Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

• Biodiversity is best conserved insitu (ie where it occurs) and relocation of
species and tradeoffs are not generally considered appropriate conservation
outcomes.
• Biodiversity conservation objectives must consider and balance broader
environmental, social and economic considerations.
• Maintenance and enhancement of existing biodiversity is a key priority (ie with
an aim to have no net loss).
• Highest priority should be given to the conservation and recovery of threatened
species, populations and communities.
• Wherever possible reducing fragmentation of remnant vegetation and
protection of corridor linkages should be major goals.
• When restoring ecosystems, the aim will be to represent those ecological
communities and systems that originally existing at that site.
In addition to the above adopted principles Council is expanding the principles to include:
• Council to consider giving a high priority to the conservation and recovery of
threatened species, populations and communities.
• Council to examine ways of reducing the threatening processes that result in a
loss of biodiversity.
• When undertaking ecosystem restoration programs, Council will aim to work
towards a sustainable ecosystem that represents the ecological community
prior to European settlement.
• Council's Citywide LEP 2009-2013 should concentrate future development
within the existing urban footprint to minimize disturbance to natural bushland
and conserve biodiversity.
In addition to the Vision 2025 values Council has conducted an extensive community
wildlife survey. The community survey was undertaken to find out what the community
valued about wildlife in their local area and what were priority issues for the community
and local government in protecting native animals. The Backyard Wildlife survey was
distributed to over 120,000 residents in the Gosford and Wyong local government areas
and over 11,000 Central Coast residents participated in the survey. In Gosford City, over
7,150 survey responses were received, representing over 10% of all households. In
addition, hundreds of extra letters of support and valuable additional information about
local wildlife were received demonstrating the strong community interest in native wildlife
in the Central Coast.
The five priority actions for local council and government to look after native animals were
(1) Responsible cat ownership
(2) Feral animal control
(3) Tougher controls on land clearing
(4) Reporting of the Wildlife Survey result to the community
(5) More public land for conservation
Biodiversity Strategy Page 20