NQ Dry Tropics is supporting cane farmers’ involvement in Project Catalyst. The Project is about helping progressive farmers who are developing practices that improve the quality of water leaving farms.
Project Catalyst was born in the Mackay Whitsundays area by natural resource management group Reef Catchments and has expanded into north Queensland with the support of NQ Dry Tropics.
“When we moved into this house it was a typical, small, dark, fibro hot box. Major planning and renovations 10 years later and it’s so much more comfortable to live in,” says Kayleen. Their 1950s low set home has four bedrooms, two en suites and a bathroom and a large lounge and dining area.
The Burdekin Water Quality Improvement Plan aims to reduce the sediment and agricultural chemicals going into creeks, rivers and the ocean.
The Plan is detailed in a comprehensive book for landholders and stakeholders interested in water quality in the Burdekin. It looks at the current condition of the region’s 48 sub-catchments and the best management practices for grazing and sugar lands within these.
It also lists targets and priorities such as by 2018, 80% of sugar land has best practice herbicide management.
Rangeland describes land that is expansive and that hasn’t experienced a large amount of change from European settlement.
Australia’s outback is mainly rangeland country – that’s 80 per cent of our landscape – while more than 90 per cent of the area within NQ Dry Tropics is rangeland that’s privately owned or leased for cattle grazing.
The black throated finch Poephila cincta was once distributed from northern New South Wales to Cape York Peninsula. These finches live in grassy woodlands dominated by eucalypts, melaleucas or acacias near water. They mostly eat seeds of grasses, and now survive principally on grazing lands where they build grass nests on branches and in hollows of trees.
The Reef Protection Package is regulation instigated by the Queensland Government through theGreat Barrier Reef Protection Amendment Act 2009. The Reef Protection Package is specifically aims reduce the loss of pesticides, nutrients and sediment from agricultural land.
All farmers are subject to guidelines about fertiliser and pesticide use. See www.reefwisefarming.qld.gov.au for more information.
Other regulations govern the pollution load from mining, and urban waste.
NQ Dry Tropics is supporting cane farmers’ involvement in Project Catalyst. The Project is about helping progressive farmers who are developing practices that improve the quality of water leaving farms.
The black throated finch Poephila cincta was once distributed from northern New South Wales to Cape York Peninsula. These finches live in grassy woodlands dominated by eucalypts, melaleucas or acacias near water. They mostly eat seeds of grasses, and now survive principally on grazing lands where they build grass nests on branches and in hollows of trees.
