Biodiversity Offsets Scheme Help Desk and support

Use our Biodiversity Offsets Scheme (BOS) Help Desk if you need support, want more information or to send us feedback on the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.

The BOS Help Desk is designed to help with specific enquiries about the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM). It's an 1800 enquiry line and the BOS Help Desk mailbox. It is operated by dedicated officers who manage and coordinate your Biodiversity Offsets Scheme questions.

The BOS Help Desk team liaises and seeks advice from internal subject matter officers (SMOs) for complex and technical enquiries (including survey advice) within the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme Branch and the broader Biodiversity Conservation Division.

Our team is here to help you with specific questions about the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and will always treat you with courtesy, respect and in a professional manner. We ask that all customers working with our team treat us with the same courtesy and respect, via email or during helpline telephone interactions with our staff.

Need help?

There are 4 options if you need support or would like more information.

Please use the search bar above to look for information on our website.

The department regularly updates our website with new information about the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.

You may wish to subscribe or refer to our BOS Scheme newsletters which describe the latest developments and key information.

Guidance material

The department has developed guidance material for the participants of the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme.

Landholders and Developers – The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme may apply to a local development that needs development consent or vegetation clearing that doesn't need development consent.

Guidance material can be found on the Landholders and Developers web page within the Biodiversity Offset Scheme section of the department's website.

Local government and other decision makers – Local government and other decision makers are key partners in the conservation and management of biodiversity and threatened species in New South Wales.

Key resources can be found on the Local government and other decision makers' resources web page to support implementation of the biodiversity assessment and approval framework. Resources include bulletins on specific topics, practice notes, a link to BOS webinars, videos on the scheme and when it applies, and the biodiversity assessment and approvals pathways flow chart for local government.

Accredited assessors – Under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (BC Act), assessors must be accredited to apply the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM). The accreditation scheme is designed to ensure that the Biodiversity Assessment Method is applied by people with appropriate ecological skills, knowledge and experience, and a demonstrated understanding of the method.

Key resources can be found on the Accredited Assessor resources web page. Resources include references to key legislation, BAM operational manuals, Biodiversity Assessment Report templates, links to key data, information, tools and forms, survey and other guidelines, practice notes, BOS updates and a link to BOS webinars and associated information.

In addition, the Assessor questions and answers web page also provides answers to some common questions about the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and the Biodiversity Assessment Method.

Please send us an email (BOS.helpdesk@environment.nsw.gov.au) with your contact details and specific enquiry on the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and Biodiversity Assessment Method.

This BOS Help Desk mailbox is monitored Monday to Friday from 10 am to 4 pm (excluding public holidays). This mailbox can be used for specific enquiries on the Biodiversity Offsets Scheme and Biodiversity Assessment Method.

The BOS Help Desk Team have implemented a new enquiry management system (JIRA) in December 2022 to coordinate and manage enquiries.

For any new enquiries, you will receive an automated email when your enquiry has been logged by the system. Please note you can view your enquiry and send us a message by clicking on the 'view request' button within the automated email you will receive.

The standard timeframe for responding to an enquiry is within 15 business days from the BOS Help Desk Team receiving your enquiry. The timeframe may vary (maybe less or more) depending on the complexity of the enquiry. 

We appreciate your patience, and please let us know if you have a specific deadline that needs to be met.

Please call our officer on our BOS Enquiry Line (1800 931 717) Tuesday to Thursday from 10 am to 4 pm (excluding public holidays) to discuss your specific enquiry with us.

Before calling the team, please have some essential information ready to tell us.

Your contact details:

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Email address

For any follow-up contact or redirecting your enquiry to another team.

Your email address is needed so we can log your enquiry in our BOS Help Desk enquiry management system (JIRA).

For specific developments

  • Development application (DA) or Major Project number (if relevant)
  • Location of your proposed development site – Council area (Local Government Area), Lot/DP and address
  • Any relevant advice provided on the proposed development from council/department regional planning teams/specialist biodiversity reports

This assists the team in understanding the specific development.

For survey guidance

  • Please reference the Biodiversity Assessment Method, Threatened Biodiversity Database Collection and any specific guidance material available (NSW/Commonwealth) for the threatened species and how this has been considered
  • Please provide any relevant site maps prepared to support your enquiry

Please note – The development of survey guidance is complex requiring researching the latest science and liaising with species experts. This may take substantial time depending on the availability and maturity of information. The Biodiversity Offsets Scheme subject matter officer may contact you for assistance or to provide you with an update while they progress with developing a response.

The BAM Operational Manual – Stage 1 (Section 4.4.4) provides some advice for cases where the department has not yet published an applicable survey guide.

For technical systems support
Please provide the following as relevant:

  • BOAMs parent case
  • BAM-C child case
  • Screenshots of any errors

Please see the following troubleshooting steps if you are having trouble accessing BOAMs or the BAM-C case:

Does your query relate to any of the following specific topics?

Accreditation enquiries 

Please refer to the accreditation webpage or contact the team directly on BAM_accreditation@environment.nsw.gov.au

Accreditation training

If you wish to enrol for training, please refer to the registration details which can be found on the Applying for accreditation or renewing accreditation webpage

BAM species experts

Please refer to the Experts to prepare species reports for the BAM webpage or contact the team directly on bam_species_expert@environment.nsw.gov.au

Credit transactions

Please refer to the Offset obligations and trading credits webpage or contact the team directly on BOS.credits@environment.nsw.gov.au

Credit Supply Taskforce

For more information about the Biodiversity Credit Supply Fund and Taskforce, including how to lodge an expression of interest, please visit the Taskforce webpage or email the Taskforce team directly on:

  • For enquiries relating to existing Biodiversity Stewardship Agreements (BSAs), applications, site assessments and lodgement of Stewardship expressions of interest (EOIs), please contact the team directly on stewardship@environment.nsw.gov.au
  • For any enquiries relating to buying and selling of credits, reverse auction queries, lodgement of Demand EOIs, please contact the team directly on supplyfund@environment.nsw.gov.au

Compliance and enforcement

Please refer to the Compliance and enforcement program webpage or please contact the team directly on community.compliance@environment.nsw.gov.au

Maps and tools

Please refer to our webpages on the Native Vegetation Regulatory Map (NVR Map), Biodiversity Values Map (BV Map) and Biodiversity Values Map and Threshold Tool or please contact the team directly on map.review@environment.nsw.gov.au

NSW BioNet

Please refer to the NSW BioNet webpage or please contact the team directly on bionet@environment.nsw.gov.au
BioNet provides the repository for biodiversity data products managed by the department including the Vegetation Classification database, SEED, and the BioNet Atlas of NSW Wildlife. 

Wildlife licensing and reforms

Please refer to the Wildlife licences webpage or email the team directly on wildlife.licensing@environment.nsw.gov.au

Biodiversity Conservation Trust

For information about conservation agreements and existing biobanking sites, please refer to the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) webpage or please contact the team directly on info@bct.nsw.gov.au
For seeking a quote for an offset obligation or additional information on the Biodiversity Conservation Fund (BCF) Charge System, please refer to the Biodiversity Conservation Fund Charge System webpage.  

Important update

Please note that the Biodiversity Conservation Fund Charge System has replaced the Biodiversity Offsets Payment Calculator. For more information about the Charge System, including how to request a quote, please visit the Biodiversity Conservation Trust website.

Biodiversity Conservation Trust website