The Nature Conservation Trust (NCT) of NSW was born in early 2002, when it was established as a non-profit organisation under the Nature Conservation Trust Act of 2001. Over the past decade, the NCT has carved a niche in the rural real estate market, using its revolving Conservation Property Fund to create a demand for private land conservation.
Conservation Property Fund
The NCT Conservation Property Fund – which enables us to buy, manage and sell land of high conservation value – was kick-started a year later with $2 million in funding from the NSW Government and the Federal Government’s Natural Heritage Trust. We purchased our first two properties soon after – Euroka, on the western margin of the New England Tablelands, and Sandy Wells, on the northern edge of the Warrumbungles National Park.
Private conservation covenants
The NCT’s conservation land covenanting program had humble beginnings in 2005, when we partnered with the owner of a small parcel of land near Urunga, in northern NSW, to implement our first conservation agreement. Since then, the NCT has negotiated a further 40 conservation agreements with rural land owners to safeguard threatened plants and animals.
The NCT now works in some of the most ecologically diverse parts of NSW, from areas surrounding the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area to the Gondwana Rainforests in the north-east.
Partnerships and progress
The NCT network of private conservation reserves – and our staffing – has grown considerably. This expansion has been matched by the growth in our partnerships with various government departments and agencies, including the NSW Environmental Trust, State-wide catchment management authorities and the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, with whom we continue to identify and protect threatened landscapes.
Under our Conservation Property Fund, we have purchased 19 properties spanning some 19,116 hectares of high conservation land - all rural properties are for sale. Six have been sold to supportive private land owners, protecting 3,678 hectares for all time, and we continue to sensitively manage a further 15,438 hectares in readiness for sale.
In partnership with rural land owners, the NCT currently manages some 41 registered conservation covenants that protect 2,444 hectares of privately-held land vital to the preservation of the State’s natural heritage.
The NCT employs 12 people, administered from our head office on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) campus in Orange. We also have offices in Lismore, Sydney, and at the CSU Thurgoona campus, near Albury.
