Abstract | Driving vegetation management along transport corridors

In 1999 I coordinated the Transport Corridor Management Conference in Brisbane. This was the first national forum to discuss the management of ecological values along linear infrastructure. At the time we thought the conference was a huge success with 250 participants representing multiple disciplines descending on Brisbane from every State. The impetuous for the conference was to share information that would ultimately lead to an improvement in the way vegetation is managed along linear infrastructure.

So, now that the conference handbook is old enough to have its own driver’s licence, was the conference truly a success? In this paper I reflect on the past 17 years of vegetation management in transport corridors and consider what the issues were at the time, whether there has been an improvement in the way vegetation is managed from a governance and hands-on perspective and whether the original vision of the conference has been realised or not. In concluding I ask does vegetation management along transport corridors successfully pass its driver’s licence or whether there still room for improvement.

Bio | David Francis B.Sc (Hons) MEIANZ CEnvP

David has been working in the environment industry for 25 years. He has worked in environmental consultancy for over 17 years for a wide client base including all levels of government, the development sector, extractive industry and non-government organisations throughout Queensland, NSW, Victoria and Papua New Guinea. Through this work David has been involved with a wide range of projects that grapple ecological and environmental conundrums. He specialises in botany, ecological restoration, road ecology and environmental planning.