Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
Key
site specific
region wide
Regional dust-busters tackle soil health
Kathryn Biesaga (Soil Cropping Officer) collecting a sample
Kathryn records the details
Checking dust monitoring equipment
In cities there's Neighbourhood Watch, and in the country there's DustWatch - where landholders take part in regional wind erosion monitoring.
This is part of an ongoing best management farm practice project taking place in the rangelands and mixed farming areas of the Lower Murray Darling region of New South Wales.
Funding
The project began in 2003/04 with $387,000 in funding provided by the Australian and State Government with additional support from the National Landcare Program.
Project Officer Kathryn Beseiga said landholders were involved in soil sampling plus comprehensive wind erosion and deep drainage monitoring. The aim was to reduce soil erosion, nutrient loss and groundwater recharge.
Activities
"Dryland cropping farmers have been sampling and assessing their soils to improve their understanding and knowledge of soil health and groundwater recharge," Kathryn said.
"Ten landholders carried out pre-sowing/pre-harvest soil coring and analysis to measure available moisture, nitrogen, phosphorus and trace elements. The data collected has since been used as a tool to help landholders make informed land management decisions."
Wind erosion has the greatest potential to affect soil fertility and structure as it removes topsoil, reduces the soil clay and silt content and reduces organic matter.
To manage this problem, paddock-based assessments are carried out to record management practices and soil cover. From this, erosion risk in 100 paddocks can be calculated.
Roadside erosion/land use surveys are also used, which are subjective visual assessments of 260 fixed points in cropping areas of the catchment.
The community gets involved with DustWatch as landholders report on wind erosion in their area. The data is used with satellite imagery to report the extent and severity of erosion over the entire catchment.
Kathryn said the project's deep drainage component saw data from up to 100 sites collected to determine how moisture moves through the soil as well as any possible risks of deep drainage, which takes the moisture beyond the root zone.
More information
- Kathryn Beseiga, Project Officer: (03) 5021 9460.
See also
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Links to another web site
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