Biodiversity Planning Assessments
The 'Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Methodology (BAMM)' (see availability) has been developed to provide a consistent approach for assessing biodiversity values at the landscape scale in Queensland. The BAMM is based on vegetation mapping from the Queensland Herbarium and incorporates a range of biodiversity related data. The BAMM is focused primarily on assessing terrestrial values. It is being used by the Department to generate Biodiversity Planning Assessments (BPAs) for each of Queensland’s bioregions. The BPAs are used by EHP staff, other government departments, local governments or members of the community to advise on a range of planning or decision making processes.
The BAMM is applied in two stages. The first stage uses existing data to assess ecological concepts such as rarity, diversity, fragmentation, habitat condition, resilience, threats, and ecosystem processes in a uniform and reliable way across a bioregion. These criteria are used to filter available data and provide a “first-cut” or initial determination of significance. This initial assessment is generated on a geographic information system (GIS). The second stage relies more upon expert opinion than on quantitative data to refine the results of the first stage. It uses expert knowledge to identify features such as wildlife corridors and areas with special biodiversity value (eg centres of endemism or wildlife refugia), and includes data that may not be available uniformly across the bioregion.
The final BPA is a powerful decision support tool that can be comprehensively interrogated through a GIS platform and is supported by expert panel reports. BPAs have been completed for a number of bioregions within Queensland. Details of these assessments are listed below.
Approved Biodiversity Planning Assessments
| Bioregion | Release version | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Brigalow Belt | 1.1 | 17 December 2002 |
| Brigalow Belt | 1.2 | 31 March 2003 |
| Brigalow Belt | 1.3 | 22 September 2008 |
| Central Qld Coast | 1.1 | 1 August 2003 |
| Central Qld Coast | 1.2 | 10 June 2005 |
| Central Qld Coast | 1.3 | 29 January 2007 |
| Channel Country | 1.1 | 30 September 2009 |
| Desert Uplands | Interim 1.1 | 4 January 2005 |
| Desert Uplands | 1.2 | 30 September 2005 |
| Desert Uplands | 1.3 | 29 June 2012 |
| Einasleigh Uplands | 1.1 | 30 September 2009 |
| Mitchell Grass Downs | 1.1 | 9 September 2009 |
| Mulga Lands east | 1.1 | 30 June 2003 |
| Mulga Lands east | 1.2 | 1 November 2003 |
| Mulga Lands | 1.3 | 26 July 2004 |
| Mulga Lands | 1.4 | 15 June 2009 |
| New England Tableland | 2.1 | 17 June 2002 |
| New England Tableland | 2.2 | 1 April 2004 |
| New England Tableland | 2.3 | 18 May 2007 |
| Southeast Queensland | 2.2 | 1 February 2001 |
| Southeast Queensland | 3.1 | 16 January 2002 |
| Southeast Queensland | 3.2 | 1 May 2002 |
| Southeast Queensland | 3.3 | 15 October 2002 |
| Southeast Queensland | 3.4 | 7 March 2005 |
| Southeast Queensland | 3.5 | 3 December 2007 |
Please note that the Use-by Date is no longer applicable. Each BPA is current until the next version is released. Updated BPAs are released intermittently.
Please check this website for updates or email biodiversity.planning@ehp.qld.gov.au for more information.
Available from the library catalogue
The documents referred to on this page are available from the department’s online library catalogue.