Purchasing land in western NSW
A world-class reserve system
The formal reserve system in western NSW is developing as a world-class network of national parks and reserves. National parks and reserves help to conserve our irreplaceable biodiversity and cultural heritage while at the same time contributing significant ongoing economic and social benefits to rural and regional communities.
Despite the ongoing value that the current reserve system contributes to western NSW, further specific land additions are required. Currently, just three per cent of western NSW is held in public reserve with samples of many ecosystems and aspects of our Aboriginal cultural heritage not appropriately represented.
 |
| The formal reserve system in western NSW |
The Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) is committed to further developing the formal reserve system in western NSW. An important mechanism for achieving this is through buying private properties available for sale.
Contributing to rural and regional development
The purchase of properties with the specific types of land to improve the formal reserve system provides a mix of long-term gains for rural and regional communities. In addition to the environmental benefits of conserving biodiversity and the social benefits of conserving our cultural heritage, there are tangible economic benefits.
National parks and reserves contribute to the economies of local communities through:
- expenditure in the ongoing management of national parks and reserves. This expenditure directly supports local businesses, which in turn purchase other local goods and services, stimulating cash flows and profits within local economies; and
- visitors and tourists to national parks and reserves buying a range of goods and services including accommodation, food, beverages and fuel. This spending has positive impacts on local businesses and produces flow-on effects to local economies that directly and indirectly generate jobs.
| Examples from different studies showing the contribution of national parks to rural and regional economies |
|---|
 | Sturt | Mutawintji | Kinchega | Warrumbungle |
|---|
| Visitors per year | 35,000 | 12,000 | 7,000 | 50,000 |
| Management expenditure | $0.93m
19 jobs | $0.60m
13 jobs | $0.57m
13 jobs | $~m
20 jobs |
| Visitor expenditure | $2.3m
78 jobs | $0.76m
26 jobs | $0.40m
13 jobs | $1.26m
46 jobs |
| Combined total impact | $3.2m
97 jobs | $1.36m
39 jobs | $0.97m
26 jobs | $2.10m
66 jobs |
Selecting the right lands Not all properties available for sale would add value to the formal reserve system as this system has particular needs and priorities. The most important lands to purchase in western NSW are lands in areas that have:
- a low level of current reservation containing important vegetation communities, threatened species and their habitats, and/or
- Aboriginal cultural heritage which is under significant threat of being damaged or lost. These lands are mostly, but not only, in the sheep-wheat belt particularly along its expanding western fringe.
The broad priorities for purchasing land for conservation in western NSW include:
- land of the lower slopes and flats with relatively large areas of remnant vegetation
- rich Aboriginal cultural landscapes including lands of spiritual significance, well known places of traditional resource gathering and significant archaeological site complexes
- lands which contain a variety of different landscapes
- lands associated with water including rivers, lakes, floodplains and wetlands.
Within the broad priorities used by DECC to purchase land, the following vegetation types and ecological communities require greater levels of representation within the formal reserve system. Land containing these vegetation types and ecological communities are of even greater importance for the formal reserve system when they also contain significant Aboriginal cultural landscapes.
- Floodplains and wetlands, including end of system wetlands, lignum shrublands, sedgelands, marshes, and ephemeral lakes and wetlands.
- Riparian vegetation remnants, including woodlands and other communities associated with end-of-system wetlands and their floodplains.
- Groundwater-dependent ecosystems, including limestone cave systems and artesian springs ecological communities.
- Woodlands, including various box woodlands, belah, myall, open woodlands, brigalow and open carbeen forest.
- Grasslands, including mitchell grass, plains grass and bluegrass.
- Shrublands, including saltbush and bluebush chenopod shrublands, and tall shrublands like nelia.
- Various species and ecological communites under threat, including threatened flora and fauna and endangered ecological communities.
In some cases significant value can be added to the formal reserve system by increasing the size or altering the shape of existing national parks and reserves. Therefore, lands that will increase the effectiveness of the function, design, and/or management of parks and reserves may also be a priority for purchase.
More information
Page last updated: 27 February 2011
