News

Environmental Fund Celebration

Kingborough Council celebrated the achievements of the Kingborough Environmental Fund (KEF) at the site of the program’s first conservation covenant.

The Mayor, Paula Wriedt said “the KEF is an important initiative, unique to Kingborough Council, that supports the preservation of biodiversity and threatened species within the municipality.”

“The KEF collects financial offsets for the loss of high conservation value vegetation and trees in Kingborough,” Cr Wriedt said.

“The offsets are required for those developments which result in the removal of high conservation value vegetation where an offset reserve can’t be achieved on-site.

“Most offsets are for the loss of habitat for threatened species, such as the swift parrot and forty spotted pardalote, or for the loss of threatened vegetation communities.

“The funds are then reinvested in the community through local environmental projects such as revegetation, research and weed control.

“The fund also provides the opportunity for protection of land through covenants, like this property here at Oyster Cove.”

The covenants were achieved through a partnership between the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC) and Council, with applications submitted to the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) on behalf of the landholders.

“It’s a completely unique scheme to our municipality and helps Council balance development in Kingborough with the conservation of important and threatened biodiversity,” Cr Wriedt said.

“To date the fund has protected over 240 hectares of native bushland in Kingborough.”