National Forum

Listening to Landholders: Approaches to Community Nature Conservation in Queensland
Dr Joanne Millar
Program Leader, Community Nature Conservation
Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service
Working with Landholders for Conservation Outcomes
11:30-11:45, Thursday, 22 March 2001

The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) established the Community Nature Conservation (CNC) Extension Network in 1998 to assist landholders, community groups and local governments with nature conservation planning and management on private and leasehold land in Queensland. The network includes seventeen regional extension officers, six Bushcare facilitators and seven Land for Wildlife coordinators. CNC staff work across 12 bioregions with diverse ecosystems and varying levels of landholder commitment and capacity to manage and protect areas of habitat.

Nature conservation on private and leasehold land in Queensland (96 percent of the state) has become critical for the survival of many plant and animal species, and their associated ecosystems. The conservation status of Queensland's bioregional ecosystems currently shows that 32 percent of the total number of regional ecosystems are either 'endangered' or 'of concern'. The new Vegetation Management Act 1999 protects 'endangered' ecosystems and those vulnerable to land degradation, and seeks to voluntarily protect 'of concern' ecosystems through a regional vegetation planning process. Only by working with landholders to encourage and enable them to retain or sell high conservation value areas, can Queensland prevent further loss of its natural heritage.

The ANZECC working group on nature conservation on private land identified best practice initiatives and principles for achieving ownership and involvement of landholders in nature conservation on private land in1997. These included building relationships with landholders; incorporating best practice nature conservation into existing extension and planning programs, and focusing on outcomes, monitoring and evaluation. The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Community Nature Conservation extension program, has developed an integrated framework for extension delivery based on these principles and meeting a range of client needs.

Extension strategies include giving recognition and support to landholders who are committed to nature conservation (eg Nature Refuges, Land for Wildlife, Case Studies); integrating extension delivery with other programs (eg Landcare, Property Management Planning, Bushcare-devolved grants, NatureSearch); and ensuring conservation priorities are included in regional and district planning (eg regional strategies and vegetation plans, local government and catchment plans). In working with landholders and the community it is important to recognise the social, historical and financial context in which they live, and factors influencing their willingness and capacity to embrace conservation.

We conducted market research in 1999 using focus groups and a phone survey of 716 landholders across 12 industries to give a state-wide, regional and industry perspective on issues affecting landholders in relation to nature conservation on their properties, their information needs and communication preferences.

Findings revealed that landholders require access to practical, locally relevant information using best practice examples as well as financial assistance to carry out integrated nature conservation practices. Threats to production such as weeds, feral animals, tree regrowth and water quality were considered more important than habitat decline or endangered species, although there was considerable interest in wildlife issues. The challenges ahead for community nature conservation are to demonstrate the links between biodiversity conservation, threatening processes and farm viability, increase access to incentives and build on existing landholder stewardship and experience.