Home > Soils > Soil Conservation Schemes > Section 10 Soil Conservation Projects

Soil Conservation Schemes

Section 10 Soil Conservation Projects

Section 10 Soil Conservation Projects provide a focus for the community, and facilitate the coordination of well-designed structural works and the adoption of sustainable land management practices to protect catchment health and minimise off-site impacts.

They have proven very effective in achieving catchment-wide land rehabilitation, coordination of overland flows, treatment of erosion and sedimentation, and fostering changes in community attitudes and practices.

Selection criteria

For an area to be declared as a Soil Conservation Project, it must satisfy the following criteria:

be catchment-based and have strong community support
address land degradation issues that extend beyond property boundaries and have wider community implications
provide a catalyst for cooperation, commitment and funding to implement soil and water conservation works
coordinate land management practices and works between adjoining landholders
demonstrate techniques that will encourage landholders and the general community to incorporate soil and water conservation practices as an integral part of normal land management
rehabilitate degraded land and prevent further degradation by the implementation of catchment works and adoption of sustainable land management practices.

Typical works

The range of conservation works includes:

graded banks and waterways
gully control structures and flumes
flood and sediment detention basins
gully filling and shaping
tree planting and re-establishment of vegetative cover
structural and land management fencing.

Funding arrangements

Section 10 funding is not made available directly to landholders, and is usually provided as:

a direct contribution to the cost of critical works that have significant off-site impacts, clear community benefits or are beyond the capacity of the average landholder to fund
a fixed share of the cost of structural works
a share of the cost of works on a sliding scale depending on the degree of erosion hazard.

Landholder responsibilities and project agreements

Landholders are responsible for their share of the cost of these works. To access Section 10 funds, landholders must enter into written agreements with the Minister to maintain these improvements, and to undertake complementary land management works and practices.

Proclamation as a project area also allows a relaxation in the eligibility criteria for the Special Conservation Scheme, which provides long-term, concessional interest loans to farmers for soil and water conservation works.

For more information

For more information about Section 10 Projects, contact your Catchment Management Authority.