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The Tasmanian Land Conservancy
The Tasmanian Land Conservancy
Image credit: TLC
Private conservation in Tasmania
Private conservation in Tasmania
Tasmania's unique biodiversity extends well beyond its public national parks, with many threatened species and ecosystems found on privately-owned land. Recognising that government reserves alone are insufficient to meet conservation targets, conservation organisations in Tasmania embraced an integrated landscape approach on private lands linking protected areas across tenures, engaging private landholders in conserving habitat connectivity and ecosystem health while enabling sustainable land use.
The Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC), a not-for-profit, science-based organisation founded in 2001, has grown into one of Tasmania's largest private landholders, managing a network of reserves and conservation agreements over 100,000 hectares of land (about 3% of Tasmania's private freehold land). The TLC raises funds from the public to purchase and protect irreplaceable sites and rare ecosystems, and works with landowners on conservation covenants, stewardship agreements, and community programs.
In doing so, it complements government efforts and contributes to global biodiversity targets such as the Aichi Target 11 for protected areas.
Recurring themes in this case study
Recurring themes in this case study
While each section of this case study explores a different dimension of private protected area development through the lens of the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, several recurring themes are central to success (see below). These themes are referenced throughout the case study to help readers connect strategy with delivery and lessons with outcomes.
Landholder partnerships: Working with landholders as co-designers and stewards
Economic alignment and incentives: Aligning conservation with financial viability
Evidence-based planning: Using science to guide where and how to act
Adaptive management: Learning, monitoring, and course correction
Landscape integration: Linking private and public lands at scale
Community engagement and shared identity: Building broad support and conservation culture
Collaboration and networks: Leveraging partnerships for policy and delivery
The challenges
The challenges
Habitat loss and fragmentation
Habitat loss and fragmentation
One of the foremost challenges in Tasmania is habitat loss and fragmentation on private lands. The Tasmanian Midlands, for example, contains critically endangered native grasslands and woodlands harbouring over 40 threatened species, yet 95% is privately owned with centuries of agricultural modification. Remnant habitats face ongoing threats from agricultural expansion, livestock grazing, invasive species, and altered fire regimes. Protecting biodiversity requires conserving vegetation patches on farms while respecting agricultural productivity—central to the integrated landscape approach.
Measuring outcomes
Measuring outcomes
Measuring conservation outcomes across numerous dispersed sites is challenging due to inconsistent monitoring methods, limited baseline data, and long observation timeframes. Inadequate funding for regular stewardship monitoring makes assessing effectiveness and adaptive management difficult.
Policy and legal frameworks
Policy and legal frameworks
Finally, policy and legal frameworks create both challenges and opportunities. The Nature Conservation Act 2002 enables binding covenants but navigating legal processes and ensuring compliance remains complex. Securing adequate participation incentives is crucial, while integrating private reserves into the National Reserve System (using comprehensive, adequate and representative, CAR, principles) requires robust scientific input and landscape-level planning.
Capacity
Capacity
A related challenge is limited capacity and resources for private land conservation. Many landholders historically lacked awareness or technical support for biodiversity management. Ensuring long-term protection on private land is difficult since it depends on individual commitment and legal agreement permanence. While conservation covenants have scaled up—covering ~110,000 ha in 2024—this growth "creates significant challenges...in terms of quantifying the conservation outcomes" (Fitzsimons and Carr, 2014) and meeting ongoing support expectations.
Reconciling values
Reconciling values
Engaging landowners and reconciling values presents another challenge. Conservation efforts can encounter scepticism due to conflicts with economic priorities and property rights. Early on, farmer-conservationist partnerships "would have seemed odd" (Cowell et al, 2013). Communication gaps between scientists and land managers impede uptake of wildlife management practices, while value conflicts involve concerns about equity, local control, and institutional trust.
Objectives
Objectives
The integrated landscape approach on private lands in Tasmania aims to:
Create a systematic framework for conservation across private landscapes that complements public protected areas
Establish evidence-based approaches to habitat protection and restoration on private lands
Build partnerships with private landholders to achieve conservation outcomes while maintaining agricultural productivity
Develop sustainable financing mechanisms for long-term conservation management
Engage communities in conservation through voluntary programs and citizen science
Demonstrate that conservation can align with landowners' livelihoods and values
Contribute to Tasmania's Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserve system by protecting under-represented ecosystems
Create habitat connectivity across fragmented landscapes through strategic conservation interventions
The approach specifically seeks to protect biodiversity that exists predominantly on private land, recognising that many of Tasmania's threatened species and ecosystems are found outside the formal protected area network. As Jane Hutchinson of the TLC noted, "Private land is critically important because a lot of the diversity that exists in Tasmania is only on private land."
