Forest Practices Act 1985

In this Act – clearance and conversion, of a threatened native vegetation community, means the deliberate process of removing all or most of the threatened native vegetation community from an area of land and – leaving the area of land, on a permanent or extended basis, in an unvegetated state; or replacing the threatened native vegetation so removed, on a permanent or extended basis, with any, or any combination of, the following:another community of native vegetation; non-native vegetation; agricultural works; residential, commercial or other non-agricultural development; or doing a combination of any of the things referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).

To avoid doubt, a management practice does not constitute the clearance and conversion of a threatened native vegetation community from any land unless the management practice is carried out to deliberately remove, or carried out as part of a process to deliberately remove, all or most of the threatened native vegetation community from the land on a permanent or extended basis.

In this section – agricultural works includes, but is not limited to, the following:farm sheds and workshops; farm dams and irrigation facilities; farm storage and processing facilities; farm access roads and easements; farm fencing; management practice means any of the following:applying fertilizer or changing the nature or scale of a fertilizer regime; burning off to reduce wildfire fuel; constructing fire-breaks; mowing, slashing or scything grasses or undergrowth; pruning, trimming or lopping vegetation for work safety purposes or to ensure the health of specific specimens of vegetation or vegetation communities; removing or controlling noxious weeds; grazing of livestock; harvesting of timber or other vegetation products; remove means remove by any direct or indirect means or combination of means, including but not limited to the following:burning; clearfelling; cutting down; drowning; lopping; ploughing; poisoning; ringbarking; thinning; uprooting.