Community input strengthens foreshore reserve management

Extensive community input has delivered a stronger Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan, adopted by Council this week. 

Noosa’s Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves, stretching from Peregian Beach to Sunshine Beach, are an iconic part of Noosa’s coastal landscapes,

Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart said engagement with residents, community groups and experts ensured the plan better reflected community aspirations for the coastal foreshores.

“More than 800 people provided feedback on the draft Plan throughout February and March through community workshops, a series of roundtables, an online survey, email submissions, and pop-up events at local markets and beach access points,” Cr Stewart said.

“It now better reflects the perspectives of our community and provides a catalyst for additional on-ground works. Together, we will ensure the sustainable management of these precious coastal reserves into the future.”

Noosa’s Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves, stretching from Peregian Beach to Sunshine Beach, are an iconic part of Noosa’s coastal landscapes, and highly valued by the community. 

The Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan provides a clear plan for the management of the reserves for ecosystem health, coastal resilience, recreation, and public access, to achieve positive outcomes into the future.

Director of Environment and Strategy Kim Rawlings said specific improvements made to the Plan include:

• Refined scope of the plan, which has been renamed the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan to better reflect the area the plan addresses.
• Interaction with other programs and activities in and near the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves are better described.
• Statements about the reserves’ environmental values and climate change are better referenced.
• Better descriptions of condition mapping, restoration targets, ecological restoration plans and on-ground works.
• Each action has been allocated a timeframe, and a measures table included in each theme. 
• Encroachments are now dealt with under a separate Policy and Procedure that applies to all Council-managed land across the Shire.

“We are absolutely delighted by the level of interest from the community in the Plan and the comprehensive feedback provided,” Ms Rawlings said.

“Partnerships are so important to the health of our natural areas, and now we have a framework for collaborative action with our highly active community partners.”

A key action of the Noosa Coastal Hazards Adaptation Plan 2021, the Eastern Beaches Foreshore Reserves Management Plan answers the community’s call for nature-based coastal climate change adaptation.

“It also supports an important management priority of our Noosa Environment Strategy to improve the ecosystem health of Noosa’s coastal areas,” Ms Rawlings said.