Changes to SEB Formula

Posted on July 01, 2019

Native vegetation refers to any naturally occurring local plant species that are indigenous to South Australia. The management and clearance of native vegetation is protected by legislation under the Native Vegetation Act 1991 and the Native Vegetation Regulations 2017. These are key pieces of legislation related to managing native vegetation on private and public land in South Australia.

EBS Ecology staff underwent training on Scattered Tree, Bushland Assessment and Rangelands Assessment Methods, which are assessment methods used under Native Vegetation Regulations 2017 and developed by the Native Vegetation Council. This training has allowed EBS staff to become Native Vegetation Accredited Consultants within South Australia. The role of Accredited Consultants is to prepare data reports for applications to clear native vegetation, including calculating any required Significant Environmental Benefit offsets. Accredited Consultants can also be engaged to undertake vegetation assessments to develop Significant Environmental Benefit (SEB) Management Plans.

Fast forward to June 2019 and to keep abreast of legislative requirements, EBS Ecology staff have recently received more training by the Native Vegetation Branch. The NVC have recently made some changes to SEB calculation and vegetation survey methods which apply to clearance applications across South Australia.