Members of the Oxygen Farm Association committee in Elands are all smiles after signing a conservation agreement with the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Trust.
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The agreement, made under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (NSW), sees the creation of an oxygen farm on Kippax Conservation Reserve, the second oxygen farm to be managed by the Oxygen Farm Association.
The 107 hectare area of land in Kippax is adjacent to the Killabakh Nature Reserve, north of Taree. It is an area of high conservation significance as it contains endangered lowland rainforest and North Coast wet sclerophyll forest communities, and is also home to more than 10 threatened fauna species, including the stuttering barred frog and the glossy black cockatoo.
The first oxygen farm, the Elands Conservation Area, was established when a Voluntary Conservation Agreement was signed in 1993 under the former National Parks and Wildlife Act.
Voluntary Conservation Agreements ensure the properties are protected in perpetuity, with landholders committing to manage the land’s biodiversity and possible sites of Aboriginal significance.
Climate change is altering weather patterns all over the world and trees (and gazillions of them) are one way to mitigate this change.
Under the agreements the Oxygen Farm Association provides weed control, regeneration and revegetation, possible humane feral animal control, while creating flora and fauna corridors and protection of Aboriginal sites, if identified.
“The Oxygen Farm is a not for profit organisation that has been managed by volunteers for more than 30 years and achieved good local, community based conservation outcomes,” Association president Chris Sheed said.
“Anyone can become a member of the Oxygen Farm for just a small annual fee. We are are always happy to see new members, especially younger people, as they will be living in the world we leave them.
“Through membership of the Oxygen Farm you can help us leave a legacy we can all be proud of, Chris said.
Jane Watson, Association secretary added, “With the State Forests of NSW coming under further intense, unsustainable logging pressures, it is vital that forest on private land be conserved for the future. Climate change is altering weather patterns all over the world and trees (and gazillions of them) are one way to mitigate this change.
“The Oxygen Farm would like to thank the staff at the Biodiversity Conservation Trust for their work in making this Conservation Agreement happen,” Jane said.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
