Current conservation tenders

Manage biodiversity conservation on your land with annual payments from the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.

Through the Upper Hunter conservation tender, eligible landholders are given the opportunity to set a price to protect and manage important native vegetation on their land.

If successful, landholders will receive annual payments to implement an agreed conservation management plan and enter into an in-perpetuity agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.

Visit the Upper Hunter conservation tender web page

Restoring Murray Woodlands Biodiversity and Carbon Conservation Tender

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust is offering landholders the opportunity to combine protection of eligible remnant woodlands with an environmental plantings pilot carbon project under the Clean Energy Regulator’s Emissions Reduction Fund.

Participating landholders will bid for annual management payments to manage conservation on remnant areas, as well as establish an environmental plantings pilot carbon project to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), with a crediting period of 25 years.

In delivering the tender The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust is collaborating with the Clean Energy Regulator and Murray Seed Services.

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust will fund high integrity environmental plantings in the carbon project area and provide an opportunity for biodiversity maintenance payments beyond the carbon crediting period. Both the areas of remnant vegetation and carbon project areas will be secured under an in-perpetuity conservation agreement.

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust is calling for expressions of interest (EOI) from landholders willing to enter an in-perpetuity conservation agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust and register an environmental plantings pilot project with The Clean Energy Regulator.

To be eligible applicants must:

Own land in an area bounded by the Murray River to the south and major roads through Albury, Holbrook, Henty, Jerilderie, Deniliquin, Moulamein and Barham. (See tender map)
Own private freehold land covering an area at least 20 ha, comprising a combination of:
- patch(es) of priority threatened woodland ecosystem including Inland Grey Box Woodland, Sandhill Pine Woodland, Buloke Woodland or White Box-Yellow Box-Blakley’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland, in suitable condition, totalling a minimum 5 ha
- adjoining area/s suitable for a environmental plantings pilot carbon project of at least 5 ha and not exceeding 50 ha, at least 30m wide, and not exceeding three times the remnant priority threatened woodland area
- areas of non-priority native vegetation are in moderate to good condition
be willing to register an environmental planting pilot project with The Clean Energy Regulator (CER) prior to entering a conservation agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust, and
be willing to enter into an in-perpetuity conservation agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust
Propose a carbon plantings area which has been clear of forest cover for at least 5years prior to the date of application
Propose a carbon plantings area that does not have woody biomass or an invasive native shrub species required or authorised by law to be cleared.

Inquiries: For more information phone 1300 992 688 or email [email protected]

Northern Inland Koala conservation tender

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust launched the Northern Inland Koala conservation tender in August 2022. It closed to Expressions of Interest in September.

The tender is designed to target significant koala populations in the Armidale and Uralla Local Government Areas, prioritised for investment under the NSW Koala Strategy (2022).

Koala habitat in this region mainly occurs on private land, and private landholders play a critical role in securing a future for koalas in NSW.

Through the tender, the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust will offer eligible landholders an opportunity to set their own price, via a bid, to protect and manage a koala habitat site on their land.

If successful, bidders will receive annual payments for implementing an agreed management plan.

Acknowledgment of Country
The tender area is culturally important to the Kamilaroi, Anaiwan and Gumbaynggirr people. Many Aboriginal groups have strong connections to koalas and their habitat. Koalas are totems of Aboriginal clans, family groups or individuals, and stories of the koala are deeply woven into many different Aboriginal songlines and Dreaming stories.

The NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust acknowledges the land this tender covers and pays respect to Elders past, present and future.

Expressions of Interest are closed

Expressions of interest period for this tender closed on Friday 9 September.

Landholders with a draft management plan have until 9 June, 2023, to submit a bid nominating annual conservation management payments required to implement their plan.

Resources

Factsheet
Landholder Guide [.pdf updated 7 February 2023]
Tender area interactive online map
Tender area PDF map
Information session recording [Note, the bid submission date is now 9 June, 2023]
Information session slide pack [Note, the bid submission date is now 9 June, 2023]

Lower Clarence Valley conservation tender

The expression of interest period for this tender has now ended

IMPORTANT UPDATE 22 July 2022: The BCT, in consultation with landholders, has restarted this offer. Eligible landholders will be able to submit a bid from 1st August 2022 until bid close at 11:59pm 12th August 2022.

The BCT is supporting private land conservation in the Lower Clarence Valley region through a conservation tender. This tender provides eligible landholders the opportunity to bid to protect and actively manage native coastal floodplain vegetation on their land.

