Ecological monitoring for Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust is proud to undertake best-practice conservation science and rigorous evaluation of outcomes on Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement sites.

Ecological monitoring is a requirement for all Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements that have started active management. Agreement-holders are required to engage qualified ecologists to complete monitoring within the first 12 months of receiving management payments.

Our Ecological Monitoring Module is world class and accredited by the globally-recognised Accounting for Nature framework.

• Familiarise yourself with the monitoring actions and associated line items of the Total Fund Deposit. Monitoring actions are part of the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement Management Plan.

• There are no requirements related to ecological monitoring while the site is in Passive Management.

• Engage a contractor to implement ecological monitoring as soon as possible following the site moving into Active Management. Baseline ecological monitoring data is required within 12 months¹ of the site moving into Active Management. Certified practicing ecological consultants can be found at www.ecansw.org.au/find-a-consultant.
• Ecological monitoring must be conducted by an appropriately qualified ecologist. This could be, but is not required to be, a Biodiversity Assessment Method Accredited Assessor, with equivalent plant identification skills.
• The Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement Management Plan and Total Fund Deposit spreadsheet should provide enough information for a contractor to provide an accurate quote for undertaking ecological monitoring.
• If active management has commenced within two years of the original site assessment for the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement application, ecological monitoring may not be required in Year 1. In this scenario, relevant data from the original assessment must still be provided to the BCT in the appropriate format – the Accredited Assessor who prepared the Biodiversity Stewardship Site Assessment Report may be engaged to do this on behalf of a landholder.

• Contact the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, via ecological.ats@bct.nsw.gov.au, before monitoring the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement area.
• Use the Ecological Monitoring Module Operational Manual found online at www.bct.nsw.gov.au/resources. Where possible, new biodiversity data should be collected, verified and submitted to the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust using the Ecological Monitoring Module Data Collection Toolkit. Access to the toolkit is granted, and training provided, by the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust. If this is not possible, an alternative means of data provision should be negotiated with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust prior to implementation of baseline monitoring.
• Where data collected to establish the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement site is available, for example, the original assessment plots, and collected less than two years prior to the start of the site's Active Management, the data may be used as a substitute for collecting new baseline data in Year 1 of Active Management. Note: the landholder (or a contractor acting on their behalf) is required to provide these data in a format and structure consistent with the BCT’s Ecological Monitoring Module data standard (contact ecological.ats@bct.nsw.gov.au for more information).
• Any proposed changes to the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement Management Plan should be discussed with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust prior to collecting baseline data.
• Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement holders and ecologists engaged by landholders to conduct ecological monitoring are responsible for the accurate collection, verification, and submission of ecological monitoring data to the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.
• Data management, analysis and reporting for Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements is the responsibility of the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust. It will prepare a biodiversity outcomes report for landholders as part of the five-year management plan review process.

• Regular ecological monitoring of all Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements is required at the frequency documented in the Monitoring Plan. Generally, this is every five years.
• Repeat monitoring should follow an identical data collection method to that of the baseline monitoring, at the same permanently marked sites. Monitoring points will be permanently marked, with star pickets or stakes, for example, throughout the Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement area and should not be removed.
• Ecologists engaged to implement repeat ecological monitoring for Biodiversity Stewardship Agreement sites should contact the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust prior to any repeat survey to ensure they are up-to-date with data collection protocols.

¹ Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements established before 2021 may not require baseline monitoring until Year 5 of active management, indicated by the timing of the first annual management payment and Total Fund Deposit documents.

The BCT delivered a webinar on EMM for BSAs on 30 July 2024 – a recording of this session is available, as are a set of questions and answers coming out of the session.