Our First Conservation Covenant

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On 19 October 1970, Frederick Albert Fidge, a farmer from Narembeen, wrote to the West Australian, pleading for “a break in what is becoming a tedious, continuous trek through treeless areas in the Wheatbelt.”  Less than 5 months later Mr Fidge became the first person to enter into a conservation covenant with the National Trust to protect the bushland on his 398-hectare property in Narembeen.

This was a controversial move at a time when widespread clearing for agriculture was still actively encouraged by the government.  According to his nephew’s wife Helen, “there were a few raised eyebrows, but now we can see just how right he was.”

Salinity is now a significant problem in the Narembeen area, due to the extensive clearing that began in the early 1960s and continued into the 1980s, leaving just 7.1% of the native vegetation in the shire uncleared.

Native plants are adapted to be efficient at collecting and using rainwater and, consequently, very little drains away into groundwater.  The removal of native plants means that the majority of rainwater runs off and is absorbed into groundwater, resulting in rising water tables, which bring the natural salt deposits to the surface.

Salinity makes land infertile for conventional farming and the salt drains into streams, rivers and lakes affecting ecosystems.  In towns salt can damage buildings, roads, railways and other infrastructure.

Despite decades of land clearing in the Wheatbelt, however, this area stills exhibits astounding biodiversity.  The results of a 5-year survey conducted by the Department of Conservation and Land Management were announced on 13 April 2005 and they suggest that, despite the extensive damage to natural habitats, Western Australia’s Wheatbelt is still a thriving biodiversity hotspot.  However, the survey also warns that more than 800 species of animals and plants in the Wheatbelt are at risk of extinction because of rising salinity.

Frederick Fidge may not have foreseen the full extent of the damage caused by land clearing but, according to his nephew Ross, he was concerned about salinity.  He also recognised the practical benefits of conserving native vegetation.  In his letter to the West Australian he said, “The advantages to a property of this uncleared land include shelter from cold winds, soil erosion reduction and provision of bulwarks to stop run-off water creating gullies, etc.”

Helen Fidge, who still lives in the Narembeen area with her husband Ross, says that Frederick “was very much a tree person and it distressed him to see widespread land clearing for agriculture.”  It is clear from his letter to the West Australian that Frederick was passionate about conserving the vegetation on his land for the long term, “ensuring preservation of something that money cannot restore.”

The National Trust’s conservation covenanting program was officially launched in April 1999; however, the Trust has been protecting heritage values, both manmade and natural, with covenants for many years.  Frederick Fidge’s vision for “private conservation areas” laid the foundation for the existing program.

The format and wording of National Trust covenants has not changed a great deal since 1971 and, as the Fidge case shows, the model works.  However, the National Trust now recognises that native vegetation requires active management, as well as legal protection, if it is to be conserved for future generations.

The covenanting program now incorporates a stewardship component, which provides support and advice on bushland management to owners of covenanted bushland.  The Trust’s stewardship officer, Steve Newbey, works with landowners to develop and implement a management plan and is on hand to answer management queries as they arise.

When Frederick Fidge’s covenant was registered in 1971 there were no stewardship services available; however, the National Trust is now inviting all owners of covenanted bushland to join the stewardship program so that they can receive the same support and benefits as covenantors do now.

The property previously owned by Mr Fidge has recently changed hands and the Trust’s Covenanting Coordinator, Sophie Moller, has contacted the new owners, Robert and Julie Hayter, to invite them to join the stewardship program and answer any questions that they may have about the covenant.

Today, more than 35 years after the covenant was registered and some years after his death, Frederick Fidge’s legacy lives on.  Comparison of aerial photographs from 1972 and the present day shows that, not only has the bushland remained intact, but that it has actually regenerated in some areas.  It is a small win for conservation in a landscape that has seen so much destruction of natural habitat.