The Bush Forever policy and program provides a policy and implementation framework that aims to ensure bushland protection and management issues in the Perth Metropolitan Region are appropriately addressed and integrated with broader land use planning and decision-making, securing long-term protection of biodiversity and associated environmental values.
The policy recognises the protection and management of significant bushland areas as a fundamental consideration in the planning process, while also seeking to integrate and balance wider environmental, social and economic considerations. In general terms, the policy does not prevent development where it is consistent with the measures in this policy and other planning and environmental considerations.
Bush Forever Audit and Story Map
In 2021, the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage undertook an audit of the status of the Bush Forever bushland against the original objectives of the program, and assessed progress of the implementation measures that were intended to achieve these objectives. The audit demonstrated the remarkable success of the program, with 99 per cent of the 51,200 hectares of regionally significant bushland identified in 2000 remaining intact.
A ‘Story Map’ has also been developed, with the aim of describing the findings of the audit in an engaging way.
Bush Forever policy documents: An overview
The Bush Forever policy documents (2000) represent a substantial body of work, over two volumes, and include supporting research, proposed methodology and implementation mechanisms, and detailed mapping.
Bush Forever Volume 1 includes:
- implementation options, approaches and processes providing a decision-making framework for landowners, the community, local governments and State Government agencies; and
- a map showing the location of all Bush Forever areas and detailed maps showing individual Bush Forever areas and their associated site implementation recommendations.
The Practice Notes provide an extended discussion of protection options and approaches for the implementation of site recommendations.
Bush Forever Volume 2 includes:
- a guide to Bush Forever areas: an outline of the scope of Perth’s Bush Forever project, background to its preparation, area selection, and delineation of Bush Forever areas;
- Bush Forever area descriptions: descriptions of each of the Bush Forever areas and all references; and
- appendices containing the terms and acronyms commonly used in Volumes I and 2, an introductory guide to the Bush Forever area descriptions, a table cross referencing the Bush Forever areas to the System 6 recommendations, and an index to all Bush Forever Site descriptions and the Bush Forever area maps.
