Environment and land management plan
About this page
Our framework for managing and protecting the coast against current and future threats.
Endorsed by the committee in November 2006, our Environment and Land Management Plan sets out a series of goals and actions for managing the Great Ocean Road coast in light of current and future threats to its natural and cultural values.
Key goals are to:
- Protect and conserve natural values.
- Protect and conserve cultural values.
- Ensure recreation and development minimise impacts on landscape and associated natural values.
- Ensure coordinated and sustainable management of public land.
- Increase community involvement and appreciation.
Priority actions include:
- Undertake a major ongoing program to control or eradicate major weeds at nominated sites along the coast, in conjunction with the community and other coastal management agencies.
- Continue to minimise recreation impacts by defining and regulating vehicle, foot and bicycle access, to be achieved by the implementation of good design, fencing, signs and education.
- Provide ongoing protection of cultural heritage sites and interpreting coastal heritage.
- Develop showcase sites to demonstrate high quality coastal management and protection, and promote these sites to increase community awareness and involvement.
- Undertake community education programs to increase understanding of coastal values leading to actions to reduce human impacts on environmental and landscape values.
- Review management activities and develop sustainable practices in all GORCC activities.
- Monitor our progress in implementing this plan and report regularly to local communities on progress.
The plan identifies invasive weeds as the greatest threat to our coast’s natural values with urgent and effective management action needed to ensure is biodiversity values are not lost over the next decade or so. It states:
Invasion of indigenous vegetation and fauna habitats by environmental weeds is the overwhelming environmental management issue in the study area and the region generally. This issue dwarfs all other biodiversity management issues combined and this will remain the case, whatever global climate changes occur.
Other major threats include unregulated recreational access in sensitive areas, pest animals, loss of indigenous vegetation, and visual intrusions from development and infrastructure.
The plan stresses the need and opportunity to work closely with other coastal managers to share knowledge and skills, and to initiate joint projects to tackle issues such as weeds and pest animals, and recreational impacts.
It also recognises the need to better engage the community, including Indigenous groups, to manage land and recreational facilities more sustainably, and to respond to future impacts from various pressures such as residential development and global warming.
The plan’s development involved extensive stakeholder and community input.
Since its adoption in late 2006, GORCC has been working in partnership with the Surf Coast Shire, other agencies and a network of coastal volunteer groups to implement priority actions. Considerable progress has to date been made towards conserving threatened species, removing weeds, mitigating environmental impacts, reducing waste and increasing recycling, and rehabilitating degraded coastal environments.
The plan also set the foundation for developing and implementing a five-year Native Vegetation and Weed Action Plan, adopted in 2009, which sets out a comprehensive program for tackling weeds and protecting native vegetation along our coast.
The 2009 Victorian Coastal Awards for Excellence acknowledged the plan’s contribution to protecting and conserving our coast’s natural and cultural values, with GORCC winning in the Coastal Management award category.