Niche Environment and Heritage, in association with EcoFocus, has been selected by Transport for NSW (TfNSW) to undertake a review of its vegetation offsetting guide and calculator.

TfNSW undertakes a range of projects from large scale, long-term projects like Sydney Light Rail to small facility upgrades. Vegetation removal can range from individual trees, linear strips of native or non-native mixed vegetation, or remnants of endangered ecological communities. The offsetting guide must therefore make provision for these different types of developments.

The current guide and calculator were developed in 2011 and, five years on, the review will aim to ensure the tools’ continued effectiveness by bringing them up to date with state offsetting policies, aligning the guide with current practice and setting a baseline in relation to other offsetting policies.

“At Niche, understanding biodiversity is our speciality and the application of that knowledge to environmental and biodiversity offsets is one of our core areas of business,” said director Rhidian Harrington.

Niche’s team of more than 40 environmental specialists includes five accredited BioBanking assessors with experience in offsetting strategy, planning and negotiation for projects in the mining and resources, land development and linear infrastructure sectors.

Find out more about Niche’s environmental offsetting services or contact us.