Wildlife Tourism on Private Land
Feedback from members of Wildlife Tourism Australia Inc. on ‘Wildlife Tourism on Private Land’
Collated by Karen Higginbottom, Secretary WTA
k.higginbottom@griffith.edu.au
25 November 2005
1. In general, those members who replied are comfortable with the content and supportive of the recommendations in the document.
2. One wildlife tourism operator member from Tasmania commented as follows:
The report does not seem to cover the following instances of integrating wildlife tourism and conservation that are happening in Tasmania:
6.2 Case study 1 Integrated Wildlife Sanctuary. This is the closest to our situation. We have in Tasmania two categories;
1. Private Forest Reserves under the RFA where landowners can voluntarily place conservation covenants on their properties with high conservation values. This is signed off by both Federal & State governments and the land owner.
2. Private Nature Reserves – again voluntary conservation covenants signed off by both houses of State government and the land owner. Under the Protected areas on Private Land (PAPL) scheme
Both of these schemes have conservation management plans that the owner is obliged to comply with.
There are now three property owners that we know of in Tasmania that have incorporated these schemes into their tourism businesses. Speaking in our own case we have both schemes applied to our property. The Private Forest Reserve is for the protection of the threatened Eucalyptus viminalis forest habitat plus habitat for threatened fauna plus a significant karst system. Our property is not fenced, wildlife are free to come and go and are viewed in their natural habitat. ( ie glow worms, platypus & dasyurids). I believe the other two properties are also not fenced. All three properties are members of WTA. There are properties in Tasmania registered as wildlife release properties. Again some are associated with tourism businesses.
3. Members are keen to obtain a copy of the final report once published. Please advise us of how we/ they can do this as soon as (or before) it is published.