Projects and programs
Our staff work closely with the community and investors to improve and protect our primary industries and natural environment.
Listed below are a few of the distinct projects and programs we are working on to achieve this.
Land Management
We provide notification and certification pathways for native vegetation management on rural land. This includes taking initial enquiries from a range of stakeholders including landholders, other government agencies and other parts of the Local Land Services (LLS) business.
Activities include:
- Site assessments for threatened species impacts
- Identification of potential Aboriginal cultural heritage sites / artefacts
- Identification of potential Threatened Ecological Communities (TECs)
All notifications and certificates are issued using a risk-based approach that reduces the impact to the environment or other sensitive areas, whilst maximising agricultural productivity.
Travelling Stock Reserves
There are over 105,000ha of travelling stock reserves (TSRs) in the Central West region. These TSRs are significant for their multiple values including production, biodiversity, cultural heritage and recreation and it is our objective to manage them for all of these values.
Natural Resource Management
- Healthy Landscapes Initiative | The project will showcase environmental stewardship and how best to conserve our local ecosystems. It will offer landholders technical support for the establishment of demonstration sites and financial assistance to implement on-ground works.
- Malleefowl Matter | This project will implement recovery actions for the National Recovery Plan for Malleefowl. Baseline data of populations in the Mount Nobby State Forest, Tollingo and Woggoon Nature Reserves and surrounding private land will be established through Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) to determine distribution and abundance, and community knowledge surveys.
- Reaching Out To The Regent Honeyeater | This project will implement recovery actions for the Regent Honeyeater in priority breeding and foraging habitats in the Central West region. National Recovery Plan actions will be implemented to improve the extent and quality of habitat, increase knowledge of abundance and distribution of populations and increase community awareness and involvement in recovery activities.
- Securing The Swift Parrot | This project will implement recovery actions for the Swift Parrot in priority foraging habitats in the Central West region. The National Recovery Plan for Swift Parrot actions will be implemented to improve the extent and quality of habitat, increase knowledge of abundance and distribution of populations and maintain and increase community awareness and involvement in recovery activities.
- Progressing The Small Purple-pea | The focus of this project is on assisting the recovery of the Small Purple-pea (Swainsona recta). Works associated with the project include surveys and habitat modelling, community engagement and training, and on-ground works including strategic grazing management, and managing the impacts from weeds and vertebrate pests.
- Preserving Grey Box Grassy Woodlands | This project will support public and private land managers to protect and restore four sites containing Grey Box Grassy Woodland over 250 hectares.
Making Central Inland Glossies Great Again | Glossy Black-Cockatoos are a favourite amongst conservationists and the broader community, being well-known for their gentle nature, quirky behaviour and distinct colouration. Central Inland NSW is home to a significant, distinctive but declining Glossy Black-Cockatoo (GBC) population concentrated in forest and woodland areas stretching from Parkes to Narrabri.
Weeds Action Plan
The 2020-25 Central West Weeds Action Plan (CW WAP) will engage with stakeholders across the region to prevent the establishment of new invasive weed species, contain or eradicate existing populations, adaptively manage already widespread weed species and build the capacity of the region to manage invasive species. The CW WAP is a five year project bringing together seven Local Control Authorities and one County Council across the Central West region.
Sustainable Agriculture
National Landcare Program ADAPT Project | The Central West LLS ADAPT project is a four year National Landcare Program (NLP) funded project. This project will give mixed farm producers and advisors the skills and knowledge they need to make objective decisions and implement technologies in their farm system which will enable them to adapt to changes in climate and markets. They will also gain the skills needed to improve traceability.
A variety of extension methods and adult learning techniques will be used to ensure that a wide range of producers and advisers are engaged by the project. This will include workshops, field days, videos, podcasts and on farm trials/demonstrations.
Agricultural Advisory Services | The Agricultural Advisory Program is focussed on delivering up-to-date, timely and locally relevant advice to support producers achieve biosecure, profitable, productive and sustainable primary industries. Our on-ground activities will also assist our local communities to ensure resilience, self-reliance and preparation.
Drought Support | The overall objective of Central West LLS engagement is to create a multi ‘touch point’ approach to increase the awareness by all landholders across our region. The primary objectives are to ensure landholders/producers:
- Are aware of current and potential impacts of drought on their own enterprise
- Recognise the need to seek advice to enable them to adapt or manage their business to respond to adverse conditions
- Are aware of and connected to their local LLS office and staff to enable them to source the most appropriate information and support for their situation enterprise
Plant Biosecurity
The Priority Plant Pest program aims to build awareness, deliver training and facilitate preparedness activities focussed on the identified priority plant pests for the Central West and key plant industries within our region.
