Regional Land Partnerships - Agriculture Project
Regional Land Partnerships - Agriculture Project is focused on improving the sustainability and productivity of agriculture across the Murray-Darling, Darling Downs and South-West regions through vegetation and soil health improvement and erosion mitigation. The aim of the project is to ‘future proof’ agricultural lands in Southern Queensland by increasing production and profitability while balancing biodiversity, waterway and landscape health.
What Have We Achieved To Date?
Through the Regional Land Partnerships - Agriculture Project, 40 land managers have been engaged to date, with 23 projects currently being delivered across three regions, in the Murray-Darling, South-West and Darling Downs. The project is currently involving: 153,192 hectares of soil health improvement projects, 8,306 hectares of vegetation improvement projects and 1,516 hectares of erosion mitigation projects.
Biodiversity Toolkit Webinar with
Dr Teresa Eyre
Do you have biodiversity assets on your property you want to manage? Join SQ Landscapes and Eco-Logical's Dr Teresa Eyre for an interactive webinar which will teach you how to:
- Identify practical and systematic approaches to condition assessments
- Understand the structure of the MLA Biodiversity Toolkit
- Explore local examples from research and land manager experiences
- Discover the resources to help you baseline the biodiversity assets on your property and quantify options for participating in emerging environmental markets.
Latest Project News
Paul & Julie Maher, Millmerran
Through working with Southern Queensland Landscapes, Paul and Julie Maher have had access to funding and support to engage soil conservationists and local businesses to repair decades-old gully erosion on their cultivation country.
Now the land is showing fantastic improvements, with the condition of the ground cover and vegetation improving with increases in soil health noticed. The erosion mitigation works allowed for a stable 'pocket' that now serves as a water storage area - providing further water security and hydration for surrounding pasture paddock.
Karen & Owen Betts, Millmerran
Karen & Owen Betts have been working with SQ Landscapes to return old cultivation paddocks to permanent multispecies mixed pastures.
Step 1 included taking soil samples at 'Yalda Downs' near Millmerran for analysis and determining what species would be best suited to their soil type. Stpe 2 saw the Betts' seeding the paddock with Gatton panic, Premier Digit, vetch, reclaimer Rhodes, Progardes desmanthus and snail medic.
The combination of different species helped reduce runoff and erosion by slowing the water down and allowing it to rehydrate the landscape while at the same time growing soil and sequestering carbon through increased vegetation.
"I work with nature and let it do its thing." - Owen Betts.
Liz & David Hill, Thallon
Liz and David Hill of 'Dunkerry South' in the Nindigully district wanted to increase their soil health and drough resilience after a prolonged period of drought.
SQ Landscapes worked with Liz and David to conduct soil testing, then assisted with the purchase and reintroduction of dung bettle populations to the drought degraded areas.
Liz and David said the different in the landscape was amazing! "The native grasslands are flourishing helping to increase drought preparedness and the dung bettles are active in the soils, increasing the soil health." - Liz Hill.
Improving soil health and stability while reducing artificial farm inputs
Working with nature, not against it is a well-worn cliche much eaiser to say than do but it's being achieved by Paul and Julie Maher at 'Pinelands', Millmerran, Queensland.
For much of their 21 years on their 405 hectare property, work off farm dictated how things were done with the Mahers running mainly a cropping enterprise with some beef production. However, in more recent years a move to full time farming has led to a better balance for people, animals, finances and perhaps most significantly the property itself.
Creating Functioning Soils
Diversity of plants builds soil was the key message for more than 150 farmers and land managers who converged on Highfields near Toowoomba.
They were attending the Creating Functioning Soils conference hosted by Southern Queensland Landscapes and featuring international soil expert Dr Christine Jones and five local experts.
Watch the video to find out the three things we could all be doing now to improve the function of soils.
More Project News
Brendan & Kait Ballon, Maclagan
Brenden and Kait Ballon, livestock and regenerative farmers of 'Moola Park' near Maclagan said they were thrilled to see the positive results in their gully restoration project with SQ Landscapes.
