Bird Sensitive City

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Consultation has concluded

Close-up photo of New Holland Honeyeater bird perched on a gum tree branch.
Help us create Council's first Bird Sensitive City (BSC) Handbook!

Update
The Bird Sensitive City Handbook was the outcome of three workshops staged across a team of experts. The main objective was to investigate the potential to maintain or increase the number of native bird species using the city and Park Lands, especially the declining woodland birds. To date the final draft of the Bird Sensitive City Handbook has been completed and is in the process of being approved.

Background

The Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD) approach was recently adopted by the City of Adelaide to reduce the impacts of urbanisation on native flora and fauna. It aims to expand and improve habitat resources in the urban area to contribute to the conservation of South Australian biodiversity and to enhance environmental connections and wellbeing within the community. This approach is showing that good design, conservation science, appropriate planting and site management can create the conditions for the growth of biodiversity on an urban environment.

Birds have been identified as one of the most readily recognised wildlife connections that most urban residents experience regularly. Therefore, urban birds are an excellent group of animals that can effectively engage the community on the CoA BSUD approach. In addition, urban birds are useful indicators of ecosystem health as they are intimately linked with their habitats. Consequently, urban birds can be used as a flagship or indicator group of species to observe improvements to the structure of our urban landscape. It follows that by developing bird-specific principles we can effectively inform urban planning and design to support these improvements.

To facilitate the effective implementation of this approach, a practical translation of conservation science into an 'easy-to-use' tool is needed. This tool will be applicable by biodiversity-team, horticulture and/or landscape architects to guide their decisions for goals of design aesthetics, functionality, and biodiversity conservation. In addition, the BSC approach can help facilitate local stewardship of biodiversity by providing “cues to care”, creating opportunities for positive interactions with nature, and addressing conflicts between biodiversity and urban development.


Project Information

This project seeks to improve the council's BSUD approach by providing science-based information to implement locally-appropriate practices that focus on the protection and creation of habitat, increase species viability, and minimize human threats to small native birds in the Park Lands and surrounding urban environment.

Practical principles will be collated in the Bird Sensitive City (BSC) Handbook and developed thanks to the engagement with bird and habitat management experts in a series of three workshops.


Help us create Council's first Bird Sensitive City (BSC) Handbook!

Update
The Bird Sensitive City Handbook was the outcome of three workshops staged across a team of experts. The main objective was to investigate the potential to maintain or increase the number of native bird species using the city and Park Lands, especially the declining woodland birds. To date the final draft of the Bird Sensitive City Handbook has been completed and is in the process of being approved.

Background

The Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design (BSUD) approach was recently adopted by the City of Adelaide to reduce the impacts of urbanisation on native flora and fauna. It aims to expand and improve habitat resources in the urban area to contribute to the conservation of South Australian biodiversity and to enhance environmental connections and wellbeing within the community. This approach is showing that good design, conservation science, appropriate planting and site management can create the conditions for the growth of biodiversity on an urban environment.

Birds have been identified as one of the most readily recognised wildlife connections that most urban residents experience regularly. Therefore, urban birds are an excellent group of animals that can effectively engage the community on the CoA BSUD approach. In addition, urban birds are useful indicators of ecosystem health as they are intimately linked with their habitats. Consequently, urban birds can be used as a flagship or indicator group of species to observe improvements to the structure of our urban landscape. It follows that by developing bird-specific principles we can effectively inform urban planning and design to support these improvements.

To facilitate the effective implementation of this approach, a practical translation of conservation science into an 'easy-to-use' tool is needed. This tool will be applicable by biodiversity-team, horticulture and/or landscape architects to guide their decisions for goals of design aesthetics, functionality, and biodiversity conservation. In addition, the BSC approach can help facilitate local stewardship of biodiversity by providing “cues to care”, creating opportunities for positive interactions with nature, and addressing conflicts between biodiversity and urban development.


Project Information

This project seeks to improve the council's BSUD approach by providing science-based information to implement locally-appropriate practices that focus on the protection and creation of habitat, increase species viability, and minimize human threats to small native birds in the Park Lands and surrounding urban environment.

Practical principles will be collated in the Bird Sensitive City (BSC) Handbook and developed thanks to the engagement with bird and habitat management experts in a series of three workshops.


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