Five landholders in the Port Macquarie region are entering conservation agreements with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) to protect regionally important koala habitat on parts of their properties in perpetuity.
The conservation agreements, which cover more than 170 hectares of land over the five properties, are the result of a Conservation Tender opened by the BCT in April this year.
The Member for Port Macquarie Leslie Williams MP announced the outcomes of the tender during Port Macquarie Koala Hospital’s 45th birthday celebrations on 18 December 2018.
Landholders entering agreements with the BCT will undertake arranged conservation actions on identified parts of their property. These actions will contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the quality of koala habitat on their land. In exchange, landholders will receive an additional income stream in the form of annual conservation management payments.
The BCT will invest $6.3 million in the Biodiversity Conservation Fund to meet annual conservation payments for these five properties, in-perpetuity.
The protection of koala habitat on private land is a priority for the BCT and a key element of the government’s commitment to deliver koala habitat conservation under the NSW Koala Strategy.
This targeted Conservation Tender complements other koala habitat conservation actions under the Strategy, including establishing new koala reserves and parks, and purchasing land with prime koala habitat to be added to the national parks estate.
