At Moreton Bay South in Dunedoo, Todd and Sara Fergusson don’t just run a successful Poll Shorthorn cattle business, or provide organically standard eggs through Farmer Brown Eggs – they’re also about conserving the land around them. 

The Fergusson’s have just been named as one of the recipients of a 2014 Private Land Conservation Grant from the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife and they plan to put it to good use by preserving more than 900 hectares of bushland for future generations to come. 

“We’ve put a covenant over the land through the Nature Conservation Trust to protect the land for the future. We worked with a girl called Tiffany from the trust who was really knowledgeable about different species of trees and she made up a booklet that describes the site and what’s here,” Mr Fergusson said. 

Mr Fergusson said he had applied for a grant in order to put up three groupings of signs throughout the bushland in order to bring school kids and wildlife enthusiasts out as part of a conservation learning area and bushwalk. 

“The idea is to have the signage explain what type of trees and animals there are in the area. There will also be a brochure that we’ll hand out to everyone who comes for a visit 

The Fergusson’s received $10,752 to be used over a three year period with the first stage of the project – the sings – expected to be in place by June 30, 2015. The next stage of the funding with be used to erect pathways between the three signs and is expected to be in place by June 30, 2016. The booklet for  school aged students and wildlife/conservation enthusiasts will round off the three year period and is expected to be ready to go by June 30, 2017. 

The Moreton Bay South conservation area contains significant amounts of woodlands and its native vegetation is one of a series of steeping stones for threatened and declining animals in the region. BY placing a covenant over the region, the Fergusson’s hope to carefully maintain diversity, have enough ground cover to support native mammals and stabilise the populations of threatened and declining mammals in the area.