Building capability in fauna impact and mitigation data for road networks

Overview Austroads is seeking responses from appropriately experienced service providers to research, identify and develop practical ways to lift agency capability and enable jurisdictional knowledge sharing in the collection and management of data on fauna impacts, such as wildlife-vehicle collisions, and the effectiveness of impact mitigation measures, such as fencing, crossings and connectivity structures, and emerging approaches including technological solutions. Purpose The project aims to support road agencies to consistently collect, acquire and manage priority data on fauna impacts and impact mitigation measures across the road network, in order to improve monitoring, planning and evaluation of mitigation effectiveness, and to build agency data capability and knowledge sharing in this area. Scope The project seeks to answer four key questions: What priority data is needed to understand and monitor fauna impacts across the road network What priority data is needed to plan, prioritise and evaluate fauna impact mitigation measures What are the most practical and cost-effective ways to support agencies to consistently collect, acquire and manage this data How agencies can grow their data capability in this area and learn from each other The project will be delivered in three phases, operating within the Austroads Common Milestones framework. Phase 1: Research, consultation and analysis Phase 1 will deliver a feasibility and options assessment to determine preferred near-term options to support agencies to consistently collect, acquire and manage priority data on fauna impacts and impact mitigation measures, for the purposes of monitoring, planning and evaluation. Reviewing international and local best practice, and existing data sets and approaches used across jurisdictions Identifying levels of data maturity and agency needs Assessing options to support agencies Developing an agency fauna impact and mitigation data capability framework and maturity model Assessing current agency capability maturity using the framework and proposing learning models for agencies to learn from what works and what does not Phase 1 concludes with a Hold Point where the Environment and Sustainability Task Force considers the preferred options and agrees those that will continue to Phase 2 for development, subject to budget availability. Phase 2: Agreed options development The project team develops the agreed options as determined by the Task Force. Phase 3: Approvals, publication and knowledge sharing During this phase, the draft Research Report from Phase 1 and the agreed option(s) developed in Phase 2 are formally reviewed and approved by the Task Force, Board and Publications Team, with a webinar delivered following publication. Deliverables The project will produce the following deliverables: Phase 0: a Data Management Plan, a Phase 1 Stakeholder Engagement Plan, and a Final Project Management Plan Phase 1 Research report, including a literature review, a fit-for-purpose agency fauna impact and mitigation data capability framework and maturity model, jurisdictions' key fauna impact and mitigation decisions and the minimum data needed to support those decisions, existing data sources and collection approaches and agency capability/maturity assessment, practical and cost-effective options for supporting agency data capability and knowledge sharing, a framework to evaluate which options should progress to Phase 2, and preferred near-term option proposals for Phase 2 Phase 2 deliverables to be determined through Phase 1, with potential development of model common data standards and guidance for jurisdictions' consideration, improvements to existing jurisdiction-level systems, opportunities to partner with others (such as iNaturalist/CSIRO) and leverage existing data platforms, a shared simple low-cost tool (such as an Excel-based tool), and other options identified through the literature review and stakeholder consultation Phase 3: a webinar covering the project outputs from Phase 1 and Phase 2, and project data with a populated metadata spreadsheet