NatureAssist is a financial incentive scheme that supports the establishment and management of private protected areas. NatureAssist provides eligible landholders with the opportunity to apply for grant funding to protect and actively manage the significant biodiversity values of their land.
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To be eligible for NatureAssist grant funding, landholders must be willing to enter into a conservation agreement with the Queensland Government to declare a nature refuge over part, or all, of their property. The part of the property proposed as a nature refuge can still be used for compatible land uses such as sustainable grazing, eco-tourism or carbon farming.
Existing nature refuges are eligible for NatureAssist funding if they are willing to substantially expand the area of their nature refuge.
Existing nature refuge landholders can apply for Nature Refuge Landholder Grants or other situational grants like disaster recovery grants, when available.
Eligible projects may include activities related to the protection and improvement of biodiversity values, for example, pest and weed management, fire management, fencing to manage stock access to environmentally sensitive areas, baseline flora and fauna surveys or engaging First Nations people to record and develop management plans to protect cultural heritage.
The NatureAssist program supports practical, on-ground activities that protect and enhance important habitats, helps connect protected areas to form wildlife corridors, and ensures the long-term sustainability of Queensland's biodiversity.
A landholder must be willing to enter into a voluntary, in perpetuity conservation agreement with the Queensland Government to establish a nature refuge and protect the significant biodiversity values of their land.
The following considerations also apply: the significance of the biodiversity values on the land, the degree of threat to those values, the feasibility and sustainability of the proposed project, and the capacity of the applicant to carry out the project effectively.
NatureAssist Grant Guidelines will outline the full eligibility criteria specific to each grant round.
Application periods and funding rounds for the NatureAssist program are announced by the Queensland Government and may vary from year to year. Grant rounds are generally run as closed rounds where suitable landholders are invited to apply.
NatureAssist Grant Guidelines for each grant round will outline the relevant timeframes.
Funding amounts vary depending on the scope and scale of the project, as well as the specific government priorities and budget for each funding round. Applicants are required to provide a detailed budget as part of their application.
Yes, recipients of NatureAssist funding are required to enter into a grant agreement that details the obligations of both the grant recipient and the Queensland Government. This includes milestone timeframes, instalment amounts, project reporting requirements and demonstration of project outcomes. NatureAssist grants are paid in instalments, upon the completion of set milestones.
Once funded, the project will need to be implemented according to the agreed terms and conditions outlined in the grant agreement. Progress reports submitted throughout the project and an audited financial report upon completion of the project, are required to ensure that outcomes are achieved, and the funds are spent appropriately.
NatureAssist is focused on landscape-scale protection. As such, nature refuge proposals of significant size will be prioritised for NatureAssist consideration.
Get in contact with the department via nature.assist@des.qld.gov.au and someone will be in touch with you. Please provide the following information to enable us to attend to your enquiry:
The lot on plan description(s) of your property.
The approximate area proposed as a nature refuge.
The current land uses occurring on the property.
Any significant values you are looking to protect.
Type of activities proposed for NatureAssist funding.
Your name and contact details.
NatureAssist case studies
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The name of the place is Ardgour and it's about 150 km from Charville and about 50 km from Cunamulla we're at 8,300 hectares inside the boundary fence. We find the Southwest Queensland country ideal for cattle and carbon they both work so well together and that's what Paniri is all about. Well previous to 2016 see it was run commercially as a sheep and a wool growing property. A lot of the out buildings and the old wool shed and stuff you can see was great once and it's not now it's just uh lack of use and lack of people living here. It was very obvious that it needed a spell, a rest the country needed to regenerate, we saw a great opportunity to have a carbon project and also work with the Queensland Government to introduce the Wildlife Refuge. So in establishing the nature refuge we've applied for funding under the Nature Assist program which is the Queensland Government's program for landholders that established nature refuges on their property. So the Nature Assist program involves removing 45 km of internal fencing, we're doing some fire brake clearing around the perimeter of the property and that's around 37 km of boundary clearing um which will really protect the natural assets on site and doing cultural and environmental surveys as well. Adgour station is dominant with the mulga regional ecosystem on site but we've got some really special habitat features here which are the wetlands, they're part of the Wyandra-Cunnamulla Claypans Aggregation and they're really important because they're listed under the directory of important Wetlands of Australia, also they're ephemeral Wetlands so in times of inundation they'll become special habitat areas for water birds and we're hoping that they come back to life as part of the nature Refuge project. We've engaged ecologists that are accredited under the accounting for nature framework and that's really going to give us critical data for the flora and the fauna on site. We're collecting baseline data of all different straters of vegetation which can be used to score the site out of 10. We're able to see where the land is deficient so that can also allow them to have a look at you know methods that they can use to get a better uplift in the land and allows them to really target areas that are that are failing. We're really going to be able to see you know what we've got here and then when we come back to some of those critical points that we've surveyed we'll be able to see well how has the species improved over time do we have more diversity of species and we'll be able to see you know what kind of habitat we're creating in country and what fauna we have coming back onto the property. Nature refuges are in agreement between the landholder and the state government that are looking at sustainable practices so we're trying to look at cohabitational use rather than just one form of use and there has been a lot of success in it, it's pretty important considering we have food security, we've got nature issues, we've got decline in species and just allowing someone to come in here and still work the land but work it in a sustainable manner which allows improvement of the ecosystems and habitat which is a pretty special thing. You know if you're working together with all of the stakeholders you can manage land more effectively so I think it's really important to send that message that it's about carbon cattle and conservation it's all of the mix that makes holistic land management.
Since 2007, the NatureAssist program has provided $18.2 million to 132 projects on private protected areas across Queensland.
Round 10
Over $1.9 million was allocated to grant recipients to support the establishment and management of one new nature refuge and the extension of one existing nature refuge, adding over 308,000 hectares to the private protected area network.
This round was jointly funded by the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water through the Protecting Important Biodiversity Areas Program which is supporting partnership initiatives to help Australia achieve its target to protect and conserve 30% of Australia’s landmass by 2030.
Funded projects include pest plant and pest animal control, fire management, biodiversity surveys, cultural heritage surveys, erosion and sediment control, stock exclusion fence construction and the establishment of off-stream stock water. A conservation agreement is entered into between these landholders and the Queensland Government.
Nature refuges established or extended through Round 10 include:
Name
Size
Bioregion
Abingdon Downs North Nature Refuge
244,647 ha
Gulf Plains
Crystalvale Nature Refuge
64,314 ha (extension)
Cape York Peninsula
Round 9
Over $1.6 million was allocated to grant recipients to support the establishment and management of two new nature refuges and the extension of two existing nature refuges, adding over 166,000 hectares to the private protected area network.
Funded projects included pest plant and pest animal control, biodiversity surveys, threatened species research, fire management, stock exclusion fence construction and off-stream stock water establishment.
Nature refuges established or extended through Round 9 include:
Name
Size
Bioregion
Artemis Antbed Parrot Nature Refuge
103,059 ha (extension)
Cape York Peninsula
Herbertvale Nature Refuge
32,924 ha
Northwest Highlands
Mount Pleasant Nature Refuge
287 ha (extension)
Brigalow Belt
Norfolk Nature Refuge
30,644 ha
Northwest Highlands
Round 8
Over $900,000 was allocated to grant recipients to support the establishment and management of three new nature refuges, adding over 52,000 hectares to the private protected area network.
Funded projects included pest plant and pest animal control, biodiversity surveys, fire management, cultural heritage surveys, removal of old fences and excluding stock from sensitive areas.
Nature refuges established through Round 8 include:
