The State Council of the Rural Lands Protection Board, comprising elected representatives from across NSW, will vote on a proposal to hand TSRs over to the Department of Lands, due to the expense of maintaining them.

But TSRs within the Tamworth Board are among the best run in the State, posing minimal cost to RLPB ratepayers, due in part to a 10-year deal struck with the Namoi Catchment Management Authority (CMA).

The Namoi CMA provides funds to the Tamworth RLPB to control weeds, maintain native pasture, provide habitat for native animals and generally maintain biodiversity. It is the only deal of its kind in NSW.

The 1600 hectares include the Crawney’s, Top Bundarra/Seveall Creek, Back Borah, Curlewis, Kootingal and Tambar Springs TSRs. These reserves are said to contain good examples of endangered ecological communities and habitat for threatened species.

Tamworth RLPB manager Fiona Snape was not prepared to pre-empt the fate of these reserves prior to today’s meeting.

The State Council has been on a path to rationalisation and cost saving in recent weeks. It has just announced the State’s 47 boards have been cut to 14, with the Tamworth Board now merged with Coonabarabran and Mudgee.

Where in the board area the office will be located or what the board will be called is expected to be learned today, along with the fate of TSRs.

“Everything is up in the air,” Ms Snape said. “These are things we don’t even know yet.”

In the Tamworth board’s favour is its profitability, delivering a $714,000 surplus last financial year.

“The Tamworth board is very profitable and the TSRs are being maintained at a reduced cost to ratepayers,” Ms Snape said.

Namoi CMA catchment co-ordinator James Hutchinson-Smith oversees the investment and was pleased with how the funds were being used one year into the deal.

“We value the RLPB as a partner in being able to perform these works on the ground,” he said.

“I have been very happy working with the staff and board to achieve the first outcome of its kind in terms of native preservation.”

Mr Hutchinson-Smith said he waited with interest to learn the fate of the Tamworth TSRs.

“We haven’t been told one way or the other what might

happen,” he said. “(But) whatever happens we will need to look at how all lands we deal with are managed in the future.”