A Novel and Cost-Effective Monitoring Approach for Outcomes in an Australian Biodiversity Conservation Incentive Program

Abstract

We report on the design and implementation of ecological monitoring for an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive scheme – the Environmental Stewardship Program. The Program uses competitive auctions to contract individual land managers for up to 15 years to conserve matters of National Environmental Significance (with an initial priority on nationally threatened ecological communities). The ecological monitoring was explicitly aligned with the Program’s policy objective and desired outcomes and was applied to the Program’s initial Project which targeted the critically endangered White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely's Red Gum Grassy Woodland and Derived Native Grassland ecological community in south eastern Australia. These woodlands have been reduced to <3% of their original extent and persist mostly as small remnants of variable condition on private farmland. We established monitoring sites on 153 farms located over 172,232 sq km. On each farm we established a monitoring site within the woodland patch funded for management and, wherever possible, a matched control site. The monitoring has entailed gathering data on vegetation condition, reptiles and birds. We also gathered data on the costs of experimental design, site establishment, field survey, and data analysis. The costs of monitoring are approximately 8.5% of the Program’s investment in the first four years and hence are in broad accord with the general rule of thumb that 5–10% of a program’s funding should be invested in monitoring. Once initial monitoring and site benchmarking are completed we propose to implement a novel rotating sampling approach that will maintain scientific integrity while achieving an annual cost-efficiency of up to 23%. We discuss useful lessons relevant to other monitoring programs where there is a need to provide managers with reliable early evidence of program effectiveness and to demonstrate opportunities for cost-efficiencies.

Approaches to Landscape Scale Inference and Study Design

“…This was the case in a large spatial scale agri-environment scheme in eastern Australia spanning more than 2000 km south-north where temperate woodland patches on 158 farms were subject to enhanced conservation management through livestock grazing control, weed management, revegetation, and cessation of firewood and bushrock harvesting. The effectiveness of such agri-environment scheme practices were contrasted with temperate woodland 'control' patches on the same farm where there were no changes in pre-existing management practices [51,52]. For that study, it was important for the 'control' and intervention sites to be on the same farm because farm-level management practices, such as prevalence of chemical spraying and the control of exotic predators, can have significant impacts on biodiversity [53], and these often vary markedly between farms.…”

Natural tree regeneration in agricultural landscapes: The implications of intensification

“…We examined quantitative data on regeneration in four broadscale, medium-term studies in south-eastern Australia: Biodiversity Baseline Monitoring Program ('BBMP'; Michael et al, 2014), South-west Slopes restoration study ('SWS'; Cunningham et al, 2007), Nanangroe study ('Nanangroe'; Lindenmayer et al, 2001), Environmental Stewardship Program ('Stewardship';Lindenmayer et al, 2012) (Fig. 1).…”

“…This research has informed, and continues to inform, attempts to restore and revegetate degraded agricultural ecosystems through regional-scale agri-environment schemes in Europe (Environmental Stewardship Program in UK; DEFRA, 2014; Ecological Compensation Areas in Switzerland; Kleijn et al, 2006), North America (Conservation Stewardship Program; USDA, 2014) and Australia (Environmental Stewardship Program;Lindenmayer et al, 2012;Biodiversity Baseline Monitoring Program;Michael et al, 2014). However, despite the growing body of literature regarding tree regeneration, the occurrence and extent of regeneration across broad spatiotemporal scales is poorly understood, making effective management for biodiversity conservation challenging.…”

Learning from clinical medicine to improve the use of surrogates in ecology

“…The key land management treatments in the ESP include 1) changed domestic livestock grazing on woodland patches, 2) reduced firewood collection, 3) control of invasive plants and animals, and 4) increase in vegetation cover either through promoting natural regeneration or by direct replanting. Surrogate variables used in the ESP are the presence, abundance and diversity of native birds and reptiles, and the structure and composition of vegetation (Lindenmayer et al ). These entities are measured as a proxy for the true outcome of changes in woodland ‘condition’, which is based on an empirical understanding of the attributes of a high quality woodland remnant in terms of structural complexity, native plant composition, and vertebrate fauna (Prober and Thiele , Gibbons et al , Lindenmayer et al ). Validation of the surrogate can be achieved with reference to the ‘general’ causal model shown in Box , and the systematic testing of associations between treatment and surrogate, treatment and outcome, and surrogate and outcome (Fig.…”