Victoria’s biodiversity is protected through responsible management and care of native plants and animals.
We aim to:
- maintain and improve roadside biodiversity
- minimise threats to plants and animals when we build roads
- maintain landscaping and re-vegetation
We are required to meet net gain requirements to offset native vegetation removed for road construction. This means gains in native vegetation are greater than losses. We do this by following the three-step hierarchy approach:
- Avoid adverse impacts, especially through vegetation clearance.
- If we can’t avoid impacts, we minimise impacts through planning and design.
- If clearing must occur, the clearing must be offset.
Road projects are designed to have minimal impact on fauna-rich areas, such as wildlife corridors. Wildlife corridors are often located along creek lines intersecting motorways. We protect fauna movement where possible, by creating fauna crossings (underpasses or overpasses). This reduces break-up of habitats and improves and maintains species diversity.
We manage around 80,000 hectares of roadsides. These roadsides have important remnant plants and waterways. Many roadsides support threatened plant and animal species.
Our roadside conservation management plans help us protect the roadside environment and manage the spread of introduced weeds and pests.
Native seeds are regularly collected from local trees and plants when we clear vegetation. We use these seeds to landscape roadsides. This ensures continuation of local species. We also plant drought tolerant species so ongoing watering is not required.