Draft Gold Coast Pest Management Plan 2013 - 2017

The six desired outcomes in the plan are:

• Informed and active City committed to pest management
• Stakeholders are committed to and undertake coordinated management of weeds and pest animals.
• Planning and management of pest species is coordinated with regional, local, State and Commonwealth plans
• Methodologies and practices improve natural resource management outcomes
• Introduction, spread and establishment of pests is prevented in the City
• Pest management is innovative, adaptive, drives research and contributes to improved and effective pest management throughout the City

The five management categories in the Plan are:

PREVENTION - The objective for this management category is the prevention and early detection of the establishment of new pest species in the City of Gold Coast.

ERADICATION - The objective for this category is the eradication of the identified pest species.

REDUCTION - The objective for this category is to reduce the impact of pest species identified and prevent them from spreading further throughout the City of Gold Coast.

MITIGATION - The objective for the category of Mitigation is to protect key environmental, infrastructure and agricultural assets from the impacts of pest species.

ENVIRONMENTAL PEST MANAGEMENT - The overall objective for this category is to increase the community awareness of environmental pests within the City of Gold Coast.

Pests are then prioritised under each of the management categories as:

• Critical - Management must be undertaken
• High - Pest is a High priority for control
• Medium - Pest is a Medium priority for control, and
• Low - Pest is a Low priority for control

A declared pest is a plant or animal that is listed Class 1, 2 or 3 in the Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Regulation 2003.

Declared pests pose a real threat to the state's industries, natural resources, environment and human welfare. Bio-security is important to prevent, respond and recover from pests and diseases that threaten our economy and environment. 
Council works with state and federal government agencies to manage declared pests that may affect bio-security.