Habitat Restoration - Class 3

Types of plans
Policy - broad scale e.g. international (JAMBA, CAMBA, Rio convention), national (National Weed Strategy), State. Outline context, rationale and agency/government veiws on an issue.

Framework - State (Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act), regional, local. Relates to administration, regulation, requirement for consent. Generally prescriptive, provides process framework for implementation and specifies why actions should be taken.

Management - applies at site, local ,regional levels. Specifies how, where, by who and when actions will be taken. Issues directions in relations to actions and should be adaptive.

Management Plans
Codify haw to manage land to fulfill legal requirements or achieve policy objectives.
Communicate to persons doing on ground works.
Collate/summarise in one document, data/information relevant to a specific site, issue, activity, species etc.

Plan Preparation
Understanding of issues by stakeholders
Shared vision for the future
Shared commitment
Communication of information and decisions
Consultation, consensus and public participation
Initiation of actions and bringing ideas to the plan

Written Plan
Setting legal restrictions and obligations
Codification of views and objectives
Establishment of consistent management criteria
Priority setting
Communication of information and decisions
Basis for review, initiation of amendments and adaptive management

Once a site is identified and stakeholders brought together the following steps are recommended
Identify problem/s
Define goals and objectives
Review existing policies and information
Generate alternative options to satisfy goals
Select preferred options

Elements of a plan
There are many ways of presenting a management plan and the amount of information will very much depend upon the site and the aims. The following list details some of the important elements that should be considered for any plan.

Summary - Overview of plan, why, what issues are addressed and what the plan seeks to achieve
Purpose - What the plan does and why
Aims - Statement of what is sought to be achieved
Objectives - States desired achievements in specific terms and their relative priority
Background - Provides essential background information and how it relates to the plan e.g. site history, relationship to other areas, relationships to other plans i.e. interactions with framework or policy plans
Definitions - Clearly explain concepts and terms
Map - Identifies location of site, site map identifying management areas or zones
Strategies - Mechanisms for achieving aims and objectives
Principles for implementation - Guiding rules to be applied in implementation
Works Program - Specifies actions, when, where, how and who are to implement them
Monitoring - how will the works be monitored, provides documentation of ecological change and allows testing of assumptions made by the plan
Record keeping - minimum recording and documentation standards, especially for monitoring program
Review - Ensure update of plan and allows management to be adaptive
Appendices - any data that has been collected e.g. contacts, species lists/profiles, vegetation guidelines, details of planning/consultation process
References - Bibliography of all reference material used in the preparation of the plan

Common problems to be avoided
Lack of political support
Community opposition
Poor documentation - too long or short, too scientific or general
Low level of acceptance
Unrealistic expectations
Lack of communication with key stakeholders
No mechanisms for implementation
Lack of monitoring and adaptive framework
Inconsistent use of terminology