Territory Conservation Agreements (TCAs)

High value conservation sites may be eligible for maintenance funding (G. Riggs)

 A Territory Conservation Agreement (TCA) is a contract between Territory Natural Resource Management (NRM) Inc. and a landholder to protect an area of conservation significance. Under an agreed contract, Territory NRM will provide up to $50,000 for the landholder to undertake a set of agreed management actions on a significant area.

The program is voluntary and the 10 year contract is not registered on title or binding for future owners. The program seeks to set a precedent for conservation of high value sites. So far, nine agreements have been signed.

Significant areas might include aquatic habitats such as wetlands or rivers, threatened species habitat, or special geological or topographic attributes.

I spoke to Territory NRM’s Gulf Savanna Regional Coordinator James Wright about TCAs:

“When a landholder asks me about TCAs, I usually ask if they have any special areas that they want to give some extra care and attention. They tell me what they’ve got and we talk about activities eligible for funding such as fencing and relocation of water points, herbicide for weed control, equipment hire for soil conservation or contract labour.

“People often say ‘I’m not really into locking up country’. That’s not what this is about. You can incorporate grazing into the management plan if you wish, and we will work with Department of Primary Industries to determine a reasonable number of stocking days. We would probably specify a threshold for percent groundcover, below which point stock will need to be removed.”

“Areas with massive problems that need significant investment aren’t usually successful. But there aren’t many pristine areas either, so we understand that most sites will need some sort of attention and management.

“The first step in the process is to contact a Territory NRM coordinator or a Landcare Facilitator to discuss your idea and complete a one page Expression of Interest (EoI) form. The EoI details the site and what you want to do. This goes to external reviewers who determine whether the idea’s worth pursuing.

“If the EoI is agreed to in principle, a coordinator such as myself will document the values of the area and any threats that may need to be managed. We will discuss management options and the budget, and I will create a management plan to submit to an assessment panel. The entire assessment process takes about 3 months after an EoI is submitted.

“Successful applicants need to submit a brief annual monitoring report describing what actions have been undertaken at the site and supply photos taken from set monitoring points.”

See an example of a TCA at Lakefield Station by clicking here, or find out more and open an EoI template by clicking here.