AWC strike conservation deal with NAPCo

Ecologists from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy have been granted ongoing access to monitor, preserve and improve ecosystems across 6.1 million hectares where the North Australian Pastoral Company runs 200,000 head of cattle.

The AWC and NAPCo will work together to influence positive, measurable outcomes for biodiversity across NAPCo's six-million-hectare estate.

NAPCo is one of Australia's largest private landholders and oldest cattle producers, operating across 14 properties in the Northern Territory and Queensland for over a century, including properties like Kynuna station, Glenormiston (Boulia), Boomarra (Cloncurry), Coorabulka (Boulia) and Marion Downs (Bedourie)

Large tracts of NAPCO's properties retain healthy ecosystems, with 395,794 hectares set aside as dedicated nature refuges.

Tim Allard, Australian Wildlife Conservancy's CEO said given this commitment and the scale of operations, these vast stations have considerable conservation value and will expand substantially upon AWC's existing conservation efforts and partnerships such as these are crucial for unlocking conservation at scale.

"Around 427 million hectares (55 per cent) of the Australian continent is used for pastoralism and agriculture and partnerships such as these offer an exciting pathway for catalysing positive change and deploying large-scale conservation," Mr Allard said.

"An integrated approach is expected to generate positive outcomes for conservation as well as for pastoral productivity, providing incentives for all parties".

Mr Allard said Australia was dealing with an extinction crisis and the partnership represented an exciting extension of the AWC model for conservation.

"By joining forces with NAPCo we have a great opportunity to magnify the impact of our actions for the benefit of biodiversity," he said.

"Collaboration and innovation across science, research and land management are crucial if we are to secure the survival of Australia's wildlife and restore our natural capital."

NAPCo CEO Allan Cooney said the partnership would show sustainable and commercial pastoralism and better outcomes for biodiversity can be achieved by working together.

"The success of this partnership is very important.AWC scientists have used previous ecological surveys, historical records and publicly available fauna data to estimate that NAPCo properties likely support up to 760 vertebrate species - of which 15 are listed as threatened" Mr Cooney said.

These threatened species include the Plains Wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus), Southern Snapping Turtle (Elseya albagula), Kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei) and the tiny Collared Delma (Delma torquata).

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