Mosaic Map: NRM funded projects
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Seeing the river through a different lens
For more than 50 years, cattle on 'Woodleigh' Station south west of Biloela had scrambled down the Dawson River banks to quench their thirst.
Then landholders Owen and Hazel Anderson started looking at the river through a different lens. Involvement in the local landcare movement in the early 1990s helped.
"You tend to be a bit blasé about doing things the way you've always done them," said Owen. "But when people get together and start talking about issues, it makes you stand up and take notice.
"When we studied the cattle pads that went into the river, it became obvious that the situation was only going to get worse. Cattle use the same watering point and go further and further out into the river, so you can eventually see a big protrusion of mud."
The Andersons grew concerned about erosion, the increasingly denuded riverbank and deteriorating water quality. And they were also worried about the toll on their cows - especially when pregnant - of struggling up and down a steep bank and through mud to get a drink.
So they began putting in water troughs away from the river, to reduce the cattle's impact.
Funding
Practical support for their efforts came with $7,000 from the Australian Government through the Dawson Catchment Coordinating Association (DCCA) and the Fitzroy Basin Authority (FBA) in 1999. While the family still made a considerable contribution, these funds helped build more water troughs away from the stream.
Additional Australian Government funding of more than $7,000 was allocated through the DCCA and FBA primarily to help with fencing to protect riverbanks.
Activities
The Andersons have put in some 18 water troughs in places where cattle would formerly go to the river. And they find that, even when they can still reach the river, cattle prefer the troughs.
Some 2,500 metres of fencing now protects sensitive riverbanks and native grasses are growing back on formerly bare banks. A leucaena (a nitrogen fixing stock feed) paddock has also been fenced off from the river to prevent the seeds spreading downstream and a water trough installed.
Achievements
"The work we've done has had a twofold effect," Owen said. "We've been able to make a contribution to soil and riverbank conservation and to improving water quality. And we've also looked after our stock better. As well as this, our neighbours downstream will benefit from improved water quality."
More information
- Owen Anderson, ‘Woodleigh’ Station landholder: (07) 4997 4147
- Dawson Catchment Coordinating Association: (07) 4993 1004
- Fitzroy Basin Association : (07) 4999 2800
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