Regulated Vegetation Management Map Re-certified Sept 2026
Re-certified 3 September 2026
The regulated vegetation management map, the essential habitat map and the vegetation management wetlands map were all re-issued on the same day. PMAVs processed to 1 September 2026 are shown on it.
The regulated vegetation management map is the map Queensland uses to decide whether clearing native vegetation on your land needs a development permit, can proceed under an accepted development clearing code, or falls outside the framework altogether. It was re-certified by the State on 3 September 2026, and any clearing that starts from now is assessed against that version, however old the property report your plan was built on. Its own metadata says it will be updated on a monthly cycle so that new property maps of assessable vegetation (PMAVs) are shown, which means the category boundaries on a lot without a PMAV can be redrawn between the day a job is priced and the day the machinery arrives, even though most cuts leave most lots alone. A PMAV is the instrument that holds those boundaries still, and the department’s own vegetation maps page says an area with a PMAV applied is unaffected by changes to the state map.
Does the re-certification affect you? Three questions, in order
Work down the table and stop at the first row that clears you. Most lots see no change in any given cut of the map, and a lot that already carries a certified PMAV sits outside the question entirely.
The screening sequence
Answer each question about the land itself, using the free vegetation management property report for the lot on plan.
| Question | If yes | If no |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Is there a certified PMAV over the land? | Where a boundary on the PMAV differs from the boundary on the state map, the PMAV boundary prevails (section 20H of the Vegetation Management Act 1999), and the department states that areas with a PMAV applied are unaffected by changes to the regulated vegetation management map. You can stop here, unless you want to bring more land under the PMAV. | Go to question 2. |
| 2. Was your last property report, clearing plan or code notification prepared before 3 September 2026? | Request a new report before you rely on the old one. The free report shows the categories on the certified map for your lot on plan, and section 3.1 of it states whether a PMAV applies. | Your report already reflects the current cut. Go to question 3 if you are about to act on it. |
| 3. Are you about to clear, sell, subdivide, or lodge a development application on the land? | This is the point at which to consider locking the mapping in with a PMAV. Once made, the boundaries are yours to rely on under section 20G, and the next monthly cut leaves them where they are. | Note the date on your report and pull a fresh one before you act. |
In the department’s own words: “Areas that have a PMAV applied are not affected by changes to the regulated vegetation management map.” That sentence, from the Queensland Government’s vegetation maps page, is the case for a PMAV in a year when the map has been re-issued.
What changed on 3 September 2026, and what stayed the same
Three of the certified maps under the Act were re-issued together. The scientific data underneath most of them has been stable for some time, so the movement is in category boundaries, mostly where PMAVs have been made and where lot boundaries have changed, and in the essential habitat and wetlands layers.
The Vegetation Management Act map series, as at 8 September 2026
Versions and dates are as published on the Queensland Government open data record for the series. The version numbers move with each cut; note both, and check your report against the dates.
| Map | Status | What it decides |
|---|---|---|
| Regulated vegetation management map | Re-certified 3 September 2026 (version 7.27) | Which category (A, B, C, R or X) applies to each part of your land, and with it whether clearing needs a permit, a code notification or neither |
| Essential habitat map | Re-certified 3 September 2026 (version 12.27) | Where clearing in a category A, B or C area is treated as clearing essential habitat for protected wildlife, which changes the assessment |
| Vegetation management wetlands map | Re-certified 3 September 2026 (version 9.27) | Where the wetland provisions apply to clearing |
| PMAV layer | PMAVs processed to 1 September 2026 are on the certified map | Which lots already have certified boundaries |
| Watercourse and drainage feature map | Queensland outside SEQ: certified 26 February 2026 (version 7.05). SEQ variants: 15 November 2023 (version 7.00) | Category R areas and the watercourse setbacks in the clearing codes |
| Pre-clear RE map and VM regional ecosystem map | Pre-clear map certified 15 November 2023 (version 13.00); the VM regional ecosystem map is also version 13.00, published as non-certified data | The regional ecosystem, and its conservation class, behind each category B or C area |
| Queensland Herbarium RE mapping | Version 13.1, released 15 May 2024, still the current statewide release | The scientific mapping the VM regional ecosystem map draws on |
Monthly cycle or annual update: reading the two official statements together
According to the layer’s metadata the map will be updated on a monthly cycle to ensure future PMAVs are shown on it; the department’s vegetation maps page, last updated in December 2021, describes it as generally updated annually. Both are true, of different things. Its large data inputs, the Herbarium’s regional ecosystem mapping and the regrowth mapping, arrive on a roughly annual rhythm and have been stable since 2023 and 2024, while each certified map is re-issued on a rolling basis to fold in new PMAVs, the current lot boundaries and the supporting layers. The version in force on any day is the one certified most recently, so a property report dated a month ago will usually match, and one dated a year ago is worth re-running before you spend money on the strength of it.