"The results were amazing and you can barely tell there was ever a gully there!" - Brenden Ballon.
The Ballons wanted to address a large, heavily eroded gully forming in their cultivation so they enlisted the help of SQ Landscapes who organised a project with funding from the Regional Land Partnerships program.
SQ Landscapes worked with the Ballons to identify the main concerns and put a plan to work on how to address them. Project Managers then worked with the Ballons to implement restoration techniques and future proof the land.
Louise & Tom Carrol, Goondiwindi
"We have worked with SQ Landscapes to manage big infestation of African boxthorn that were impacting on our paddock access and decreasing the biodiversity in our shade lines."
"We took the long hard road of mechanically pulling the majority of the boxthorn infestation, which we hope will significantly reduce the regeneration capacity. This technique was supported by spot spraying. Boxthorn is tricky as it can regerate from splintered roots, so you need to be super careful when removing it."
"It's a great sight to see all the clear pasture in the freshly rejuvenated paddocks." - Tom Carroll.
Sandra and Mick McLoughlin, Millmerran
Sandra and Mick McLoughlin have been working with Firesticks Alliance, through Millmerran Landcare and Southern Queensland Landscapes, to rejuvenate a patch of remnant vegetation using cultural burning techniques.
It was super interesting to listen to and learn from Victor Steffensen, Leeton Lee, and the Bunya People’s Association (BPAC) as they read the Country and carried out a test burn on Ironbark country.
Sandra and Mick are continuing the work based on the recommendations provided and have already seen a great response from the native vegetation.
Addressing water retention issues near Eulo in south west Queensland
Discover how land manager David Meurant is transforming his sheep and cattle station, 'Wandilla Station' on the Paroo River with help from SQ Landscapes.
David's 45,000 acre property has water retention problems due to erosion and old bore drains channeling rain water off the landscape too quickly, causing soil loss and erosion damage.
SQ Landscapes' Project Delivery Officers have helped 'Wandilla' slow these damaging flows, improve infiltration and soil stability, restore native grasses and ground cover and encourage the recovery of ecological function and livestock production.
Pip & Dion Jones, 'Enmore Farm', Goondiwindi Case Study
Pip & Dion's long term vision and goal for the farm is to maintain the biodiversity; and tree lines form an important part of that work through creating connectivity and green corridors throughout the landscapes.
To date they've planted about 120 trees over about a hectare and overtime the duo hope to reestablish lost tree lines and get connectivity back.
Meet the Project Coordinators
Lead Project Delivery Chris Crafter
Chris is Lead for Project Delivery based in Charleville and brings more than 35 years of experience in conservation and land management to the team.
With a strong background in managing natural resources and addressing threats to biodiversity and production values, much of it in western Queensland, Chris enjoys sharing her experience with land managers, helping them realise goals in their enterprises
Lead Project Delivery Natasha Mylonas
Natasha is a proud environmentalist and passionate about sustainable practices both in the home and
the landscape.
Natasha is a logical thinker and solutions focussed, applying her extensive knowledge of Natural Systems and Wildlife to the many projects she oversees
and manages.
Project Objectives
Manage Livestock
By strategically fencing and using alternative watering points, we aim to disperse grazing pressure to rejuvenate the landscape.
Protect Vegetation
Minimising dwell times of stock within vegetation allows the landscape to recover and also reduces difficulty of mustering and organising stock.
Manage Erosion
Improving awareness and knowledge of the preferred techniques for managing impacts of erosion, by providing technical advice for recovery works and future proofing.
Build Knowledge and Capacity
Project managers are committed to sharing knowledge and networking communities to drive Flourishing Landscapes and improve their capacity to do good things on-ground.
Improve Soil Health & Ground Cover
Returning old cultivation paddocks to permanent pastures to reduce soil disturbance, maximise annual green cover, reduce topsoil risk and erosion risk.
Improve Biodiversity
By replenishing biodiversity in cropping, pasture, and vegetation we begin to restore balance to the ecosystem functioning. This allows maximum nutrient absorption and water infiltration.
This project is supported by Southern Queensland Landscapes through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.
