Land for Wildlife a perfect fit for Landcare
Land for Wildlife a perfect fit for Landcare
The government supported 'Land for Wildlife' property assessment program is free to landholders providing them a host of landscape information and access to grant funding
Capacity to Deliver -
LEP23 - 014_LLC14_1
The issue
Most landholders are unaware this government supported, environmentally educational and free service exists to provide them with a deeper knowledge of what native vegetation exists on their land, how valuable it is and that once the assessment is registered a grant opportunity is available to increase these values.
The solution
Upper Snowy Landcare Network took up the opportunity to be trained to roll out these LfW assessments in our area. The Conservation Environment Network provided the training.
After the landholder fills in an Expression of Interest an on-ground assessment is undertaken with the Landholder. Much information is compiled during the visit including species lists and conservation plans of the landholder.
Vegetation maps are pre-created for the property based on biodiversity layers and values, and species lists are taken from Plant Community Types relevant to the property. A species list is also collated from the assessment and any other visit also collects species on the day and other information.
The impact
The impact to the landholder has shown to be eye-opening and even future-changing. One of our recipient landholder couples, Ina and John van der Merwe were suitably impressed to learn that much of their 600 ha property called Fongs Paddock, was repleat with sweeping plains of special native grasslands and forbs. More than 80% of the Monaro Native grasslands have been cleared.
Learnings
Ina and John purchased Fongs Paddock a number of years earlier and had been learning about the Monaro and its unique windswept ways. They were considering the best use of the land whilst pursuing their plans to establish their home and distillery business on the land.
The Land for Wildlife assessment and its grant funding will be used to provide for extra more targetted and sensitive weed control and some reinstallation of the missing grasses and forbs. This is a new pathway offered to these new landholders.
Key facts
- Landholders benefit significantly from a Land for Wildlife assessment and Landcare is the perfect delivery agent as we are on the ground and have other opportunities to offer the landholder.