About bush fire hazard reduction and private land conservation agreements
Private land conservation (PLC) agreements help you manage land to conserve and improve biodiversity values. When you enter a PLC agreement, you take on a legal responsibility to protect these values. This responsibility also applies to future landholders.
Bush fire hazard reduction activities can affect the biodiversity values your agreement is designed to protect. Because of this, you should think about bush fire risk management when you set up an agreement.
Bush fire hazard reduction aims to reduce fuel loads and create buffers between vegetation and assets such as houses or buildings. Common methods include:
- mechanical vegetation removal
- hazard reduction burning.
You must follow the terms of your agreement when you carry out any bush fire hazard reduction activity.
Hazard reduction is just one way of preparing for bush fires – it doesn’t remove the threat of fire, and it doesn’t remove the need for you and your family to be prepared.
NSW Rural Fire Service
Bush fire hazard reduction for new agreements
New agreements established under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 must consider bush fire hazard reduction needs and any associated infrastructure.
Biodiversity stewardship agreement note
We recommend that accredited assessors read this page to understand which areas should be excluded from the agreement area or may need to be mapped as a non-credit generating zone.
How to plan before establishing an agreement
When do I need to plan for bush fire hazard reduction infrastructure and activities?
Bush fire hazard infrastructure and activities may alter the layout of your agreement area or the management actions that can occur.
In the majority of cases this will influence how your agreement is mapped and the recording of tracks and infrastructure.
The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) is the primary fire authority in NSW and early discussions with local staff and brigade captains about fire management on your property will assist with the planning of the best location for your agreement area.
Ideally, you will have a clear idea of your future bush fire hazard reduction activities and the location of related infrastructure before you submit an application form or expression of interest form to the BCT.
What hazard reduction activities and options may be relevant?
Bush fire hazard reduction activities commonly involve:
- Mechanically reducing or removing vegetation to separate an asset from the vegetation that can carry a bush fire; and
- Burning of vegetation to create a strategic zone of reduced fuels as a buffer to reduce the intensity of a bush fire.
You should consider if any of the following bush fire hazard reduction options are relevant to your proposed agreement area:
- Clearance around your built assets and property infrastructure,
- vegetation management required on your land to protect assets on adjacent land,
- reduced fuel buffers – which are to be managed either by mechanical means or by burning,
- tracks for access that could serve as a control line for planned burns,
- cleared areas along external and internal fence lines, and
- whether any specific treatments apply under a Bush Fire Risk Management Plan, such as whether the land is identified as a Strategic Fire Advantage Zone.
Asset protection zones and clearing codes
You will also need to consider whether you want to install asset protection zones, and clear vegetation in accordance with current codes such as the Rural Boundary Clearing Code or the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice.
Do I need to consider firefighting infrastructure?
Yes.
You may have existing firefighting infrastructure on your land or firefighting infrastructure that you may wish to install.
This may include, but is not limited to:
Water sources such as:
- reticulated (piped) water
- water holding structures (tanks, dams, swimming pools etc)
Fire infrastructure such as:
- fire breaks
- fire trails
- fire truck turning bays
- property scale asset protection zones
It is essential that you understand the location and size of this infrastructure when establishing an agreement with the BCT.
This allows the current or future location of the infrastructure to be mapped as part of the agreement.
Can bush fire hazard reduction land be included in my agreement?
It depends.
In some cases, bush fire hazard reduction activities may not oppose the conservation management objectives of a PLC agreement.
In other cases there will be locations where the type of hazard reduction activities which need to be undertaken are not consistent, and may therefore need to be excluded from the agreement.
This will be discussed with the landholder on a case by case basis.
Where the bush fire hazard reduction management objectives of specific areas are different to the management objectives of a BCT agreement, the following outcomes may apply:
- the area is excluded from the agreement area,
- the area is mapped as a separate management zone that allows bush fire hazard reduction activities,
- the area may have a reduced credit generation (BSA’s only),
- the area is excluded from the credit generating area (BSA’s only), or
- the area is mapped as tracks or other infrastructure.
When you nominate an agreement area, BCT staff will request confirmation that bush fire hazard reduction management requirements and options have been considered.
Biodiversity stewardship agreement note
For biodiversity stewardship agreements there may be circumstances where biodiversity gain will be limited by ongoing hazard reduction activities. The predicted gain will need to be appropriately justified in the relevant Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement Assessment Report (BSSAR).
Finding out what hazard reduction options and infrastructure you need
Contact your local NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) brigade and visit the NSW RFS website for information.
The BCT can provide support in understanding how hazard reduction options and infrastructure relates to the terms of a PLC agreement.
Manage hazard reduction during the life of an agreement
Can I install new infrastructure or tracks after entering an agreement?
It depends.
In some cases, the installation of additional infrastructure or clearing for tracks not identified within your agreement may involve a variation of your agreement.
Variations must be in accordance with the BCT’s Policy for variation and termination of BCT agreements.
This is why it is essential for you to understand the infrastructure and track requirements prior to entering into a PLC agreement.
If you have an existing agreement and wish to install new infrastructure or tracks, it is recommended you contact your BCT regional officer for more information.
More information
Visit the NSW Rural Fire Service website for bush fire preparedness information.
Your local RFS District Office is also available to discuss bush fire hazard reduction and bush fire management in relation to your property and at a regional scale. Bush Fire Risk Management Plans are prepared by Local Bush Fire Management Committees in accordance with Section 52 of the Rural Fires Act 1997 and in accordance with the Bush Fire Coordinating Committee policies.
View your local Bush Fire Risk Management Plan that applies to your local government area via the NSW Rural Fire Service website.
Additional fire-related property planning resources are available on the Hotspots Fire Project website.
Bush fire prone land mapping information is available from your local council website.
For more information on bush fire hazard reduction and your agreement, contact your BCT Regional Delivery staff via 1300 992 688 or info@bct.nsw.gov.au