Rural land owners who enter into a conservation agreement (land covenant) with the Nature Conservation Trust (NCT) enjoy the support of an experienced scientific conservation team.
The NCT’s experienced conservation staff members are skilled at:
- assessing the ecological values of our diverse landscapes;
- advising on the best form of biodiversity protection for landscapes under threat; and
- managing those landscapes in a practical and sustainable way.
Ecological surveys guide environmental management
The NCT’s discussions with land owners start with a rigorous assessment of the property’s ecological values. Vegetation communities and animal populations are also thoroughly mapped across the rural property, where we are looking for threatened native plants and endangered animals that may be present. This ecological assessment of the individual property informs the development of a detailed plan of conservation land management, listed and legally binding in the land covenant.
Once property owners have applied a conservation land covenant to their property, the NCT continues to support the owners in the ongoing conservation and environmental management of the land. The NCT takes a particular interest in the management of the property’s listed threatened plant and animal species. NCT natural resource managers will make periodic site visits to observe and monitor the ecology as well as the management and condition of the land.
Supporting conservation land managers
Being part of the NCT network of private land managers accords many additional advantages. Not only are NCT staff members always available to answer any conservation-related questions our property owners might have, but through our connections with various government departments and agencies we can advise rural property owners of any financial or technical assistance they may be entitled to under regional and catchment-wide conservation and land covenanting programs.
Of course there are also numerous opportunities to compare experiences and share home-grown strategies with other conservation land managers who are equally dedicated to biodiversity protection in NSW.
Click here for more information about how NCT supports land managers.