The Lower Clarence Valley supports important remnant threatened floodplain ecological communities including Freshwater Wetlands, Sub-tropical Coastal Floodplain Forest, Swamp Sclerophyll Forest, Swamp Oak Floodplain Forest, Lowland Rainforest and Coastal Saltmarsh. This region also contains many nationally significant wetlands including The Broadwater, Everlasting Swamp, Upper Coldstream and part of the Clarence River Estuary. These communities provide important habitat for many threatened fauna species such as water birds.

The tender area encompasses tribal areas belonging to the Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr and Yaegl people, and includes cultural landscapes that support important cultural keystone species such as the endangered population of Coastal Emu.

The tender will focus on securing sites with floodplain threatened ecological communities, important wetlands and habitat for the endangered coastal emu population. Eligible landholders will be given the opportunity to set their own price to protect and manage floodplain threatened ecological communities, important wetlands or habitat for the endangered coastal emu population on their land. Bids will be ranked on a best value for money basis. It will enable successful landholders to be paid annual ongoing conservation management payments to conserve and manage these important areas according to an agreed management plan under an in-perpetuity conservation agreement which is registered on the property title.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for this tender, the part of your land that you wish to have considered as a conservation area needs to:

occur within the tender area shown on the tender map; and
- have a minimum size of 10 hectares of one or a combination of floodplain Threatened Ecological Community; or
- support an area of important wetland (no minimum size however must meet additional criteria as outlined for eligible important wetlands); or
- have a minimum size of 20 hectares of native vegetation within the Save our Species (SoS) Coastal Emu Management Site; and
support native vegetation that is in moderate to good condition (this will be determined by the BCT during site assessment).

Eligible important wetlands

Important wetlands are those recognised in international agreements (RAMSAR) and/or within the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA); and / or a wetland that is consistent with a threatened ecological community determination in either NSW or Commonwealth legislation.

For this tender, important wetlands also include those coastal wetlands recognised under State Environmental Planning Policy (Coastal Management) 2018.

You do not need to know if you manage an ‘important wetland’ to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) form** for a site assessment; the BCT will determine if you have these during the site assessment.

Information sessions

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Due to the current restrictions associated with COVID-19, our two drop-in information sessions planned for August 2021 have been cancelled. We apologise for any inconveniences caused.

Instead we invite you to watch this information video where BCT staff explain the details of the tender including eligibility, how the tender process works and how to express your interest.

If you have any questions after watching this video, please contact the BCT by emailing [email protected] or calling 1300 992 688.

Express your interest

The Expression of Interest period for this tender is now closed.

Resources

Factsheet
Information video
Landholder Guide [.pdf updated 7 February 2023]
Expression of interest (EOI) form
Tender area interactive online map
Tender area PDF map

Darling Baaka conservation tender

The BCT is supporting private land conservation in the Darling Baaka corridor through a conservation tender being launched in August 2022.

The Darling Baaka conservation tender will protect critical wetlands and high conservation value vegetation communities along the Darling River on Barkindji Country (Baaka is the Barkindji word for the Darling). This unique boom-and-bust landscape provides important habitat for migratory birds and is a drought refuge to threatened species such as pink cockatoos and Australian bustards. It's also home to threatened ecological communities such as Coolibah-Blackbox Woodland.

Many vegetation communities throughout this riverine corridor are poorly represented in our National Parks and other reserves and are exposed to ongoing threats across much of their range. These threatened habitats and communities are being targeted for investment through this tender.

The tender will enable successful landholders to be paid annual ongoing conservation management payments to conserve and manage these important areas according to an agreed management plan under a conservation agreement registered on the property title.

The tender area is also culturally important for Barkandji, Ngemba and Murrawarri people and surrounding Nations. Culturally important elements that make up the tender area include the lignum swamps, river Coolibah and Black Box floodplains, lakes, water holes and mulga woodlands. As the lifeline of the Aboriginal people in the far west, a healthy and connected Baaka ecosystem is essential to Aboriginal health, well-being, and continuation of culture.

Eligibility criteria

To be eligible for this tender, the part of your land that you wish to have considered as a conservation area needs to:

be within the tender area shown on the tender map;
include a minimum of 100 hectares of native vegetation in a single patch;
have native vegetation that is in moderate to good condition (this will be determined by the BCT during site assessment).

Successful landholders will enter into a conservation agreement, which is registered on the title of the land. For more information please see the Darling Baaka Conservation Tender landholder guide.