AHCARB325 — Manage trees to create and maintain habitat refuges

Elements & performance criteria

Performance evidence

• An individual demonstrating competency must satisfy all of the elements and performance criteria in this unit.
• There must be evidence that the individual has managed vegetation to create and maintain habitat refuges in at least one tree not less than six metres tall with a stem diameter of at least 20cm at four metres above the ground, including:
• complied with all safety requirements including:
• completed job safety analysis
• used personal protective equipment
• conducted pre-operational preparation and checks on ropes, harnesses, tools and equipment
• identified and implemented measures to prevent tree and environmental health issues including:
• cleaned and sanitised chainsaws and equipment
• cleaned up waste and used materials and equipment to protect the environment from residues
• accessed tree for habitat and hollow activities and fracture pruning either:
• a mobile elevated work platform (MEWP)
• or arborist climbing techniques
• selected vegetation and created habitats and hollows in trees including:
• retained viable hollows and defects
• used fracture pruning applying force using within the tree or hook poles or ropes from the ground
• identified suitable points to retain or create new hollows
• retained branch stubs and epicormic growth on tree limbs
• used pruning techniques for habitat creation on branches with a diameter of no less than 20cm, including:
• natural fractures
• coronet cuts
• pruned and removed excess branches
• ensured overhang is retained to prevent water ingress
• prepared at least three habitat hollows or cavities in trees at least four metres above the ground with a tree diameter of no less than 20cm, including:
• angled faceplate to prevent water ingress
• removed internal wood
• installed or repaired faceplate and entrance hole no closer than 30cm to branch bark ridge
• installed faceplate through side or rear wall of cavity or through faceplate of sufficient thickness
• prepared artificial habitat hollow to meet specified dimensions of target fauna for size of hollow, height, and entrance
• removed an unsafe hollow branch and reinstalled back into a tree with same orientation and attitude
• removed a branch containing a cavity and reinstalled and fixed cavity branch back into tree or another tree with same orientation and attitude
• installed the following types of nesting boxes:
• two boxes using natural materials
• two boxes using artificially constructed structures
• retained materials from tree works for ground habitat, refuges or burrows and restored the site.
• All arboriculture work to create and maintain habitat refuges is required to be performed according to preferred industry practices (as outlined in the Companion Volume).

Knowledge evidence

• An individual must be able to demonstrate the knowledge required to perform the tasks outlined in the elements and performance criteria of this unit. This includes knowledge of:
• preferred industry practices (as outlined in the Companion Volume) for arboriculture work to create and maintain habitat refuges
• importance and impact of living and dead vegetation in the environment, including:
• habitat and refuges
• public safety and environmental hazard and removal
• risk management
• common vegetation features providing an ecological habitat, including:
• stubs, snags, tears and scars
• fungi
• dead wood volumes
• hollows, cavities and small holes
• animal/insect damage and food
• defective branch union
• bird damage
• extent and quality of fungus rot and colonising organisms
• tree response to infection and compartmentalisation of decay in trees (CODIT), including biosecurity and infection controls
• conservation values of a dead wood habitat and a live wood habitat
• removal or reduction of dead wood or living wood to prevent breakage, including:
• natural fracture pruning from the ground using hook poles or ropes
• natural fracture pruning aerially by applying direct force with hand or foot
• coronet cutting
• retention of materials suitable for positioning in the landscape for ground burrows, habitat and refuges
• leaving and rendering safe root plate of fallen trees for animal burrows, habitat and refuges
• different types of ground level refuges, including:
• vegetation
• soil
• artificial
• the nature and role of habitat trees, including:
• characteristics and essential components of plant and animal life cycles
• features associated with ageing
• value or potential value
• hollows, cavities and roosting branches
• removal and replacement of hollows or cavities
• nesting box designs and installation, including:
• animal and bird species and nesting box design
• natural materials repurposed for nesting structures
• artificially constructed structures, materials, design and installation
• heritage or protected vegetation, environmental overlays and regulated vegetation, including:
• historical and cultural aspects of vegetation
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island mortuary and sacred/cultural trees
• pruning techniques for habitat development and possible consequence, including:
• weakening branches to ensure pruning cut protrudes into the wood of not more than 30% of the diameter at the cut point
• wood not weakened to break at the desired fracture point
• cutting with a 15 degree opening on the compression side of the wood to allow the vegetation to fracture
• use of ropes and pulleys to apply the sufficient force to assist the breakage
• removal of excess branches and importance of leaving stub lengths of at least 20 cm
• pruning techniques to allow colonisation points for beneficial fungi, invertebrates and small animals
• pruning techniques for habitat hollow and cavity creation in vegetation for larger animals
• importance of retaining and creating variations in dead wood habitat niches
• natural fracture pruning techniques, including:
• when to apply to branches <20 cm in diameter
• fibre separation, along the grain and splintering
• fibre separation in various planes, linear, radial and circumferential
• natural fracture points
• appropriate use of hand saws and equipment
• approved chainsaw use and bar oil to avoid contamination of pruning cuts
• relevant statutory and local authority requirements
• personal protective equipment, including:
• chaps or chainsaw pants
• hand tools such as shovels, saws, drills, screwdrivers, hammers
• ear protection
• full face helmet/visor or safety glasses
• harness and full body for MEWP or work position harness for tree climber
• gloves
• safety helmet
• steel-cap boots
• potential hazards when managing vegetation, including:
• animal responses to interference
• vegetation density
• incorrect and unsafe pruning methods used by self and others
• incorrect and unsafe approaches to staking severed trunks or limbs
• power lines and utilities
• unsafe tree climbing methods
• unsafe use of MEWP
• unstable ground for equipment
• structural integrity and defects within vegetation that pose a threat to infrastructure, persons in and using the immediate area, and tree health, including:
• broken branches
• cankers
• cracks
• dead wood
• decay/fungi
• poor branch unions
• poor vegetation architecture
• root problems
• torsional fractures
• environmental and biodiversity values
• when to use natural fracture pruning, coronet cutting and habitat hollow and cavity creation, including alternatives to felling trees to render them safe and retain dead wood habitat.

Foundation skills

• Reading: Interpret legislation, industry standards and manufacturer instructions
• Numeracy: Measure and calculate dimensions of materials for installation of habitat, hollows and nesting boxes

Unit content sourced from training.gov.au — © Commonwealth of Australia, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Auditori is not affiliated with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

Questions about assessing AHCARB325