WITH warmer weather on the way, North Coast Local Land Services is reminding rural landholders of the importance of assessing native grasslands and groundcover on their properties.

The warmer months are when groundcover species are most identifiable.

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The term native groundcover includes various types of non-woody (herbaceous) vegetation.

Native groundcover is most often dominated by native grasses and in some areas such as native grasslands, the native groundcover grows on its own with no associated woody vegetation.

In other areas, such as grassy woodlands, it grows as the ground layer accompanied by native trees and shrubs.

Hugo Marree, Team Leader Land Management with North Coast Local Land Services said, “Understanding how to identify native groundcover, assess its condition and how you can manage that land is an important part of land management.”

The Draft Native Vegetation Regulatory map website shows where rules are in place for rural pasture areas and provides information to explain the regulatory mapping.

Map review opportunities may be available to landholders where the definition of the regulatory land category mapped in that location does not match site conditions.

If you’re planning on new farming activities in historic pasture areas, the North Coast Land Management Team recommends checking the Draft Native Vegetation Map first.

If the location is mapped as a category of regulated land and you are not sure what this means, the Land Management Team is available to answer your questions.

“This is the only time permitted for pasture assessment to compare whether the site meets the regulatory mapping definition.

“This information may be important to a map review process, or to Local Land Services land management authorisations for regulated land activities under the Land Management rules.”

North Coast Local Land Services has a fact sheet that provides guidance to landholders about how they can self-assess the conservation value of native grasslands and other native groundcover on their own property.

You can view this fact sheet at http://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/734510/Assessing-native-groundcover.pdf.