Council is responsible for managing:
- over 50 reserves and bushland areas
- over 280 roadsides
- unused road reserves.
Management and maintenance responsibilities include:
- weed and pest control
- habitat enhancement and threatened species management
- revegetation
- vegetation control (safety and line of sight clearances).
Council's roadsides can be negatively impacted by:
- invasion by pest plants and animals
- encroachments of farming activities and urban development
- firewood collection
- road maintenance and construction works
- inappropriate fire prevention activities
- installation and maintenance of utility services.
When these activities are not managed properly, they can negatively impact roadside vegetation and degrade the quality of roadside environments.
To address these issues, Council has adopted the Rural Roadside Management Plan. This plan provides clear guidance for activities on roadsides, such as fire prevention and asset maintenance.
Conservation Value Assessment
Over 280 roadsides have been assessed for conservation value and have been separated into three broad categories:
- Highly Significant Roadsides - Roadsides rated as Very High or High
- Significant Area on a Roadside - Roadsides rated as Medium or Low that have areas or pockets of high or very high conservation value
- Lower Significance Roadsides - Roadsides rated as Medium or Low along ‘whole of roadside'
Under our Rural Roadside Management Plan, roadsides with significant vegetation require stricter environmental management protocols to be applied.
The following roadsides have been identified for their significant vegetation:
- Cathedral Lane, Taggerty
- Frees Road, Gobur
- Captains Creek Road, Kinglake
- Old Highlands Road, Highlands
- Old Fawcett Road, Koriella
- Burns Road, Glenburn
- Native Dog Road, Molesworth
- Racecourse Road, Yea
- Deviation Road, Kinglake
- Kings Road, Kinglake
- Spring Valley Rd – Old Spring Valley Rd loop, Flowerdale
- Upper King Parrot Creek Road, Strath Creek
- Cherry Lane, Toolangi
- Spraggs Road, Toolangi
- Mt Pleasant Road, Alexandra
- Old Mt Slide Road, Kinglake
- Campbells Creek Road, Castella
- Grannies Lane, Alexandra
- McColl Lane, Acheron
- Murrays Road, Kinglake
- Clark’s Rd, Yea
- Old Toolangi Road, Toolangi
Reserves are areas of open grassland, native vegetation, or waterways. The primary purpose of a Council reserve is for recreational use and/or biodiversity value. Many of Council reserves provide habitat for native flora and fauna, some of which are threatened species at national and state levels.
Often these reserves occur in fragmented landscapes, such as in residential or peri-urban areas of development. This increases their conservation significance, as many are the last remaining refuge for rare, threatened or endangered species.
Some of Council’s reserves are maintained by Friends of Groups, Landcare groups and/or Committees of Management.