Permanent protection

Significant achievements in permanent protection

• Trust for Nature secured 40 new conservation covenants in 2021-22, covering an area 3.5 times the Melbourne CBD.
• The Iconic Estates and BushBank programs are supporting the permanent protection of more areas of private land in Victoria.
• The new exemption from land tax introduced in 2023 for land protected by a conservation covenant will make it easier for private landowners to protect important areas of nature.

Bank Australia Conservation Reserve. Photo: Jess Gardner

Connecting semi-arid landscapes in the north-west

National Parks provide critical habitat for our native plants and animals. Approximately 18% of land in Victoria is included in our parks and reserves system, while about 62% is privately owned. Working to permanently protect private land with unique biodiversity values is the important role of Trust for Nature.

Established in 1972, Trust for Nature (Victoria) is a not-for-profit organisation that works with private landholders to place voluntary conservation covenants on properties with high biodiversity values.

One of these special places now under permanent protection is the Bank Australia Conservation Reserve, a 2,117 hectare group of properties in Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk Country in the Wimmera district of north-west Victoria. The most recent expansion, in 2021, added 1,190 hectares to the reserve, about half of which is currently protected with a conservation covenant.

The reserve provides vital habitat for 225 native plant and 234 native animal species. Threatened species include the Tufted Grass-tree, Slender Cup-flower and Buloke tree, and animals such as the South-eastern Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, Diamond Firetail, Fiery Jewel Butterfly and Growling Grass Frog.

The reserve also forms an important habitat corridor linking with Little Desert National Park, allowing species to move across the landscape and enhancing the health and climate resilience of local ecosystems.

The impact of colonisation and agriculture means this land has a legacy of land degradation. Bank Australia has partnered with the Barengi Gadjin Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, the Country Fire Authority, Greening Australia and Trust for Nature to manage the reserve, including cultural heritage surveys, cultural burning, planting of over 180,000 native plants and restoring and improving over 600 hectares of previously cleared land.