Conservation Comment: Protecting our special outdoors areas

While protection is provided for our public conservation estate such as Remutaka Forest Park (pictured), covenants also protect more than 180,000ha of private land. Photo / Supplied

A significant event happened in 1977 which we are still celebrating today.

The Queen Elizabeth 11 National Trust Nga Kairauhi Papa was set up for farmers and other landowners at a time when the government offered subsidies to encourage bush and wetland clearance on farms.

There was a desire in the community to protect areas on private land that were home to native species. Their vision was for protection to be both voluntary and everlasting, legally protecting the land forever.

QE11, a registered charity and statutory organisation independent from government and managed by a board of directors, exists "to encourage and promote, for the benefit of New Zealand, the provision, protection, preservation and enhancement of open space".

With a membership of 4500, QE11 enables landowners to protect special features on their land through its open space covenants. It does this by partnering with private landowners to protect natural and cultural heritage sites on their land with covenants.

The landowner continues to own and manage the protected land and the covenant and protection stays on the land even when the property is sold to a new owner.

QE11 drafts the legal documents, pays for survey costs and shares the cost of fencing with the landowner, often alongside a contribution from another agency like the regional council.

Forty-four years later QE11 covenants consist of a network of more than 4400 protected areas ranging from small backyard patches to huge swathes of high country.

These covenants protect more than 180,000ha of private land, and play a critical role as a refuge for some of our rarest and most endangered biodiversity and ecosystems.

QE11 also delivered our contribution to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy Initiative, a worldwide initiative, which aims to create a network of native forest throughout the Commonwealth. QE11 is the link to the QCC here.

All this is great, but as they say in the TV advertisements, "wait, there's more". The Government has recently announced it is boosting legal protection for critically important natural habitats on private land.

Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan says an $8 million investment over four years will see QE11 work with government agencies, councils and others to provide legal protection of Jobs for nature-funded projects through open space covenants.

She says that will ensure the biodiversity gains from the Crown's investment in Jobs for Nature are protected and sustained on private land and allows QE11 to legally protect hundreds of hectares of private land with high biodiversity value.

Jobs for Nature is about protecting and enhancing biodiversity. It's stated that this funding gives greater certainty that the effort being put into these projects is not wasted.

An example is the Hawke's Bay Regional Council's Harare Takatu Jobs for Nature project where 4km of fencing has been erected to keep feral deer and other animals from feeding on native plants in a 90ha wetland which will now be protected in perpetuity.

A new form of legal protection, at this stage called a restoration agreement, will also be developed for Jobs for Nature projects that do not have strong enough existing biodiversity values to meet the open space covenant criteria. Such an agreement may be more suitable for native revegetation or wetland restoration projects.

- Dave Scoullar is a tramper, conservationist and member of the Te Araroa Whanganui Trust