Why a PMAV holds the map still, and what the Act says about it
A property map of assessable vegetation is a map certified by the chief executive for an area, showing the vegetation category areas for that area (section 20AK). An owner applies for one under section 20C, and if the owner and the chief executive agree on the map, the chief executive must make it. From that point anyone may rely on the PMAV as correctly showing the category areas (section 20G), and where a boundary on the PMAV differs from the boundary on the state map, the PMAV boundary prevails to the extent of the difference (section 20H).
That is the lock-in, and it is worth separating from correction. The state map corrects itself over time: a new cut of the Herbarium mapping or the regrowth layer can move a boundary in your favour with no input from you, and the same process can move it back on a later cycle. A PMAV takes your boundaries out of that monthly process, and only the section 20D circumstances set out below can reopen them. Where the categories as mapped are wrong, they can be put right on the way in, with field-verified regional ecosystem mapping as the evidence, but the reason to apply is the certainty at the end of it, and the department lists confirming the vegetation category areas as currently mapped as the first reason to apply. Section 20AJ makes the same point from the other direction: an owner who wants the chief executive to amend the regulated vegetation management map for their land applies for a PMAV to do it. We wrote about the money side of this in PMAV Queensland: is your vegetation map costing you money?
A PMAV has limits, and the limits are the reason it carries weight. Section 20D allows the chief executive to replace one only in defined circumstances, such as an offset area or unlawful clearing arising on the land, or the agreement of each affected owner, and section 20CA stops category X being shown over land the chief executive is satisfied was cleared unlawfully after 29 November 2013. Both are set out in the questions at the end of this post. A PMAV applies to the land and survives a change of ownership, which is why buyers ask for one during due diligence.
What it costs in time and money
The property report is free and the first thing to pull: it needs a lot on plan and an email address, and section 3.1 tells you whether a PMAV already applies. A PMAV application goes to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines, Manufacturing and Regional and Rural Development on the department’s form with the application fee prescribed by regulation (section 20C(2)); the department’s page states that a fee applies without printing the amount, and the chief executive can waive it where that is in the interests of the State and the owner (section 20C(4)). An application that confirms the mapping as it stands has a published timeframe of within 20 business days. One that changes boundaries takes as long as its complexity and the information supplied require, and it needs a map of the proposed boundaries and categories, information confirming the changes are accurate, and historical aerial photography where it helps. In practice that information is a regional ecosystem verification: an ecologist walks the boundaries, records canopy species, height and cover against the Herbarium’s technical descriptions, and produces the map that goes in with the form. A PMAV that only confirms the boundaries as mapped is the form and the fee, and an owner can lodge that without us; where a boundary is to move, the verification is the part we quote, so request a quote with the lot on plan and the area you intend to clear. If you need to clear soon, say so in the application, because the department prioritises on that basis.
What each step adds
Government timeframes are as published by the department; our own work is quoted per site.
| Step | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetation management property report | Online, on request | Free |
| Regional ecosystem verification (field survey and map) | Depends on the area and the number of regional ecosystems to walk | Quoted per site |
| PMAV confirming the current mapping | Department: within 20 business days | Prescribed fee, set by regulation |
| PMAV amending boundaries | Department: depends on complexity and the information supplied | Prescribed fee, plus the verification above |
What to do now
Pull a fresh property report
Request the free vegetation management property report for your lot on plan, and read section 3.1 for an existing PMAV. Compare the categories against the report your clearing plan, code notification or DA was built on.
Check the date on everything downstream
A code notification, a vegetation clearing assessment or a due diligence report prepared on an earlier cut of the map describes that cut. If the categories differ, the plan needs re-running before anyone clears.
Our part in that sequence is the evidence and the application: a regional ecosystem verification on the ground, a vegetation clearing assessment against the certified map as it stands, and the PMAV application itself. Where clearing is meant to proceed under a code, our accepted development clearing code advice checks the category on the current cut before the notification goes in. For a lot heading for a development application, an ecological constraints analysis puts the state map alongside the council overlays and the Commonwealth matters so the whole picture is on one page before design starts.
