Conservation of native woodland by farmers in Moree Plains Shire, New South Wales

Abstract

The New South Wales Government introduced the 'Native Vegetation Conservation Act 1998' to protect the native woodland and native grassland of the state. The amounts of native vegetation already conserved prior to the Act, the costs of continued conservation under the Act, and the farmers' wish to conserve or clear, are essential information to assist policy development in this area. To provide this kind of information, fifty-one farmers were interviewed in an important cropping region of the state, Moree Plains Shire. On average, 21.0% of the area of each farm in the sample was native woodland, and another 19.9% was native grassland. Over a quarter of the farms had at least 25% of their land in native woodland, and well over one-half had more than 10% in native woodland. The continued protection of this native vegetation under the Act imposes small costs on some landholders and high costs on others. Almost one-quarter of the farmers are losing only 5% or less of their potential income, but another quarter are losing at least one-half of their potential income. The farmers consider offsets to be an effective way for the state to promote conservation and compensate for some of their losses, and their wide range of suggestions for different kinds of offset is documented. The landholders who wish to clear more woodland are the poorer farmers who have the highest proportions of native woodland and grassland on their properties. The results are discussed in the context of current changes in the legislation.