How Healthy is our Catchment? Management Targets

Land and Vegetation

Native Pasture Recovery

Management Target:
Maintain or rehabilitate one million hectares of native pasture vegetation communities by 2015.

Re-establishment of perennial pastures on scrub dominated landscapes

Woody weed species (invasive scrub) can invade valuable grazing land, rendering it both unproductive and often unviable due to the costs of control. The impact on biodiversity values by the change in landscape from grasslands or open woodlands to dense shrublands is also believed to be significant.

Maintaining the existing vegetation community in good condition, both for productive and habitat values, is a prime aim of this program.

The invasion of woody weed species results from a combination of factors including excessive grazing pressure and reduced frequency of fire. It is widely recognised that, due to economic factors, it is more cost effective to keep open areas open, rather than treat dense areas.

Therefore, the primary intent of this sub-program is to prevent the further spread of woody weeds into open areas with only small amounts of investment allocated to reclaiming very scrubby areas. Retaining and promoting groundcover will assist in improving water quality and salinity management of run-off and deep drainage.

Rehabilitation of lands suffering soil erosion and pasture loss

Land that has become degraded, either through various long-term processes or inappropriate management regimes, is unstable, susceptible to further degradation and has lowered production values. To return the natural values, land stability and production values to this land is the primary aim of this activity. Treatment of scalded and eroded areas will be targeted.

Activities that will help achieve this management target include:

• Preparation works and implementation of scrub management burns
• Chemical treatment of invasive native scrub
• Protection of eroded area via fencing
• Reseeding scalded areas using the crocodile
• Bladeploughing and follow-up costs to treat dense stands of invasive native scrub