Where clearing plans go wrong between cuts of the map
- Clearing on the strength of last year’s property report, or a map saved to the desktop. The map in force is the one certified most recently, and a code is applied to the category on the day of clearing; the free report takes minutes to re-run.
- Applying to move a boundary with no field evidence. The department asks for a map of the proposed boundaries and information confirming the changes are accurate, and its timeframe runs on what is supplied.
- Clearing first and asking for category X later. Section 20CA stops category X being shown on a PMAV over an area cleared unlawfully after 29 November 2013; dated aerial photography decides that question.
- Listing rural land without a PMAV. The buyer’s due diligence gets a property report the next monthly cut can supersede; a PMAV applies to the land and survives the sale.
The free report, pulled before anything is priced, avoids the first; the boundaries walked before the form goes in avoids the second and third. Call (07) 3018 7538 before the machinery is booked and we will say whether the lot needs the verification at all.
What this does not change
The re-certification is a State instrument under the Vegetation Management Act 1999, and its reach ends at that Act. Four other regimes keep running on their own maps and their own timetables, and a favourable state category on your lot answers none of them.
The detail, if you need it
The five categories on the map
The department’s vegetation categories page describes them as follows.
| Category | Colour on the map | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Category A | Red | Compliance areas, environmental offset areas and declared areas |
| Category B | Dark blue | Remnant vegetation: endangered, of concern or least concern regional ecosystems where the predominant canopy has more than 50% of its undisturbed cover, averages more than 70% of its undisturbed height, and is made up of the characteristic species |
| Category C | Light blue | High value regrowth on freehold land, indigenous land and leasehold land for agriculture and grazing that has been left uncleared for 15 years or more, with exceptions for activities such as fodder harvesting and forestry |
| Category R | Yellow | Areas within 50 metres of a watercourse or drainage feature in the Great Barrier Reef catchments named in section 20ANA of the Act |
| Category X | White | Areas shown in none of the other categories |
Essential habitat: what the re-certified layer means for a category B or C area
The essential habitat map is certified under section 20AC(1) of the Act and shows the areas the chief executive reasonably believes are essential habitat for protected wildlife. Under section 20AC(2), essential habitat is a category A, B or C area on the regulated vegetation management map that either has at least three essential habitat factors for the species (including any factor the essential habitat database marks as mandatory) or is an area where the species is located at any stage of its life cycle. An essential habitat factor is a component of the habitat, such as a landform, a pollinator, a regional ecosystem, soil or water, that the species needs or benefits from.
The layer metadata for the version certified on 3 September 2026 describes it as vegetation in which a species listed as critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable or near threatened under the Nature Conservation Act 1992 has been known or is highly likely to occur, and says it incorporates core modelled habitat developed through recovery planning and the Biodiversity Assessment and Mapping Methodology. Modelled habitat can include remnant and non-remnant areas. Where clearing is proposed inside essential habitat, the assessment benchmarks in the State code and the clearing codes tighten, so a re-certified essential habitat layer is worth re-checking on any job that touches category B or C vegetation.
The maps that stayed where they were
The vegetation management pre-clear regional ecosystem map remains at version 13.00, certified 15 November 2023, and the vegetation management regional ecosystem map (published by area of interest, as non-certified data) is at the same version. The Queensland Herbarium’s own regional ecosystem mapping, which those maps draw on, is version 13.1, released 15 May 2024 and still listed as the current statewide release on a departmental page updated 31 July 2026. The regional ecosystem behind a category B or C polygon on your lot has therefore had the same scientific basis for more than two years; what moves on the certified map is where the polygon edge falls, through PMAVs, the cadastre and the supporting layers.
The vegetation management watercourse and drainage feature map for Queensland outside South East Queensland was re-certified on 26 February 2026 at version 7.05. The two South East Queensland variants (the 1:25,000 map and the extractive industry map) are unchanged at version 7.00, certified 15 November 2023.
Clearing codes, the Biosecurity Act wording, and the re-certified map
The accepted development vegetation clearing codes are separate instruments from the map. A code sets the conditions for a clearing activity; the certified map sets the category the code is applied to, on the day the clearing happens, and the department’s clearing codes page reminds landholders of the requirement to notify the department of intended clearing before any of it starts. According to the department’s review page, the codes received minor updates on 22 November 2023, and the Managing a native forest practice code is under review, with the current code continuing to apply in the meantime. None of the codes was re-issued as part of the September 2026 map certification.
