Fact sheet 5, About the agreements
Mole Creek Karst Forest Programme fact sheet
Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005
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About the agreements
If you are successful with a covenant proposal you will need to sign three agreements: a financial agreement with the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH); and a conservation covenant and Nature Conservation Plan with the Tasmanian Government Department of Primary Industries and Water (DPIW).
What is the financial agreement for?
The MCKFP is being delivered by the Australian Government, but the conservation covenant is with, and is administered by, the Tasmanian Government. The first agreement is a financial agreement which sets out what has been agreed between you and the Field Agent, and provides you with a first payment in a timely manner.
It also makes it possible to finalise your conservation covenant reflecting the terms that have been agreed between you and the Field Agent.
Once you have signed the financial agreement you may need to liaise with the Field Agent again to finalise the conservation covenant prior to it being submitted to DPIW in order to remove any impediments to a covenant.
The financial agreement lapses once DPIW informs DEH that the conservation covenant is in place.
What is a conservation covenant?
A conservation covenant is created under the Tasmanian Nature Conservation Act 2002, together with any other agreement (such as a Nature Conservation Plan) that the covenant requires.
The conservation covenant is a legal instrument, registered on the land title, which sets out specific restrictions on managing an area for conservation purposes.
The Nature Conservation Plan is a contract that in this case arises from the conservation covenant. It authorises certain actions which would otherwise be prevented by the conservation covenant (such as grazing), sets out agreed management actions (such as removing all gorse in the south west corner), and spells out the limitations on how those actions are conducted. It doesn't go on your land title and makes adjusting the agreed management actions as simple as possible.
The conservation covenant for the MCKFP will be agreed between you and DPIW, and will reflect the conditions outlined in your proposal.
You will receive your second MCKFP payment from DPIW once the covenant is finalised.
What will the paperwork for the financial agreement include?
The Field Agent will give you a copy of a proforma financial agreement and proforma conservation covenant when they visit.
The financial agreement will be a letter of offer plus terms and conditions, and contain a date of commencement and termination, obligations of the landowner and the Australian Government and a map of your site. It will list the agreed issues such as the length of the covenant, the natural values of the land that is being protected, and a list of what you have agreed to do (management actions), what can’t be done on the land (restrictions) and the price agreed for entering into the covenant. As far as possible the lists will reflect the language of the final conservation covenant.
If your proposal is approved by the Australian Government Minister for Environment and Heritage, the finalised financial agreement will be sent to you for you to sign.
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