Managing native vegetation and bushfire emergencies

The Rural Boundary Clearing Code and tool helps landholders in designated fire-prone rural areas prepare for bushfires and prevent fires from spreading.

It allows you to clear up to 25 metres along the boundary of a holding, if your land is within the Boundary Clearing Code Vegetation Map.

To check if the Code applies to your land, use the Boundary Clearing Tool. 

If your land is in a designated 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Entitlement Area, the 10/50 Vegetation Clearing Code of Practice allows you to clear:

• certain vegetation within 10 metres of homes and farm sheds; and
• certain underlying vegetation such as shrubs (but not trees) on their property within 50 metres of a home or farm shed. 

You must meet certain conditions before clearing can take place under this pathway. Key conditions include: 

• ensuring the land is mapped as 10/50 vegetation clearing entitlement land. To check your eligibility, use the 10/50 clearing tool map.
• obtaining permission from the landowner, if the landholder is not the owner
• if clearing to protect a home, the home is an approved dwelling on the land
• if clearing to protect a farm shed, the shed can lawfully be used as a shed on the land
• the clearing of vegetation including trees is not allowed within 10 metres of:
  • a lake, or
  • a river that is 2 metres or more in width between the highest opposite banks. 

Read more about 10/50 vegetation clearing.   

Managed bushfire hazard reduction work includes: 

• establishing or maintaining fire breaks and fire trails on land, and
• certain controlled approved back burning operations such as those conducted by the RFS.  

There are eligibility rules that limit bushfire hazard reduction clearing to certain kinds of land. Once eligible, you must seek a bushfire hazard reduction certificate from the RFS.  

A bushfire hazard reduction certificate issued by the RFS will tell you what work is authorised and any conditions that may apply.  

The hazard reduction work must also comply with a bushfire risk management plan and bushfire code that applies to the land.  

Read more about bushfire hazard reduction applications or contact the RFS on 1800 679 737.

‘Allowable activities’ enable some vegetation to be removed without the need for approval. You can use allowable activities to provide some protection to structures from fire. This includes rural infrastructure and private power lines.  

To use allowable activities, the land must be a regulated rural area under the Local Land Services Act 2013. 

• Clearing to protect and maintain public supply of essential services. This can include:
  • water
  • electricity including privately owned power lines on private land
  • gas
  • telecommunications.
• Clearing to protect and maintain certain rural infrastructure such as:
  • fence lines
  • roads and tracks
  • sheds
  • dams.
• Clearing for a firebreak to a maximum distance of 100 metres, where the native vegetation predominantly comprises mallee species (Western Zone only). 

Read more about allowable activities.  

You may be issued with a written direction by an electricity network operator to carry out certain vegetation clearing for: 

• bushfire prevention purposes, and
• taking action in relation to buildings on bushfire prone land. 

If you are a landholder who has been issued with such a direction, we encourage you to contact Local Land Services for advice on how to comply.

A range of clearing activities in non-emergency situations are regulated under the Land Management Code. These activities support landholders undertaking productive and sustainable farming practices, while managing environmental risk. 

You may be required to notify Local Land Services for low impact land management activities. Activities with a high risk of adversely impacting on the environment may require certification by Local Land Services.   

Read more about clearing vegetation under the Land Management Code.