Last week, Niche and SJA hosted a short webinar for our clients entitled Uncovering heritage, presented by Ben Clifton, Senior Project Manager at SJA, and Jamie Reeves, Managing Director and Heritage Consultant at Niche. Watch the recorded session below to learn three key tips for successfully managing heritage programs to save time and cost. To find…
Cairo is a botanist and biodiversity offsetting specialist who has been part of Niche’s NSW ecology consulting team for more than three years. Before working as a consultant, Cairo spent 8 years in biological and ecological research within university and private institutions. “Having sampled both consulting and research roles, I found that there’s a wider…
As we continue to respond to COVID-19, our focus remains on caring for our team and their families, our clients, and our communities. We have systems in place to empower our team to keep themselves and others safe by making conservative decisions. And we have a robust business continuity plan that provides a framework to reduce…
Matthew Richardson, Niche director and botanist, provides an update on the review… Background The Commonwealth Minister for the Environment appointed Professor Graeme Samuel AC to conduct the Independent Review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) in October 2019. In June this year Professor Samuel delivered the interim report and its…
Marika is an archaeologist specialising in stone artefact analysis. She has over eight years of experience conducting archaeological field research and lithic analyses for both the research and cultural resource management sectors. Her archaeological studies and fieldwork had taken her on adventures across Western Australia, Canada and South Africa. Although Marika joined Niche less…
Niche Environment and Heritage Pty Ltd (Niche) are continuing to progress the Biodiversity Consultancy Services component of the NSW Wild Dog Fence Extension Project, with measures put in place to ensure the safety of local landholders, community members and staff. The project, which was a key 2019 election commitment by the NSW Government, will see the NSW Border Wild Dog Fence…
The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) have awarded Niche Environment and Heritage Pty Ltd (Niche) the Inland Rail NSW Biodiversity Offset Site Identification Program. The award of this multi-million dollar works package will result in the Niche biodiversity team working alongside ARTC’s team for several years to identify and assess sites across NSW that may…
Niche Environment and Heritage (Niche) in June 2020 executed a formal Agreement to support the Australian Department of Defence as a member of the Defence Infrastructure Panel – Environment, Heritage and Engineering Services 2020-2025 (DIP.EHE) for an initial five year term. As one of Australia’s largest land managers, Defence is responsible for the management of a large, complex, and diverse estate that has…
In November last year, the NSW Government released the Spot Price Index1 for biodiversity credits created using the BioBanking Assessment Methodology under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act). Whilst this act has now been replaced by the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act) and the assessment of biodiversity offsets is now determined…
The NSW EPBC Act1 Bilateral Agreement was amended on March 24, 2020 (Amending Agreement No. 1) as a result of both the NSW and Australian Governments’ commitment to: Streamlining environmental assessments and offsets for projects in NSW and Reducing the regulatory burden on proponents of projects in NSW. The amendment has been anticipated for some…
Niche is open for business. We care about our staff, our support teams and our clients, and we are committed to delivering on our promises. Our communities and our environment have faced quite a few challenges in the past months: bushfires, floods, and now a pandemic. Of course, during the current coronavirus pandemic, there are…
The recent fires across NSW have created challenges for assessors quantifying the impacts of developments on burnt bushland and valuing potential Biodiversity Stewardship Sites. Ecologist and Accredited BAM Assessor Dr Cairo Forrest summarises key points from the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE)’s recently released guidelines for applying the Biodiversity Assessment Methodology (BAM) at…