Conservation covenants for Giant Freshwater Crayfish habitat

Under the project, landholders in the priority areas were eligible to develop a proposal for a conservation covenant to protect good quality Giant Freshwater Crayfish habitat, including surrounding native vegetation

A conservation covenant is a voluntary agreement between the landholder and the Minister administering the Tasmanian Nature Conservation Act 2002 Conservation covenants aim to protect and enhance the natural, cultural and/or scientific values of the area of land under covenant. The covenant is placed on the land title, to provide long term protection to the area even if ownership changes.

Conservation covenants are part of Australia’s National Reserve System and provide the highest level of protection for private land conservation.

Tasmania has over 900 conservation covenants protecting approximately 112,000 ha Each covenant is tailored to suit the property and is developed with the landowners based on a natural values assessment and the management requirements Conservation covenants provide landholders an opportunity to protect valuable Giant Freshwater Crayfish habitat on their land into the future

Some landholders have used this funding opportunity to develop proposals for conservation covenants on land with high quality GFC habitat and remnant vegetation on their properties, including riparian, floodplain and hillside forests

Three separate conservation covenants were approved in 2021-22 under the project, to protect 63 ha of land surrounding nearly five kilometres of high-quality Giant Freshwater Crayfish habitat in the Inglis and Leven River catchments An exciting benefit of these covenants has been the inclusion of 47 5 ha of Eucalyptus viminalis (White Gum) wet forest, listed nationally as “Critically Endangered” The covenants also protect habitat for a range of other threatened and non-threatened fauna and flora like Tasmanian Devil, Spotted-tailed Quoll and the Tasmanian Masked Owl The three covenants will become part of the National Reserve Estate and the areas will be protected in perpetuity, a great conservation outcome for Giant Freshwater Crayfish and other important natural values in north-west Tasmania The successful covenants were also able to access stewardship payments which will help towards maintenance work such as weeding, on the covenant area long term

The covenants were developed by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, under contract to Cradle Coast NRM, with the individual landholders. The administrative process to approve and develop the covenant was undertaken by Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania’s (NRET) Private Land Conservation Program, who waived the administrative fees as part of their support for the project.