According to Brian Lester, from Larrizona Station, 160km from Katherine, he will have to find around $100,000 for a full environmental impact statement before he can get a permit to clear land for cattle grazing.

Mr Lester told ABC rural radio that he put in an application to clear land on Larrizona in September last year, and is baffled by the amount of information required by the bureaucracy.

"All that information is already available to the Minister and to all the relevant agencies from existing files," Mr Lester said. "The NT Government has got monitoring sites all over this station and the adjoining properties ? all the information on soil types and vegetation should be at the fingertips of the public servants.

"We have not actually done the environmental impact statement yet, but estimates I have are around the $100,000 mark."

He says that like most station owners, he does not object to the Government having land-clearing guidelines, as they are designed to protect the environment. But he feels the process now in place is too expensive and cumbersome, even for property owners who try to do the right thing.

"We need to profitably raise cattle here, and this small amount of clearing we are talking about is less than three percent of our total area."

In response to questions from the ABC, the NT Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that under the guidelines, all applications to clear more than 200 hectares go to ministerial level to see if more information is required.

The President of the NT Cattlemen's Association, Rohan Sullivan, fears that the new guidelines will frustrate some pastoralists to the point of giving up.

"The NT Government is now claiming that there is information lacking in areas with threatened species, and so the land holder should provide it whatever information Government needs," Mr Sullivan said.

"These environmental impact statements and other documentation can be very expensive. We have had estimates ranging upwards from $40,000 to as much as $500,000, depending on the amount of detail that is required.

"It is a very substantial cost impost on a cattle property."