Image credit: Luke Tscharke, TLC
Location map
Location map
Private land conservation occurs across Tasmania spanning agricultural regions, coastal areas, and highlands. This includes areas such as the Tasmanian Midlands, coastal regions, and other productive landscapes that harbour threatened species and ecosystems.
Process and actions aligned to key themes
Process and actions aligned to key themes
The integrated approach through private land conservation is anchored in the themes introduced earlier and guided by the understanding that conservation must operate across entire landscapes—connecting habitats, stakeholders, and knowledge systems—rather than isolated projects.
The tools and innovations used by the Tasmanian Land Conservancy to pursue its conservation outcomes can be explored under these key themes:
Landholder partnerships
Landholder partnerships
Collaboration with landowners treating private landholders as equal partners who help frame problems and co-design solutions, rather than as recipients of external agendas. This principle emphasises that conservation on private land is most successful when it is done with landholders, not to landholders.
Photo credit: TLC
Economic alignment and incentives
Economic alignment and incentives
Integration with livelihoods aligning conservation goals with the economic and social well-being of landholders through incentive structures and win-win approaches, acknowledging that people actively managing the land are key to these landscapes' health.
Evidence-based planning
Evidence-based planning
Science-based planning using conservation planning tools to identify priority areas and target efforts where they will have the most impact. Programs use the CAR reserve gap analysis to focus on under-protected ecosystems.
Adaptive management
Adaptive management
with robust monitoring and evaluation systems that provide feedback on effectiveness and allow for course corrections.
Landscape integration
Landscape integration
employing a portfolio of tools—land acquisition, covenants, stewardship payments, voluntary programs—addressing different scenarios and contexts.
Community engagement and shared identity
Community engagement and shared identity
Education, citizen science, and voluntary programs build a conservation ethic among the broader community
Collaboration and networks
Collaboration and networks
Shared responsibility for conservation, enlisting private landholders as partners who commit to protecting biodiversity on their land, supported by legal agreements and management guidance.
Significant events
Significant events
Key players
Key players
Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC): Lead non-profit organisation pioneering private land conservation in Tasmania, responsible for reserve management, covenant facilitation, and community engagement programs.
Bush Heritage Australia: National conservation organisation partnering with TLC in landscape-scale conservation initiatives, particularly through the Midlands Conservation Partnership, providing expertise and co-funding for conservation projects.
Tasmanian Aboriginal community: Traditional owners increasingly involved in land management partnerships and cultural landscape conservation, with the Five Rivers project highlighting movement toward more inclusive stewardship models.
Private landholders: Farmers and rural landowners who participate in conservation covenants, stewardship agreements, and voluntary programs.
Local communities: Rural communities, volunteer groups, and citizen scientists participating in monitoring programs and conservation activities. The Tasmanian community's willingness to volunteer time extends budgets and increases organisational capacity.
Conservation Landholders Tasmania: A peer network that connects covenant owners to share knowledge and encouragement, facilitating transfer of best practices among landowners.
Major philanthropists and donors: Donors, philanthropists and foundations.
Tasmanian Government—Department of Natural Resources and Environment: Government agency managing the Private Land Conservation Program, facilitating policy frameworks, and providing regulatory support for covenants. The establishment of the PLCP within government in 2006 created institutional coordination and continuity.
Australian Government: Provides funding through programs such as the Forest Conservation Fund and National Reserve System Program.
Conservation International and corporate partners: International organisations and companies (such as BHP) providing expertise and funding for major projects like Five Rivers Reserve through initiatives such as the New Leaf Project.
Scientific institutions: Universities and research organisations providing technical expertise, monitoring capacity, and analytical support for conservation planning and evaluation. Partnerships with the University of Tasmania have bolstered research and monitoring capacity on private lands.
Notable achievements
Notable achievements
Enablers for success
Enablers for success
The success of private land conservation in Tasmania is due to many factors working together, in addition to the significant commitment of many individuals in all organisations, and the efforts of landholders.
Considering the TLC, some critical enablers were:
Landholder partnerships
Landholder partnerships
TLC’s success depends on trusted long-term relationships with landholders. Engagement with staff and tailored agreements are key to securing landholder participation and delivery.
Economic alignment and incentives
Economic alignment and incentives
Philanthropy, carbon credit sales, biodiversity offsets, and government funding support a mixed financial model that enables flexibility and reach. Financial incentives make participation feasible and appealing for landholders.
