Soil and Land Resources of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

This digital soil landscape product contains natural resource mapping for the Australian Capital Territory. The project was completed by the Office of Environment and Heritage (NSW). The project was funded by the ACT Government to enhance knowledge of soils, landscapes and physical constraints to land use in the urban and rural environment. The information will assist in informed decision making, planning and environmental modelling throughout the catchment.

55 soil landscape map units have been described for the ACT. Each unit is an inventory of soil and landscape information with relatively uniform land management requirements, allowing major soil and landscape qualities and constraints to be identified.

The GIS product shown here provides location of each of the soil landscape map units - including the soil landscape code and name. For more detailed information please see the full soil landscape reports for each unit, as well as the final report shown at: https://www.environment.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2079667/soil-landscapes-of-the-act-2016.pdf. Detailed spreadsheets can be used to join more detailed information to the GIS also available on request. Also view: https://datasets.seed.nsw.gov.au/dataset/soil-and-land-resources-of-the-australian-capital-territory-act. See eSpade for soil results: https://datasets.seed.nsw.gov.au/dataset/soil-and-land-resources-of-the-australian-capital-territory-act/resource/b879ac81-fa14-4bb9-aca7-408fed6ab6bc

Reference: Cook, W., Jenkins, B., Young, M., Murphy, C., Milford H.B. and Muller, R. (2016) Soil Landscapes of the Australian Capital Territory, Office of Environment and Heritage, Queanbeyan, NSW.

The ACT Parks & Conservation Service (PCS) manages about 73% or roughly 187,000 ha across the ACT and the Googong Foreshore, NSW. PCS implements an extensive ongoing bushfire fuel management program. Fuel management can reduce fire behaviour and severity, improve firefighter safety, increase the probability of suppression and reduce the impacts of bushfires on natural and built assets. The three means for managing bushfire fuels are reduction, removal and conversion to a less flammable type, and are achieved by undertaking the slashing, grazing, physical removal, and/or prescribed burns.
These activities are described in a yearly program of work referred to as the Bushfire Operations Plan (BOP), which sets out activities to meet the requirements of theStrategic Bushfire Management Plan for the ACT (SBMP).The Bushfire Operational Plans map shows the Territory and Municipal Services Directorate (TAMS) Bushfire Operations Plan (BOP) for the current financial year.
The TAMS BOP is derived from the 5 year Regional Fire Management Plans, which can also be viewed on this site. The TAMS BOP details the specific timing, type and location of fuel-reduction, access and infrastructure activities proposed to be undertaken in the ACT in the current financial; year, in accordance with Version 3 of the Strategic Bushfire Management Plan (SBMP).

Creative Commons License Creative Common By Attribution 4.0 (Australian Capital Territory),
Please read Data Terms and Conditions statement before use of the data.

Grazing
PCS delivers an intensive grazing program which encompasses 6,500ha consisting of 75 land parcels across the ACT. The aim is to reduce fuel levels by physically removing fuel and then compacting the remaining fuel. Grazing may be used to reduce fuels through routine agricultural production or through specifically targeted strategic grazing to meet fuel management objectives. Strategic grazing programs must consider target grass fuel loads, management objectives, the height, cover and type of grass, and biodiversity both within the adjacent sites.
Grazing is undertaken in locations with palatable feed, stock-proof fencing, potable water and where it assists in meeting conservation aims. Grazing is generally not suitable directly adjacent to assets or in recreation areas. PCS’ knowledge of the grass production rates, consumption rates of grazing animals, fuel standards and appropriate infrastructure allows us to achieve best fuel management outcomes.
The stock is privately owned and procured under licence. Parks and Conservation maintains small paddocks close to assets and with a view to grazing at high density for short periods. Larger paddocks, more remote to assets, adjoin the series of smaller blocks so that there is always access to feed.

