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Follow the links below to find material targeted to the unit's elements, performance criteria, required skills and knowledge

Elements and Performance Criteria

1. Prepare site and inspect equipment
   • Interpret and confirm target area work instruction with supervisor
   • Select, check and use personal protective equipment
   • Conduct pre-operational preparations and safety checks, on ropes, harnesses, tools and equipment
   • Undertake a site-specific job safety analysis (JSA), record and implement control measures according to workplace safety procedures
2. Retain and stabilise trees and standing vegetation for wood habitat
   • Identify vegetation with existing viable hollows
   • Plan retention of standing vegetation with viable hollows and defects
   • Identify environmental pruning points to accommodate retention or formation of hollows
   • Determine length of limb to be retained according to weight, size and natural fracture points
   • Identify and retain branch stubs and residual epicormic growth on lower limb sections
   • Implement pruning cuts to tension side of wood to weaken branch at desired point for fracture pruning
   • Apply physical force to create natural fracture and breakage of branch at desired point
   • Undertake coronet cutting using equipment that minimises contaminants on cut surface
   • Use materials and equipment to protect the environment from residues according to workplace and environmental procedures
3. Implement vegetation management techniques to create habitat
   • Identify and select vegetation suitable for habitat creation work
   • Apply natural fracture pruning techniques consistent with natural branch failure
   • Implement coronet cuts on branches or stub according to specifications
   • Fracture prune from ground or aerially and remove excess branches safely at a natural breakage point, leaving stub to specified length according to job requirements
   • Prepare habitat hollows with an angled faceplate to prevent ingress of water
   • Remove internal wood from hollows and install faceplate and entrance holes according to job requirements
   • Install ground refuges using dimensions and materials specific to fauna habitat requirements
   • Install nesting boxes to height and dimensions for target fauna species
   • Remove unsafe habitat features for reinstallation into tree canopy
   • Select, retain and position tree materials, from tree works, suitable for ground habitat, burrows and refuges
4. Clean worksite and store equipment
   • Inspect, clean, maintain and store equipment according to manufacturer instructions and workplace procedures
   • Collect and dispose of waste materials according to industry, workplace and environmental procedures and practices
   • Clean and restore site to condition according to workplace procedures and instructions

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).

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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.

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