Priority list for buyback scheme

Above: An area at Jagera Court, Closeburn which has already been bought back.

More environmentally sensitive land is to be bought for conservation and restoration by Moreton Bay City Council.

It follows an update to Council’s Land Buyback for Environmental Purposes policy which has more focus on restoring properties to their native vegetation cover.

The buyback scheme aims to balance protecting and enhancing the environment with requirements to build more homes.

An updated priority acquisition list is being finalised and will go before Council in coming weeks.

“The Land Buyback for Environmental Purposes policy is a voluntary program that has significant success since it was implemented in 2020, securing over 100 hectares of key environmental land and connecting wildlife corridors,” Mayor Peter Flannery said.

“While its focus has primarily been on conservation, we have now altered the scope to include the opportunity to restore vegetation to native like conditions.

“We have 84 complex regional ecosystem types throughout City of Moreton Bay, some of which are currently threatened.

“This update will help us not only preserve our current ecosystems but grow them and bring them back to native conditions.”

The Mayor said the acquisition program will continue “around properties that have significant conservation qualities and add to wildlife corridors”.

View Council’s updated Land Buyback for Environmental Purposes policy here.