The SBMP requires regional fire management plans (RFMPs) to provide a link between the strategy of this plan and the more detailed bushfire operational plans (BOPs). RFMPs will be updated to cover the entire ACT to reflect boundaries based on bushfire risk and geography. RFMPs detail the five-year program (2014–19) of work for fuel reduction, access and infrastructure in the ACT. RFMPs for 2019–24 will be prepared during the life of the SBMP.
The ACT Emergency Services Commissioner (the Commissioner) is responsible for approval of RFMPs. They will be reviewed as required to reflect significant changes. These may include unplanned bushfires, which may provide strategic advantages or changes to the location or extent of assets – for example, the development of new estates.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
The ACT Government is providing this bushfire management map for information purposes only. This data is derived from the best available vegetation. The ACT Government cannot and does not guarantee the accuracy and completeness of any data and information contained on this site as, among other reasons, there may have been changes to land use and vegetation since the map was produced. The ACT Government disclaims liability to any person who acts in reliance on the information provided on this site or contained within the reports or plans on it whether that liability is in negligence or on any other legal basis.
Persons who would otherwise seek to rely on the data and information contained on this site should make their own inquiries and seek their own expert advice.

[1] BPA is already declared over the Rural Areas of the ACT for the purposes of AS 3959 assessment

Creative Commons License Creative Common By Attribution 4.0 (Australian Capital Territory),
Please read Data Terms and Conditions statement before data use.

This layer contains information on the distribution and vegetation communities of alpine sphagnum bogs and associated fens. The dataset includes areas of RAMSAR significance. The threatened Northern Corroboree Frogs are also associated with these ecosystems. The mountains of the Australian Capital Territory support substantial areas of peat-forming mires in interfluves and valley heads, as well as areas of riparian fen vegetation along streams.

Location of ACT important natural wetlands in the ACT. Wetlands are important for many plants and wildlife in the ACT.

This data deal with hydrogeological landscapes of the ACT and the nature and consequences of salinity in the ACT 1:50000. They have been produced for the ACT Government by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI). The maps and document result from a series of salinity projects OEH is undertaking to better understand how dryland salinity manifests in the landscape and how salinity may be best managed. The full ACT HGL dataset includes the following:

Hydrogeological Landscapes
Hydrogeological Landscape Management Areas
Land and Soil Capability (Overall)
Salinity Hazard (Overall)
ACT Erosion Hazard (Current)
ACT Erosion Hazard (Future Consensus Scenario)
ACT Erosion Hazard (Future Worst Case Scenario)
ACT Erosion Hazard (Future Best Case Scenario)
Wetland Vulnerability Classification
Wetland Types (Australian National Aquatic Ecosystem)

This layer contains the most current information on the distribution of potential ACT and EPBC listed Box Gum Grassy Woodland in the ACT. Yellow box-Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland is an Endangered Ecological Community under the Nature Conservation Act 2014. White box - Yellow box - Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland is a Critically Endangered Ecological Community under the EPBC Act 1999. The criteria for the EPBC community is slightly different to the ACT listed of the community Yellow box-Blakely's red gum grassy woodland and derived grassland community. As the listing of this community is based on condition that requires site assessment to inspect the ground layer and forb diversity, mapped polygons indicate potential distribution of this community.

This dataset contains information relating to incidents involving wildlife that were attended to by ACT park rangers.

This dataset contains information relating to incidents involving wildlife that were attended to by ACT park rangers.

AUSRIVAS (Australian River Assessment System) is a river condition monitoring program that uses the environmental sensitivity of aquatic macroinvertebrates to assess the condition of waterways. AUSRIVAS predicts the macroinvertebrate fauna expected to occur at a site with specific environmental characteristics, in the absence of environmental stress. The fauna observed (O) at a site can then be compared to fauna expected (E), with the deviation between the two providing an indication of biological condition. A site displaying no biological impairment should have an O/E taxa score close to one. The O/E taxa score will decrease as the macroinvertebrate assemblage and richness are adversely affected.
ACT Government maintains 13 AUSRIVAS monitoring locations across the ACT. Sampling is undertaken twice per year (spring and autumn). Site details are provided in another dataset. The O/E taxa score (Score) is provided in this dataset, along with the siteID, Site Name, Season in which the survey was undertaken, and the Year in which the survey was undertaken.