As a continuing commitment under the National Landcare Program, the Environmental Stewardship Program provides long-term support for private landholders to maintain and improve the condition of matters of national environmental significance under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act 1999.
Funding applications for this program is now closed.
The market-based, competitive funding rounds of the program targeted the following EPBC-listed ecological communities in New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia:
- White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland
- Weeping Myall Woodlands
- Natural Grasslands on Basalt and Fine-textured Alluvial Plains of Northern New South Wales and Southern Queensland
- Peppermint Box Grassy Woodland of South Australia
- Iron-grass Natural Temperate Grassland of South Australia.
Participating land managers are contracted for up to 15 years to conduct management activities to protect and enhance the condition of the threatened ecological community(s) on their land. Activities may include grazing management, weed and pest animal control, and maintenance of buffer zones.
Ecological monitoring
CSIRO is monitoring the condition of 90 ESP temperate woodland sites. The main objective is to develop a large-scale, long-term dataset which can demonstrate the program’s influence on the current and future condition of the critically endangered Box Gum Grassy Woodlands ecological community and its associated flora and fauna.
Socioeconomic monitoring
Supporting enduring changes in land manager attitudes and behaviours towards environmental protection and sustainable land management practices is a fundamental objective of the program.
Read about socioeconomic monitoring for the Environmental Stewardship Program.
Handbook
Map of Environmental Stewardship Program projects (graphic)
Information booklets
These information booklets developed for program applicants provide more information on the Environmental Stewardship Program.
- Box Gum Grassy Woodland Project (PDF 3.67 MB)
- Multiple Ecological Communities NSW 2010-11 (Funding round 1) (PDF 2.41 MB)
- Multiple Ecological Communities SA 2010-11 (Funding round 1) (PDF 1.59 MB)
- Multiple Ecological Communities SA 2011-12 (Funding round 2) (PDF 1.15 MB)
Monitoring and Reporting requirements
Detailed information about your monitoring and reporting requirements under the ESP Funding Agreement is available here: MERIT guide for Environmental Stewardship Program projects.
Contact
Environmental Stewardship Team
Email: envirostewardship@dcceew.gov.au