One piece of housekeeping in the Act itself is worth knowing if you clear weeds under a code or an exemption. The reprint of the Vegetation Management Act 1999 is current as at 27 April 2026 because the schedule definition of “declared pest” now refers to prohibited or restricted matter prescribed or declared as invasive biosecurity matter, or controlled or regulated biosecurity matter, under the Biosecurity Act 2014. Advice about clearing declared pests should cite the Biosecurity Act listing for the species rather than the older pest declarations.
How a certified map takes effect
Section 20A defines the regulated vegetation management map as the map certified by the chief executive for a part of the State, showing the vegetation category areas for that part. Section 20HA lets the chief executive certify a map in hard copy or in digital electronic form, and section 20HC provides that a vegetation management map, or a map replacing one, has no effect until it is certified. That is why the certification date on the open data record, and on the layer metadata, is the date that matters for any assessment: the version certified on 3 September 2026 is the map in force from that day until the next certification replaces it.
Section 20AK(2) allows a PMAV to also show the boundaries and regional ecosystem number of each regional ecosystem in the area, section 20C(2) requires the application to be in the approved form with the prescribed information and fee, and section 20HB obliges the chief executive to amend the regulated vegetation management map to reflect any PMAV made or replaced.
Section 20G(2) bridges the gap between a PMAV being made and the state map being amended to reflect it: until the amendment is made under section 20HB, a reference in the category definitions to an area shown on the regulated vegetation management map is taken to include the area as shown on the PMAV. In practical terms, a freshly certified PMAV can be relied on straight away, even if the next monthly cut of the state map has yet to pick it up.
Questions we get asked
Does my property report from last year still hold?
Treat it as a record of the map on the day it was issued. The current certified map is the one dated 3 September 2026, and any clearing or assessment from now is judged against it. Pulling a fresh report is free and takes minutes, so there is no reason to guess. If the categories on the two reports match, carry on; if they differ, the plan built on the old one needs to be re-run.
Does the map change every month for my property?
Unlikely. The monthly cycle exists so that PMAVs made since the last cut, and changes to lot boundaries and the supporting layers, are reflected on the certified map. A lot where no PMAV has been made, no boundary has been resurveyed and no supporting layer has moved will usually look identical from one cut to the next. The point of checking is that you cannot tell which lots moved without looking, and the property report is the way to look.
Can the department change my PMAV once it is made?
Only in the circumstances section 20D of the Act sets out: where one of the section 20B matters arises over the land (an offset area, a declared area, a restoration or enforcement notice, unlawful clearing, a tenure conversion, or a reasonably held belief that the map is in error), to reflect a change to a regional ecosystem under division 7A, or with the agreement of each affected owner. Section 20D(3A) adds specific cases tied to how the PMAV was made in the first place, such as a declared area or offset ending. Outside those circumstances the PMAV stands, and under section 20H its boundaries prevail over the state map.
Can I get category X on a PMAV over an area that was cleared without approval?
Section 20CA stands in the way. The chief executive cannot make an area category X on a PMAV where satisfied that clearing of the area after 29 November 2013 was carried out unlawfully, or where the vegetation was lost through burning, flooding or natural causes. The Act requires a notice to the owner setting out the grounds and inviting a submission within a stated period of at least 15 business days, and the chief executive decides after considering any properly made submission. A later lawful clearing event under an approval, a code or an area management plan can reopen the question under section 20CA(3A). This is the part of the framework where an accurate clearing history, with dated aerial photography, is worth more than any argument.
Does a PMAV survive a sale of the land?
Yes. The department states that PMAVs apply to the land and are unaffected by a change of property ownership. That is also why a PMAV is a useful thing to hold when you sell rural or rural-residential land: the buyer’s due diligence gets a certified answer on vegetation categories rather than a property report that may be superseded by the next cut of the map.
Did the regional ecosystem mapping change on 3 September 2026?
No. The vegetation management pre-clear RE map is still version 13.00, certified 15 November 2023, the VM regional ecosystem map is at the same version, and the Herbarium’s statewide RE mapping is still version 13.1 from May 2024. If your lot’s category B or C polygon has moved, look first to a PMAV made nearby, a change in lot boundaries or a change in a supporting layer, and if none of those explains it, ask the department for the reason before assuming the vegetation itself has been remapped.
If you are about to clear, sell, subdivide or lodge on land with regulated vegetation, we check the lot against the map certified on 3 September 2026, verify the regional ecosystems on the ground, and prepare the PMAV application that locks the categories in. Request a quote or call (07) 3018 7538. See also our property maps of assessable vegetation page.