Queensland activities
Up in Queensland, landscape planner Sam Skeat has been busy working with NQ Dry Tropics on various property visits, workshops, maintenance and design work.
Maintenance workshop, Mt Pleasant Station, Collinsville
Landholders from the Bowen Broken Bogie region took part in hands-on maintenance of existing landscape rehydration structures that were constructed on Mt Pleasant in 2019. Part of NQ Dry Tropics’ Landholders Driving Change project.
The workshop was followed by two days of basic maintenance work on rehydration structures. This was designed to upskill local landholders and was done with involvement from the property owners, allowing them to understand and get hands on training in construction and maintenance of rehydration structures.
Part of Landholders Driving Change which is a Burdekin Major Integrated Project funded by the Queensland Government through the Queensland Reef Water Quality Program.
Mt Pleasant - Repacking Rock after some rock movement. Two wet seasons after construction it has vegetated nicely and will only get more stable.
Monklands - A gully plug now filling on old erosion channel. Looking up stream. Funded by NQ Dry Tropics designed by Mulloon.
Landscape Rehydration workshop, Monklands Station, Alpha
One day workshop helping build practical understanding of landscape rehydration for extensive grazing properties. Participants looked at existing rehydration structures and how they have performed, and learnt how to identify potential beneficial rehydration sites and apply simple designs. Supported by CHRRUP and NQ Dry Tropics through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.
A second day of activities involved a group of local landholders looking at previous works designed by the Mulloon Institute and funded through NQ Dry Tropics that had been implemented for two years. Training was provided around how to identify site similar sites to replicate this type of design and how to understand landscape evolution since the introduction of grazing that has led to landscape dehydration.
Monklands - Post settlement alluvium over box tree broad flowline then incised. Features like this give inside into what the country used to be like and when changes occurred.
Weetalaba - Large gully where overland flow re-enters incised fan.
Weetalaba Station, Collinsville
Landscape Planner Bill McAlister joined Sam Skeat on a site visit to Weetalaba Station, 55km south of Collinsville, where they will designing a demonstration site through NQ Dry Tropics as part of the Landholders Driving Change project, and is supported by funding from the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Weetalaba - On top of fan feature looking in the direction of the old flow path.
This landscape rehydration site is an old alluvial fan which has incised and cut a shortened path down to Rosella Creek. It is still actively lowering in the current flowline with large active black soil gullies from overland flow now dropping into the feature. The design will look to lift and spread water higher in the landscape and re-establish an older flow pattern where water ran parallel to Rosella creek for a couple of km's before re-entering. There is also a recent intact deposition zone which will be protected and erosion threatening leucaena (legume fodder crop) and the large gully at the bottom that will be halted.
The team is currently in the design phase and all going to plan it will be constructed this dry season.
Weetalaba - Gully cut up through leucaena.
Enhancing landholder capacity to undertake landscape rehydration workshop, Strathalbyn Station
Workshop for NQ Dry Tropics, building on previous workshop at Flagstone in 2020 delving deeper into understanding landscape and what individual landholders can do on an extensive property scale.
This workshop is part of Enhanced Extension Coordination in the GBR project, funded by the Queensland Government’s Reef Water Quality program.