas covered by area management plans prepared in accordance with the Conservation and Land Management Act 1984, such as Fitzgerald River National Park, Kalbarri National Park, Esperance and Recherche parks and reserves, and the ''Forest management plan 2014–2023''.
      (2) The completion of the remaining area-specific management plans will be based on a prioritisation process undertaken by the Conservation and Parks Commission and DBCA.
      (3) The cost of preparing area-specific management plans can range significantly given the area or areas included in the planning process, the tenure and management arrangements involved and the matters to be addressed through the planning process. DBCA does not calculate an average cost of preparing these plans as it is not information that is used readily for reporting purposes and would take significant resources to complete.
      (4) Dieback is considered along with a variety of threatening processes, such as fire, feral animals and weeds for integrated management at a landscape scale to maintain conservation values. DBCA also has recovery plans and interim recovery plans in place for a range of threatened ecological communities, some of which have dieback as a key threat. Included in these plans are strategies to mitigate the risk of dieback. DBCA continues to focus its efforts on the risk associated with the spread of dieback through disturbance activities, and incorporating strategies and monitoring actions relevant to management and recovery plans.