Conservation on Private Land

“Building partnerships with landowners for the sustainable management and conservation of natural values across the landscape”

The Department, the agricultural sector and regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) Committees all acknowledge the key role of private landowners in conserving our natural diversity and the public and private benefits that flow from this approach. Capable land stewardship conserves the natural environment, providing benefits for future Tasmanians and visitors while enabling landowners to maintain market access and capitalise on new opportunities.

The Private Land Conservation Program aims to develop and encourage an integrated approach to private land management and planning that helps landowners fully benefit from the sustainable management of their properties’ natural diversity. We seek to achieve high level recognition of the biodiversity values of natural systems and the need to appropriately protect them and to support individuals who voluntarily manage these systems for conservation outcomes.

The PLCP provides a coordinated and targeted approach to the establishment of voluntary conservation agreements with private landowners. To this end, the program works with partners including landowners to deliver a variety of initiatives and shorter-term incentive programs.

These webpages detail the work of the program, highlight some of the conservation achievements of our partnerships, and provide easy access to information relevant to conservation on private land.

- John Harkin, Manager

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Fitzgerald's Marsh

John Fitzgerald bought more than a rich biodiversity when he purchased a 12ha wetland on the Derwent River. The marsh had been John’s childhood playground he learnt to share with tiger snakes and where he delighted in the company of frogs and a rich birdlife.

Those days built within him an innate appreciation of nature. Perhaps that is why today John considers the wetlands something he would “do anything to protect”. The jetty that convicts used to load lime is gone the way of youthful vigour. What remains is a wonderful nature that under his conservation covenant will endure thanks to memories of the past and his eye toward the future.

By Dean Vincent, Private Land Conservation Section, DPIPWE

The full version of this article can be found in the December 2012 edition of The Running Postman newsletter.

Fitzgerald's Marsh. Photo: Dean Vincent
John Fitzgerald proudly with his Land for Wildlife sign. Photo: Dean Vincent

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Private Land Conservation Program participants as at 1 November 2012
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Number of covenants	700	\|	Land for Wildlife members	830	\|	Gardens for Wildlife members	461
- hectares	81,154	\|	- hectares	55,805	\|	- hectares	2,563

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Please note that some landowners are registered with more than one program, and there is some overlap in the figures presented.

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