Under the Queensland Nature Conservation (Wildlife Management) Regulation 2006, it is illegal to tamper with an animal/fauna breeding place without an authority. Tamper means to damage, destroy, mark, move or dig up a breeding place. A breeding place is defined as a bower, burrow, cave, hollow, nest or other thing that is commonly used by an fauna to incubate or rear the animals offspring.
Most clearing activities are likely to impact on animal breeding places, therefore it is the responsibility of companies undertaking clearing to ensure they have the correct authority. An assessment should be undertaken to determine the potential impacts to breeding places and the species likely to be impacted. The only authority that can allow for tampering with a fauna breeding place associated with clearing activities is a species management program (SMP) approved by the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (EHP) – sometimes also referred to as Species Management Plans. Usually a SMP requires the use of Fauna Spotter Catcher for the transfer of animals prior to a clearing event.
If it is identified that only least concern species breeding places are likely to be impacted, companies can register for a generic least concern SMP offered by EHP. Ecosure’s fauna spotter catcher staff are registered for the generic least concern SMP, that companies can choose to operate under in most instances. This will potentially save companies time and money when fauna spotter catcher services are required.
If species listed as endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, colonial breeding or special least concern are identified as likely to be impacted, a more detailed SMP is required to be developed and submitted to EHP for approval. Some examples of these species include the koala, echidna and platypus.
Ecosure have developed SMP’s for large and small scale projects, as well as SMP’s which have been utilised for company-wide operations in all project locations. We also have a team of fauna spotter catcher’s experienced in the movement of fauna, including species requiring a detailed SMP like koalas, platypus and threatened fauna species.
Contact : Phil Bracks 07 3606 1030 (Southern Queensland), Lindsay Boyd 07 4994 1000 (Central and Northern Queensland)