Central West LLS will continue to work closely with the NSW DPI Plant Biosecurity & Plant Systems unit, as well as other LLS regions to ensure a consistent, coordinated and strategic approach to plant biosecurity across the state of NSW.
Animal Biosecurity, Health and Welfare
The Animal Biosecurity & Welfare Program will deliver towards the outcomes of the Animal Biosecurity and Welfare Business Plan as developed in partnership with Department Primary Industries. The program aims to reduce the impact of animal biosecurity and welfare issues on landholders, the economy, environment and community by concentrating on the following priorities:
- Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) surveillance, management and eradication.
- Control and containment of priority animal diseases already established in NSW.
- Surveillance for diseases and residues to underpin market access.
- Have a role in tracing and identification systems to reduce the impact of disease outbreaks and food safety incidents and improve market access for NSW livestock and products.
- Support animal welfare programs that protect the welfare of animals and meet market and community requirements.
- Protection of consumers and the community from residue or contaminant risks in livestock production, and significant risks to human health from animal disease (i.e. zoonosis).
Download our Farm Biosecurity Plan template
Invasive Species
Within NSW there are a number of invasive species plans which provide direction for the statutory requirements of Local Lands Services with relevance to all communities working in primary industries and natural resource management who have to make decisions about the impacts of invasive species, both pest animals and weeds.
Emergency Management
Central West Local Land Services maintains a high level of emergency management trained staff who are capable of providing skills and resources to incidents and emergency events across the state. Continuing development of existing and new staff will be the primary focus in 2020/21, ensuring capacity to effectively resource emergency events as they occur within our region, and provide this support as required to events outside Central West Local Land Services.
Central West Local Land Services educates land managers around the practical skills for ‘on farm’ emergency management prevention and preparedness that can reduce impacts, improve farm assets and greatly improve the recovery phase after an emergency event.
Customer Service
The business and finance team are in many instances the initial touchpoint into Central West LLS for external customers, assessing and referring enquiries to relevant business units.
The team is also required to update and maintain accurate records management in a variety of databases involving processing land transfers and ownerships, Property Identification Codes, Brands and Marks, permit fees and charges, NLIS and other database records. They also process financial transactions such as receipting of payments relating to baits, permits and debt management and recovery.
Communications and Engagement
The Communications and Engagement Plan (The Plan) provides strategic guidance to staff on our priority actions and target audiences. 2020/21 will see Central West LLS further embrace digital technologies to expand engagement opportunities with our customers.
Engagement Hub | This is where you can have your say on the direction of our programs and services, from the comfort of wherever it is you may be. Designed to take the boring out of consultation, you can now view what's coming up, take part in quick polls and surveys, vote for your favourite projects, comments on the wall or simply keep yourself informed.
Seeds For Success podcast | Seeds for Success is a show where we have a good yarn about ag life with producers who are having a go. On the show, you’ll hear from farmers in New South Wales who are out there battling the elements, making tough calls and getting the job done. You’ll get a laugh out of some of their stories, and also pick-up some know-how along the way.
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage, Protection and Preservation
The project will build on previous investment and build Aboriginal capacity surrounding traditional land management whilst also implementing on ground works and traditional practices to achieve cultural and environmental outcomes.
Organisational Improvement and Performance
2019/20 saw the introduction of a new organisational planning and reporting timeline that will be further embedded within business operations in 2020/21. The objectives of the organisational planning process are:
- Transparency - to ensure participation and transparency in financial allocations
- Forecasting - facilitate forecasting of finances, resources and supporting programs
- Clear processes - implement clear processes that support organisational performance and improvement
- Governance - implement governance processes to provide staff, Board and investors with confidence in our ability to meet NCOS
- Risk-based decision-making - provide a governance system which considers organisational risks and opportunities collectively and keeps accurate records of decision-making to support this; and,
- Strategic alignment - Ensure clear alignment is demonstrated between organisational outputs, regional and state strategies.
Finance
For 2020-21 the finance team will budget to return a zero balance net cost of service, that is revenue and expenditure are equal. This involves careful budget forecasting of salaries, office accommodation, IT and phones, vehicles and project expenditure such as incentive grant payments and contractors.
The Statement of Financial Performance will be reported monthly to the Board and Management and project expenditure reports will be undertaken each week. The team will develop asset plans for capital purchases over $5,000.