Theme 3: Linking conservation & land management

The relatively small proportion of native habitat conserved in protected areas through National Parks, and other reserves, indicates a focus is needed to manage biodiversity values on freehold and leasehold land in cooperation with landholders.

Don’t read this if you know it already: Why Farmers Care About Biodiversity

Cattle grazing is the main land use in the region. In the grazing lands, the most important issues are invasion by weeds such as rubber vine, chinee apple, bellyache bush, lantana and parthenium, the use of fire as a management tool and damage to habitats by livestock under particularly high grazing pressure.

Agriculture occupies a much smaller area of land in the region. In the cropping lands, the most important issues are invasion by exotic grasses such as paragrass, and the replanting of trees lost from riparian systems.

The BDTNRM Biodiversity Programme has one significant collaborative project underway to enable better integration of biodiversity conservation with land management:

Great links

Bushfire CRC website

Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare Inc - email landcare@bigpond.net.au

Conservation volunteers

Desert Uplands Committee

Fire ecology and management in northern Australia

Fire North

Greening Australia

Landcare Queensland

Land for Wildlife

Landmanager's website

NRW Climate change information

Queensland Water & Land Carers

Useful resources

A Growing Concern ( order printed copy )

Balancing production with nature conservation

Biodiversity: what is it and why is it important?

Biograze - Waterpoints and Wildlife booklet

Bushcare - Working with Local Government to Conserve our Native Vegetation - 2000

Covenants for Conservation Brochure - 2004 ( order printed copy )

Desert Uplands Strategic Land Resource Assessment

Gifts That Keep on Giving - A Landholders Guide to Land Protection and Conservation Options - 2005 ( order printed copy )

Incentives for Sustainable Land Management: Community cost sharing to conserve biodiversity on private lands, A guide for local government (Revised Edition) - 2001

Incentives for Conserving Biodiversity ( order printed copy )

Indigenous Knowledge Helps Manage our Land ( order printed copy )

Logs Have Life Inside Music and Education Kit - firewood education kit (including House on Fire song)

Managing the Great Artesian Basin spring wetlands

Methodology for Survey and Mapping of Regional Ecosystems and Vegetation Communities in Queensland

Native Grasses: a Boon to Graziers ( order printed copy )

Native grassland: regional ecosystem 11.3.21 (65 KB)

Native Vegetation: A library of research and resources for vegetation management from Greening Australia http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/nativevegetation/pages/index.html

Nature refuges

NRW essential habitat web page has information on how essential habitat is applied under the VMA Codes.

Protecting Biodiversity: Part of Farming ( order printed copy )

Revegetating Cleared Land ( order printed copy )

Tax Incentives for Conservation - July 2004 ( order printed copy )

The Effects of Artificial Sources of Water on Rangeland Biodiversity - 1997

Vegetation management information can be found on the NRW website: or from your District NRW office.

What's new?

Environmental Stewardship Program .

mla's Tips & Tools on encouraging biodiversity benefits .

The Land Manager's Monitoring Guide provides a suite of natural resource monitoring information to assist land managers in monitoring and demonstrating the results of more sustainable management actions.

Feature of the month

Landcare CarbonSMART

The first national carbon pool to support Australia's biodiversity. Revegetating land is an effective tool to offset our carbon emissions - in fact, trees are the only proven technology to remove carbon from the atmosphere - an important step in the battle against climate change! Through Landcare CarbonSMART, farmers and landholders can earn money simply by planting and maintaining vegetation for biodiversity. The CarbonSMART project makes it possible for landholders to secure a regular income for up to 30 years. In turn, individuals and businesses can buy carbon credits from Aussie landholders, and do their part to help secure a sustainable global climate for the future.