The report, Native Vegetation: Public Conservation on Private Land – the cost of forgone rangelands development in southern and western Queensland, was released today by Karen Schneider, acting Executive Director of ABARE.

Ms Schneider said that approximately half of the farmers surveyed in a 540 000 square kilometre study region wanted to develop their properties further but were unable to do so. Vegetation regulations were reported most often as a limiting factor.

"The cost of forgone agricultural development opportunities in the study region was estimated to be around $520 million in net present value terms," Ms Schneider said.

"The cost varied considerably between farms, with the median cost being $217 000 a farm, but was over $1 million a farm for some of the most affected farmers," Ms Schneider explained.

Adopting a more flexible approach to native vegetation conservation May improve environmental outcomes that minimises the cost borne by some landholders.

According to Ms Schneider, understanding the extent to which equivalent or improved environmental outcomes can be generated at different sites is necessary to designing more flexible policies.