Covenanting

Objective

To assist the community in managing heritage values on private land.

Strategies

Opportunities for assisting private landowners to conserve their land with emphasis on important ecosystems.
Knowledge, awareness, understanding and commitment for private landowners to conserve heritage values on natural places and cultural landscapes.
Community advice, guidance and leadership on managing heritage values on natural places and cultural landscapes.
Public participation programs for the involvement of the community in conserving natural places and cultural landscapes.
Land owned and covenanted is managed in accordance with approved conservation standards.

Performance Indicators

The significance of land covenanted
The amount of land covenanted
The number of covenants placed on land
The costs of conservation by covenanting in comparison to traditional methods of land acquisition
The costs of conservation by covenanting in comparison to traditional methods of land management
The level of satisfaction by owners of covenanted land
The level of satisfaction of the community in the Trust’s covenanting program.

Features of the 2000/2001 Program

During the 2000-2001 financial year, the Covenanting Program has progressed as follows:

20 covenants over 15 properties have been signed during the year, covering 1043 hectares.
In total the Trust has now signed 28 covenants over 1751 hectares.
51 invitations to covenant have been received during the year. This equates to 92 new covenants being processed over 118,662 hectares. Many of these covenants will be finalised in the coming year.
Management plans or guidelines are available for 6 of the covenanted properties with the remainder in varying stages of process.

The conservation values of the covenanted properties, including those in process, include the following significant features:

Populations of 18 Nationally Threatened flora species, 3 Nationally Threatened fauna species and one Nationally Threatened plant community (as defined in the Environmental Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act) are present on covenanted properties. Where recovery plans are available for these species/communities, the management plans will reflect the recovery plans.
There are 27 species of Priority Flora or Fauna (As defined under the Wildlife Conservation Act) known from covenanted properties. This figure is expected to increase as more detailed surveys are carried out.
Many of the covenants include wetlands or watercourses, but one property includes an entire suite of wetlands in the Coorow region.
the National Trust is covenanting conservation values in seven of the eight Interim Biogeographic Regions (IBRA) in south-western Western Australia. Three of these regions are categorised by the Federal Government as being high priorities for conservation.
Covenants, either signed or in process, are located in 46 different Local Government areas.

One of the achievements during 2000/2001 was the development of the five-year Strategic Plan for the program, and its acceptance by Council in October 2000. The Plan identified specific strategies to support the objectives and strategies identified Trust’s Corporate Plan for Covenanting. The plan is being progressively implemented and progress is reported monthly to both the Covenanting Committee and the Council of the National Trust.

Core Business

The core business of the Covenanting Program is the negotiation, placement and on-going support of conservation covenants. This occupies the majority of staff time and program expenditure (other than the incentives budget). Progress continues to exceed expectations, showing a consistent and steady increase in the number of properties entering the process.

Organisational Development

The focus this year has been on continual improvement of all processes, with particular emphasis on effectively, timely processing of covenants. Staff have been trained in the drafting of covenants, using material prepared by a qualified solicitor. All covenants are finalised and signed off by a qualified solicitor.

Funding

The Program’s primary sponsors during this financial year have continued to be the Lotteries Commission (through the Gordon Reid Foundation) and the Natural Heritage Trust.

Support for Covenantors

There has been considerable focus this year, both nationally and within WA on the need to provide incentives and remove disincentives to conservation on private land. The Trust, through the Covenanting Program, has played an active role in supporting the reduction in the tax burden on conservation, which is one of the most highly taxed land uses. This has been done through the following means:

Ensuring that the National Forum, run by the National Trust in March, 2001, placed emphasis on seeking solutions on this issue.
Participation in private land conservation incentive studies run by the Shires of Augusta - Margaret River, and Busselton.
Participation in debate and workshops looking at the role of land valuation as a tool to support conservation.
Active advocacy for rate reductions for conservation covenantors.
Seeking arrangements with the Valuer-General’s Office to facilitate revaluation of covenanting properties, where requested by owners.
Liaison with State and Commonwealth agencies, including the Australian Tax Office, the Productivity Commission and Environment Australia to reduce disincentives, and provide incentives for private land conservation.

Through its Stewardship of covenanted land, the Trust has played an advocacy role for covenanted properties, most notably:

Provided support and liaison for covenantors with state government agencies on issues affecting the covenanted land.
Working with landholders, the DME and Mining Companies to ensure freehold land is safe from mineral exploration impacts.
Assisting landholders in seeking grants for conservation works for covenanted land.

Promotion

The staff, volunteers and regional representatives have actively promoted the Program. This has included articles in newspapers and newsletters, radio interviews, web page hyperlinks to the Trust web page, talks, presentations and participation in workshops. The National Forum hosted by the Trust was the largest single promotional activity carried out during the year.

Other talks and promotional activities during the year included the following highlights:

Participation in the National Forum on Conservation Management Networks (Canberra, March 2001).
Presentation to the Evaluation Division of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Presentation to the Department of Conservation and Land Management Covenanting Program staff and representatives.
Presentations to numerous Landcare District Committees and Catchment Groups throughout the Wheatbelt, the Great Southern and the South-west.
Participation in a series of workshops on private land conservation incentives in the Shire of Augusta - Margaret River.
Two radio interviews on RTR-FM, one on ABC regional radio.
Feature article in the West Australian on National Forum.
Participation in a Private Land Conservation Incentives workshop in Narrogin.
Participation in quarterly meetings of the Round Table on Philanthropy for Private Land Conservation.
Teaching session in the Land Management course at Joondalup TAFE.
Participation in the Bush Brokers Training workshop organised by REIWA.
Addresses to various community conservation groups, such as the Lake Mealup Preservation Group.

Highlights

Taking Care of the Bush, National Forum on Conservation on Private Land

The staff of the Covenanting Program played an active role in the setting of the agenda and organization of the National Forum, which was held in Subiaco in March 2001. The Forum attracted over 200 participants from all states and major territories in Australia. The Trust successfully sought sponsorship for the Forum, which enabled subsidised travel and registration for conservation landholders from all states. The Forum received tremendous positive feedback on both the content and organization of the event.

First National Trust Conservation Covenant for a Pastoral Lease

The Trust has received its first invitation to covenant a portion of a pastoral lease. The lease is a coastal location on the north-west coast of the State, and is important not only for conservation values on the lease, but because it buffers a significant part of Western Australia’s conservation estate, the Ningaloo Marine Park. Developing this covenant will include the involvement of the Pastoral Lands Board and other government stakeholders such as CALM, as well as the leaseholders.

Volunteer Activities and Participation

Celebration

As each landholder who invites the Trust to develop a covenant is acting in a voluntary capacity, the dedication and commitment of each landholder should be celebrated. The program achieves this in two ways. Firstly, each covenantor is encouraged to celebrate the launch of their covenant with a small (or not so small) public ceremony, organised jointly with the Trust. Two important covenants launched during 2001 have been covenants for Professors Bert and Barbara Main, and the Chappelle family. Both properties are in the Torbay/Denmark area and were launched at a joint ceremony held at Torbay. The commitment of the Trust’s covenantors is also celebrated through articles published in Trust News and elsewhere.

National Forum: Taking Care of the Bush

The organisation and running of the National Forum was possible through the hard work of many volunteers who assisted with set-up, operational activities and follow-up. This group includes landowners who volunteered to allow the forum participants to visit their properties on the field trips and did not bat an eyelid at two or more busloads of people at their gate. The Fund for Wild Australia (now Australian Wildlife Conservancy) and its Directors also made a significant contribution to the event.

The Covenanting Program appreciates the hard work of the volunteers who assisted with various activities during the year.