When we think wildlife conservation we might automatically think about national parks or other public areas set aside specifically for this purpose, however that’s far from the whole picture.
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In the southwest slopes region of NSW, farmers manage most of the land, and only a small percentage is in public conservation reserves.
As we know, native birds, animals and plants don’t keep to reserve boundaries.
Maintaining a diversity of habitat on farms is not only good for wildlife but also helps maintain productivity through ecosystem services such as pollination, control of predators and disease on pastures and crops, and also the benefits of shade and shelter.
Efforts to conserve wildlife are about making sure they have habitat to live and feed in, and the ability to move through the landscape (connectivity).
Landcare and community in our region have been at the forefront of this balancing act by promoting sustainable land management and increasing the extent of the habitat patches and connectivity by planting, and improving the habitat quality of the vegetation patches that are left.
Our most cleared vegetation types are the grassy box-woodlands, and much of the remnants of these are the “messy paddocks” with old remnant trees, maybe some native vegetation cover and fallen timber.
These are valuable habitat for many native birds and animals, and contribute to connectivity in the landscape at the paddock scale.
Within the farm business they can be seen as areas that are “underdeveloped” and need to be specifically targeted to increase productivity.
Whilst these areas can sometimes be set aside and managed for conservation, we have also recently seen some great examples in our region where the cost-benefit decision has come out in favour of a balance between conservation and production.
Weighing up within the farm businesses the cost of spending money on pasture improvement and infrastructure against the potential returns has led to a different decision – incorporating conservation areas with a grazing plan into the farm business model.
“Unimproved” paddocks included in the rotation can take advantage of the summer active native species and nutritional needs of some classes of stock when run in conjunction with the improved pastures.
Maintaining a diversity of pasture types can contribute to a “buffer” to the climate variability that we can’t control.
Meat and Livestock Australia has just recently upgraded its Evergraze website (www.evergraze.com.au).
The website has tools and tips, and some great local case studies, for farmers looking at their resource base and how to integrate different pasture types into their farm business.