Roadside Environmental Management

Winner Division C and Overall Winner

Port Stephens Council: Discovering Mahony’s Toadlet – a journey to expand the Hunter and Central Coast Roadside Environmental Marker Scheme
In 2016 a newly discovered amphibian species, Mahony’s Toadlet (Uperoleia mahonyi), was identified in the Port Stephens area and was listed as a threatened species the following year.

To address the potential impacts of the council’s maintenance program on the species, ecological surveys were conducted of roadside environments to assess for likely habitat of Mahony’s Toadlet to include in the council’s Environmental Management System.  The council took the opportunity to integrate this project into the existing Hunter Joint Organisation Regional Roadside Environment Marker Scheme, creating a new roadside marker category for amphibians that can be used by other road authorities across the Hunter Region.

Read the case study 

Highly Commended Division C

Sutherland Shire Council: Green Streets Program GIS layer with interactive community consultation
Sutherland Shire Council has developed a spatial tool that allows tree planting design, stakeholder review, community consultation, installation and maintenance to be captured and edited while in the field. The development of the green streets GIS layer with interactive community consultation has successfully created avenues to meaningfully interact and engage with residents about the value of street trees and has enabled the 2020 planting program of 3000 street trees to continue during COVID-19 restrictions.