Print

Clearing before and after a natural disaster

This page explains the notification and approval requirements to clear vegetation to prepare, deal with and recover from natural disasters.

Preparing your property for a natural disaster

Firebreaks and fire management lines

Special provisions apply to clearing for fire management.

Other clearing under a code or development approval

You may be able to undertake other clearing to mitigate the impact of natural disasters using an accepted development vegetation clearing code.

These codes are self-assessable.  You must notify us before starting to clear, and make sure you follow the requirements listed in the code. The codes in Table 1 have relevant provisions.

For any clearing beyond this scope, you’ll need to apply for a development approval.

Table 1: Clearing for natural disasters using a clearing code

Code	Vegetation types	Natural disaster provisions
Necessary environmental clearing	Category B, C and R vegetation across Queensland	Flood preparation: removal of vegetation from a watercourse to mitigate flooding
Clearing for infrastructure	Category B, C and R vegetation across Queensland	Clearing for firebreaks in non-coastal areas
Clearing for infrastructure	Category C and R vegetation across Queensland	Clearing for fire management lines
Managing regulated regrowth vegetation	Category C and R vegetation, across Queensland on freehold, leasehold land granted for agriculture or grazing purposes, Indigenous land or occupational licence	Clearing for public safety risk

Cleaning-up after a disaster

Clearing debris

You can remove fallen woody debris without a permit or notification from existing tracks, roads, fire management lines and firebreaks.

Clearing in disaster-declared areas

If the government has declared your district a disaster area, you don’t need to get our approval or to notify us if the clearing is necessary to prevent or minimise any of the following:

• loss of human life, or illness or injury
• property loss or damage
• damage to the environment.

This applies for 1 year following the disaster declaration. Table 2 shows current disaster declared areas in Queensland.

Table 2: Clearing exemption dates in disaster declared areas

Disaster event	Local government area	Date declared	Exemption valid to
Southern Queensland bushfires	Scenic Rim	7 September 2019	7 September 2020
Eastern Queensland bushfires	Noosa	8 November 2019	8 November 2020
Eastern Queensland bushfires	Livingstone	9 November 2019	9 November 2020
Eastern Queensland bushfires	Bundaberg	13 November 2019	13 November 2020

Find out more

• Find out more about bushfires and rural fire safety.
• Contact your local rural fire service.
• Find out about deferring your land rent or instalment if you’ve been impacted by a disaster.
• Find out about repairs to bores and other water infrastructure following a disaster.
• Read about assistance for disaster-impacted Queenslanders.
• Find out about low-interest loans for disaster recovery for rural businesses and primary producers.