SCA Land management
Goal: Manage SCA land and Special Areas to contemporary standards to protect and optimise water quality, and to conserve the ecological integrity and natural and cultural values of the area.
The SCA owns and manages large tracts of land in the drinking water catchments – freehold land in Special Areas, Controlled Land, and the Braidwood area. The Wingecarribee Swamp is managed to standards consistent with Special Areas.
The Special Areas cover approximately 371,000 hectares of mostly intact native bushland around the water storages and water supply infrastructure. Special Areas are declared under the Sydney Water Catchment Management Act 1998 and public access and activities are restricted to protect water quality. The land filters pollutants and is a crucial part of the multi-barrier approach to protect water quality.
The SCA owns and manages only 70,000 hectares of land in the Special Areas. A further 241,000 hectares is national park, nature reserve and state conservation area managed by Office of Environment and Heritage. The rest of the Special Areas is privately owned and managed. Several other projects in the Healthy Catchments Program help private landholders to protect their land in Special Areas.
The SCA and the Office of Environment and Heritage jointly manage the Special Areas using best practice land management and compliance activities to protect water quality and ecological integrity. The agencies operate according to the Special Areas Strategic Plan of Management and a second agreement covering the Wingecarribee Swamp. The SCA provides up to $3.71 million each year to the Office of Environment and Heritage to manage land in the Special Areas.
The SCA also owns 23,547 hectares of land in the Braidwood area. Some of this land is privately leased for farming. The leases emphasise managing the land for good water quality and environmental outcomes through best practice farming approaches. The SCA manages unleased land in the same way as the Special Areas.
The SCA will address the following priority land management issues on its land in the catchment:
