The Cross Property Planning project is a six-year community Landcare project to protect and enhance native vegetation in the central Murrumbidgee region of NSW. The region was extensively cleared for agriculture, with the remaining native vegetation (less than 5% of the total area) now existing in small, scattered patches on multiple tenures. This project, funded through the Australian Government’s Biodiversity Fund and the NSW Environmental Trust’s Community Bush Regeneration Fund, aims to link and enhance the fragmented remnants across property boundaries to preserve biodiversity and retain wildlife habitat.

Approximately 46 species of animals and 81 species of birds need hollows for shelter or breeding in NSW. Wide-spread tree clearing has resulted in a “housing shortage”. There is a need to improve habitat for a wide range of important animal and bird species across the mid-Murrumbidgee. It takes a long time to grow a hollow however intervention in the form of installing nesting boxes can provide a tool to mitigate the historic losses of the past in the short-term. Raising awareness and promoting the importance hollows provides a tool to mitigate the historic losses of the past for the long-term. Funding is available for the construction and supply of nest boxes in areas of Coolamon, Junee, Tarcutta, Kyeamba, Eastern Riverina and Cootamundra. This project aims to: • Provide habitat for a wide range of important animal species including, but not limited to, Squirrel glider, Superb Parrot and microbats. • Raise awareness and promote the value of natural hollows for biodiversity. • Facilitate a coordinated approach to get various Landcare groups to work together to achieve landscape scale outcomes. • Facilitate increased adoption of sustainable practices to conserve and protect remnant trees and hollows.