Biodiversity Strategy - Gosford City Council - NSW Government

Strickland State Forest that the closer proximity of urban development to the east and the
expressway to the west had an influence on species richness.
A - 3.2.3 Pilot Corridors Project 2002 -2004
The Central Coast Corridors Project aimed to provide on-ground support to landholders seeking
to enhance and conserve private land for wildlife corridors and to increase participation in
voluntary conservation agreements. The project was initiated by the then Central Coast
Community Environment Network (now known as the Community Environment Network (CEN))
who employed a Corridors Coordinator in 2002 through Natural Heritage Trust grant funding
and then a Land for Wildlife Project Officer through an Environmental Trust grant and other
councils and government agencies.
Figures 3.1 - 3.2 Corridors Project Officer Jeff Drudge providing advice to landholders on site. Figure 3.3
Corridors workshop attended by local landholders involved in Land for Wildlife.
The CEN projects provided a regional focus and involved a number of key agencies through a
steering committee. Council actively participated in the project through participation in the
steering committee and the employment of a Gosford Corridors Officer from early 2002 to late
2004. The success of the project led to Council approving funding for a full time permanent
position to provided ongoing on-ground support to landholders and to continue to increase
participation in voluntary conservation agreements.
The project initially focused on the Matcham Holgate area and was then expanded into other
areas of the City as demand increased. The project introduced landholders to other
conservation incentive programs such as Land for Wildlife, Wildlife Refuges, Property
Agreements and Voluntary Conservation Agreements. The project has been considered a
strong success in terms of engaging landholders and providing practical and encouraging onground
advice. Results of the pilot program are provided in Tables 3.2 and 3.2 and in full in the
Corridors Pilot Program Report (Gosford City Council 2004).
Total number of
applications received
Applications for
properties of a least
0.1 hectares in size
Applications from
properties greater
than 0.1 hectares in
size
Total number of
property 152 24 128
Table 3.1 Total number of properties for which applications have been received.
Total area of property
Area of native
vegetation on
property
Area of native
vegetation managed
for conservation
Total area of
properties visited by
Corridors Project 300 ha 185 182 ha
Biodiversity - Technical Report Page 57