Vegetation protection

We value our native vegetation for the important role it plays across our landscape.

In Logan our planning scheme (the policy for land use and development) aims to:

protect and enhance environmental values, including wildlife habitat and movement, biodiversity corridors and native vegetation
restrict vegetation clearing in protected areas.

Queensland legislation states that:

Clearing of vegetation means to remove, cut down, ring-bark, push over, poison or destroy vegetation in any way. This includes burning, flooding or draining. It does not include lopping a tree or damage by stock.
Lopping a tree means cutting or pruning its branches. Lopping does not include removing its trunk and cutting or pruning its branches so severely that it is likely to die.

The parts of the planning scheme that control vegetation clearing are listed here. You can read these to see the rules that apply.

Protected vegetation

We classify protected vegetation in two ways:

Primary vegetation is all native vegetation. This is shown as light pink areas on the Vegetation management areas map in our planning scheme.
Secondary vegetation is native trees that are greater than 4 metres tall or with a trunk circumference of 31.5 centimetres or greater, measured at 1.3 metres from the ground. This is shown as light green areas on the Vegetation management areas map in our planning scheme.

To find out if there is protected vegetation on your property:

Go to the Logan PD Hub.
Search for and select your property.
Click on the Interactive mapping tool (red icon).
On the property information pop-up that appears over the map, click on the Property Overlays link (bottom right). This will display a list of the constraints that apply to your property.
Check if the Primary or Secondary Vegetation Management Areas are in the list of overlays for your property. If they are you can tick the box next to them to display those areas on the map so that you can see which parts of your property are affected.

Can I clear vegetation?

To find out if you need approval to clear protected vegetation use our:

All native vegetation clearing within an area mapped by the Waterway Corridor and Wetland Overlay requires approval.

You do not need to get approval to clear vegetation if the vegetation complies with the exemptions outlined in the Logan Planning Scheme 2015 (Tables of assessment for the biodiversity areas overlay).

Lodging an application for vegetation clearing

For approval to clear protected vegetation on your property you need to lodge an Operational Works application for vegetation clearing. Please see Development applications, forms and lodgement.

The application must:

state the reasons for the proposed clearing
include the consent of the property owner or be lodged by the property owner
include a site plan with boundaries, buildings, driveways, easements and information about existing vegetation, including
- which trees will be cleared and which will remain
- tree species and size (height, circumference 1.3 metres above ground, canopy spread)
- any trees with nests, hollows or other nesting or roosting values
show any proposed revegetation or rehabilitation on the site.

You must submit an Operational works vegetation management checksheet (PDF 700 KB) as part of your application. It also includes information about whether you need to lodge an application.

For more information about clearing vegetation or applications to clear vegetation please contact our team.

Environmental offsets

You may need to make an environmental offset when you clear vegetation.

Find out more about environmental offsets.

State vegetation protection legislation

The Vegetation Management Act 1999 is state legislation that protects remnant and regrowth vegetation on freehold land and state land. It can also protect certain non-remnant vegetation on state land.

The Queensland Department of Resources (DOR) administers the Vegetation Management Act 1999.

To find out if you need a permit to clear state-protected remnant vegetation, please visit DOR or call them on 13 58 34.

Relevant definitions

Definition	Description
Native habitat tree	A tree, whether dead or alive, that is indigenous to Australia, with a trunk circumference of 220cm or more measured at 1.3m above ground level, or that contains a hollow.
Native tree	A tree, whether dead or alive, that is indigenous to Australia, greater than 4m in height or with a trunk circumference of 31.5cm or greater measured at 1.3m from the ground.
Native vegetation	A bush, shrub, grass or other vascular plant, including any part of a tree, bush, shrub, grass or other vascular plant that is indigenous to Australia.
Primary vegetation management area	An area of the Biodiversity areas overlay map–OM–02.01 in which all native vegetation is protected.
Secondary vegetation management area	An area of the Biodiversity areas overlay map–OM–02.01 in which all native trees and native habitat trees are protected.
Regrowth vegetation	Vegetation that is not remnant vegetation as defined by the Queensland Government - Vegetation Management Act 1999.
Remnant vegetation	Vegetation defined as remnant vegetation by the Queensland Government - Vegetation Management Act 1999.

Top