Diverse funding sources have been crucial. The Forest Conservation Fund (2007-2009), major philanthropic foundations capitalised the Midlands Conservation Partnership endowment, while public fundraising grew TLC into a $35 million organisation. Corporate partnerships, carbon credit sales, biodiversity offset markets, and volunteer labour further extend financial capacity.
Evidence-based planning
Evidence-based planning
Scientific capacity is central—employed ecologists, university partnerships, and citizen science provide a robust evidence base for decisions and program design.
Scientific input through conservation planning tools targets high-impact areas, while employed ecologists ensure evidence-based management. University partnerships, WildTracker citizen science, and modern monitoring tools (remote sensing, wildlife cameras) provide data for decision-making. Knowledge-sharing networks and field days build landholder capacity for effective land management.
Adaptive management
Adaptive management
Remote sensing, wildlife cameras, and ongoing monitoring systems feed into adaptive management, supported by feedback to landholders and program refinements.
Landscape integration
Landscape integration
The reserve network is designed to complement public protected areas and Aboriginal tenure, contributing to a more complete and connected conservation estate.
The Nature Conservation Act 2002 enables binding conservation covenants and private nature reserves, providing legal security for landowners and conservation groups. Private reserves are formally recognised within Tasmania's conservation estate and count toward protected area targets with explicit government acknowledgement of private landowners' conservation role.
Community engagement and shared identity
Community engagement and shared identity
Programs like WildTracker and Land for Wildlife encourage broader cultural participation and build a conservation ethic among landholders and the wider community.
Tasmania's environmental awareness legacy and conservation champions have been vital. Farmer-initiated partnerships demonstrate cultural recognition of nature-agriculture coexistence. Success stories created positive feedback loops encouraging broader participation, while media highlighting conservation as integral to Tasmania's identity generated public pride and support.
Collaboration and networks
Collaboration and networks
Cross-sector partnerships—between NGOs, government, landholders, and science institutions—are an essential enabling condition, supporting both innovation and delivery.
The TLC-Bush Heritage alliance pooled complementary strengths for regional challenges, while NGO-government partnerships combined policy levers with on-ground execution. Dedicated engagement staff cultivated crucial landholder relationships over years, making covenants and stewardship agreements possible.
Image credit, TLC
Limiting factors
Limiting factors
Alongside these enablers, several factors remain as challenges:
Resource constraints for long-term management
Resource constraints for long-term management
Limited budgets for comprehensive monitoring and evaluation activities are always a persistent challenge. Funding and personnel for regular monitoring and stewardship of covenanted lands affects the ability to assess effectiveness and adapt management accordingly. This makes it hard to assess the effectiveness of private reserves and to adapt management accordingly.
Technical and administrative challenges
Technical and administrative challenges
Inconsistent monitoring methods, lack of baseline data, and the long timeframes needed to observe ecological change make it difficult to measure conservation outcomes across numerous small, dispersed private sites. Navigating legal processes for covenant establishment and ensuring covenants are upheld when land changes hands presents ongoing administrative burdens.
Communication and knowledge gaps
Communication and knowledge gaps
The communication and awareness gap between scientists, agencies, and landholders can impede uptake of new wildlife management practices and contribute to the decline in wildlife populations by limiting the application of conservation knowledge on private lands.
Value conflicts and governance issues
Value conflicts and governance issues
Debates over conservation on private land may invoke concerns about equity (who bears costs), local versus outside control, and trust in NGOs or government. Without inclusive governance approaches that ensure initiatives are just and gain societal support, value conflicts can limit program effectiveness and social acceptance.
Policy and institutional instability
Policy and institutional instability
While supportive legislation has been an enabler, ensuring adequate incentives (financial or otherwise) for landowners to participate is crucial—without support, the burden of conservation can deter participation. Changes in government priorities or funding can also threaten program continuity, highlighting the need for diversified support mechanisms.
Key insights from the TLC experience
Key insights from the TLC experience
What we have learned from the Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s experience in private land conservation—and how these lessons can guide others.
Landholder partnerships
Landholder partnerships
Insight: Successful private land conservation begins and ends with landholders. When landowners are engaged from the outset—as co-designers, not recipients—they are more likely to participate, commit, and renew their involvement. Long-term relationships built on respect, extension support, and shared learning underpin durable conservation outcomes. The renewal of ten-year stewardship agreements in the Midlands demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach.
