"Wood Park" Wet and Wild Lands Tour
“You can a run a strong business with good livestock and also work on conservation values – those two things are achievable together.” – Owen Huggins, “Wood Park”
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The issue
One of the barriers to achieving widespread biodiversity conservation efforts on private property remains a lack of awareness among landowners of (a) the importance of biodiversity and habitat, (b) how conservation efforts can complement rather than compete with commercial operations, and (c) how to get started and maintain conservation efforts.
The solution
As part of the Private Land Conservation Matters Project (PLCM), RGA Landcare in partnership with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and Landcare NSW delivered a farm walk and talk field day at “Wood Park”, Jerilderie NSW.
Our hosts Owen and Helen Huggins entered an in-perpetuity Conservation Agreement with the NSW BCT in 2018 to protect three Endangered Ecological Communities: Sandhill Pine Woodlands, Myall Woodland and Natural Grasslands. Twenty-three percent of the 7,150 hectare property is covered by the agreement, which allows the Huggins’ to reap premiums for their wool and beef sales as well as mitigate the impacts of drought on their commercial operations.
The field day was attended by 52 people (landholders, community members, and LLS, BCT and Landcare staff) from all over the Murray catchment zone. Throughout the day we visited four key conservation sites on “Wood Park”, whilst hearing from experienced guest speakers on the opportunities, benefits and challenges associated with conservation efforts.
The impact
Feedback from attendees was extremely positive, with many citing the location, event organisation, speakers, and the informal atmosphere which promoted questions and candid conversations, as key drivers of the event’s success.
On a scale of 1 – 100, attendees on average rated their knowledge on biodiversity conservation as 66 prior to the event, and 72 afterwards. In addition to increasing attendee knowledge, the event fanned the desire of attendees to continue their learnings, with many requesting more field days and opportunities to connect with local environmental champions to learn more about how they can practically implement conservation efforts on their own properties.
Key facts
- Lack of landowner understanding of the “why, where, what and how” of biodiversity conservation remains a barrier to widescale private land conservation efforts
- Landowners with Conservation Agreements are a vital resource for helping raise awareness of the realities of private conservation to overcome this barrier
- On-farm walk and talk field days are an effective means of connecting landowners and conservation experts to share experience and knowledge and raise awareness.