Herding Change Through Grassroots Recovery

Reducing fine sediment reaching the reef by improving the condition of grazing land

NQ Dry Tropics embarked on an ambitious three-year project to create a legacy of improved grazing practices in the Upper and East Burdekin sub-catchments to prevent a targeted 49,000t of sediment from reaching the Great Barrier Reef.

The project achieved a reduction in sediment of more than 65,400t and established a culture of grazing land management that will lead to on-going sediment reductions.

The project involved 75 sites and more than 360,000 hectares of management practice change.

The project was designed to reverse landscape decline, protect biodiversity, build soil health, improve beef production, and increase business profitability.

By reducing hillslope, streambank and gully erosion, it aimed to prevent thousands of tonnes of fine sediment from being deposited in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon across the three years of the project. The approach combined professional education with continued support of dedicated grazing extension services.

NQ Dry Tropics Sustainable Agriculture Manager Rob Hunt said the goal was to improve land condition through adopting improved grazing practices, better managed riparian zones and address small scale gully erosion and scalds.

Incentive funding was available to help graziers make practice changes to improve degraded land to A or B condition.

The project supported landholders to adopt grazing practices and associated processes (eg. forage budgeting) to ensure end-of-dry-season ground cover was maintained. This was achieved through one-on-one extension, peer-to-peer programs and targeted on-ground works in high-priority areas.

Management plans pinpointed highly erosive areas  and identified grazing management practice improvements to guide changes undertaken by landholders. Changes in land condition were monitored using remote sensing and Land Condition Assessment Tool (LCAT) sites. Producer groups were able to share local ideas, explore opportunities to increase efficiencies and implement strategies to address water quality issues at a sub-catchment level.

NQ Dry Tropics will used a specially-designed incentive program to support landholders as they adopted practice changes to achieve large-scale improvements for water quality outcomes. More than $1.6m in grants to support practice change was complemented by more than $3.2m of in-kind contribution from landholders under the program.

This project built on the strengths and successful past investment of water quality projects undertaken by NQ Dry Tropics.

The project collaborated with other extension programs across the Burdekin region, to ensure cost-effective shared services, consistent messaging about water-quality, adoption of consistent tools and approaches, and assessment and extension of the latest science and innovative practices into the grazing industry.

To mark completion of the project, a group of participants attended a soil health workshop with internationally renowned soil ecologist Dr Christine Jones, visited the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and enjoyed a group dinner at the Townsville Yacht Club.

NQ Dry Tropics Senior Project Officer and event organiser Angus Hogg said the project supported graziers to undertake a wide range of activities to improve land management practices to help maximise pasture cover and reduce sediment runoff into local waterways.

He said linking graziers with experts like Christine Jones and scientists at AIMS, were key to this.

“To help graziers implement benchmarked grazing practices for improved water quality, it’s been important to offer a wide range of training, educational and knowledge sharing events,” Angus said.

The Herding Change Through Grassroots Recovery project was funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, and delivered by NQ Dry Tropics.