Economic alignment and incentives
Economic alignment and incentives
Insight: Landholders are more likely to adopt conservation practices when these align with their economic interests. Financial tools such as stewardship payments, carbon credits, conservation covenants, and tax-effective resale models make ecological stewardship a rational business decision. These mechanisms broaden participation beyond the altruistically motivated.
Evidence-based planning
Evidence-based planning
Insight: Science strengthens both strategy and credibility. Conservation efforts that are underpinned by ecological data—such as spatial planning, CAR reserve analysis, and targeted monitoring—can better direct investment and demonstrate impact. Importantly, data also supports adaptive learning and informs landholder feedback.
Adaptive management
Adaptive management
Insight: Creating a protected area is only the beginning. Effective conservation requires systems for tracking ecological change, feeding results back into decision-making, and adjusting strategies as needed. Stewardship support roles and periodic monitoring visits sustain engagement and outcomes over time.
Landscape integration
Landscape integration
Insight: No single conservation mechanism suits all situations. An effective strategy employs a diverse set of tools—covenants, stewardship payments, acquisitions—applied across different tenures and ecosystems. This enables landscape-scale outcomes, including connectivity between public reserves, private lands, and Aboriginal-owned country.
Community engagement and shared identity
Community engagement and shared identity
Insight: Broader cultural support enhances the reach and resilience of private land conservation. When landholders and community members participate in citizen science or are recognised through programs like WildTracker or Gardens for Wildlife, they are more likely to see conservation as part of their own identity and values.
Collaboration and networks
Collaboration and networks
Insight: No organisation can succeed in isolation. The TLC’s impact has been amplified by its alliances—with landholders, government, NGOs, funders, scientists, and national networks like ALCA. Demonstration sites and local leadership have helped build models that others can learn from and replicate.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s integrated landscape approach on private lands teaches us that conservation goals can be achieved on private properties by working collaboratively, innovatively, and holistically. By directly addressing challenges like fragmentation and landholder engagement, and by leveraging enablers from policy to philanthropy, the TLC and its partners turned private lands into a powerhouse for biodiversity protection. As Jane Hutchinson of the TLC remarked, "Private land is critically important because a lot of the diversity that exists in Tasmania is only on private land." The Tasmanian experience shows that with the right approach, that diversity can be conserved through private initiative and public participation, ensuring that protected area goals are met across the whole landscape and not just within the boundaries of parks.
Image credit: TLC
Further information and resources
Further information and resources
Bush Heritage Australia. Lessons from the Tasmanian Midlands. https://www.bushheritage.org.au/news/lessons-from-the-midlands
Conservation International. Five Rivers Fact Sheet. https://www.conservation.org/docs/default-source/publication-pdfs/five-rivers-reserve_factsheet.pdf
Cowell, S., Cameron, A., Sprod, D., & Appleby, M. (2013). Midlands Conservation Fund: A conservation covenant with a twist, in Linking Australia's Landscapes, pp. 209–220.
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Tasmanian Forest Conservation Fund. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/land/forests/tasmanian-forest-conservation-fund
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Midlands region of central Tasmania. https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/biodiversity/threatened/strategy/priority-places/midlands-region-central-tasmania
Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania. Private Land Conservation Program. https://nre.tas.gov.au/conservation/conservation-on-private-land/private-land-conservation-program
Fitzsimons, J.A., & Carr, B. (2014). Conservation Covenants on Private Land: Issues with Measuring and Achieving Biodiversity Outcomes in Australia. Environmental Management, 54(3), 606-616.
Gooden, J., & 't Sas-Rolfes, M. (2019). A review of critical perspectives on private land conservation in academic literature. Regional Environmental Change, 19(6), 1673-1685.
Harris, R. (2019). Eagles and covenants: Private land conservation for threatened raptors in Tasmania. Honours thesis, University of Tasmania.
Stoudmann, N. et al. (2024). Conservation in agricultural landscapes: Impact of privately managed interventions on habitat condition and woody cover. Biological Conservation, 300, 110850.
Tasmanian Land Conservancy. https://www.tasland.org.au/
Taylor, M. et al. (2023). Bridging Knowledge Creation and Conservation Practice through Participatory Action Research on Private Lands. Citizen Science: Theory and Practice, 8(1), 6.
This case study and its contents were researched and compiled by Our Common Place, formerly Conservation Management and developed with permission and generous input from Tasmanian Land Conservancy. Thank you to the staff, past and present, who contributed insights, expertise and publications to this resource.
Banner image: Gowan Brae. Photo credit: Tasmanian Land Conservancy
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