Wouldn’t it be nice if someone paid you to look after your own land? A new scheme aimed at protecting remnant vegetation on private land might do just that. Funded by the Federal government, the Environmental Stewardship Programme will offer contracts to farmers, graziers and other private landholders to provide long term care and protection of ecological communities on their land. The scheme is just part of a $2.25 billion package of natural resource management called Caring for our Country, beginning this year. Funding for the stewardship programme alone is worth $50 million over four years.

So, what sort of bushland is the Federal Government interested in? The first threatened bushland type to be targeted by the stewardship programme is the Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community. This particular ecological community, which covers 405,000 hectares through the wheat and sheep belt of Queensland, NSW and Victoria, has been reduced to less than 5% of its original extent. It is characterised by tussock grasses, and trees like White Box (Eucalyptus albens), Yellow Box (E. melliodora) and Blakely’s Gum (E.blakelyi). The box-gum woodland is also home to rare animal species including Regent Honeyeaters, Superb Parrots and Tiger Quolls.

 Those landholders who have this type of bushland on their properties will be invited to bid for contracts up to 15 years duration. Under contract, landholders would provide services to protect and rehabilitate the Box-Gum Grassy Woodland community on their land. These services may include revegetation, managing grazing regimes or improving vegetation buffers. It is estimated that 16,000 land managers are within the targeted area.

 If you are interested in this programme, stay tuned. The Environmental Stewardship Programme will begin this year, possibly in the next few months. For regular updates on this scheme visit the Natural Resource Management website: http://www.nrm.gov.au. The website is worth a look just to see what is happening around the country side. Many farms are already participating in revegetation projects – but it would be great to be paid for your trouble!  Watch this spot!