Picking up the remnants

Location:	Throughout the Murray catchment
National priority area:	Sustainable farm practices
Funding:	$2 070 000 (2009/2010) $2 070 000 (2010/2011) $2 170 000 (2011/2012) $2 170 000 (2012/2013)
Partners:	Murray Catchment Management Authority Catchment Action NSW Murray Catchment Landholders

Regional investment provided to the Murray Catchment Management Authority in remnant vegetation maintenance and improvement in the NSW Murray catchment

Incentives for Murray catchment landholders to improve management of natural resources.

Twenty two per cent of woody native vegetation remains in the highly-developed Murray catchment of New South Wales. The cumulative impacts of past clearing, invasive species and overgrazing by livestock has resulted in agricultural landscapes containing relatively small and disconnected patches of remnant native vegetation in poor condition.

The catchment is bounded by the Murray River to the south, Murrumbidgee River catchment to the north and Australian Alps to the east. It spans an area of 35 170 square kilometres.

Action to manage the catchment's remaining native vegetation is essential to build resilience to the current and future threats of climate change including altered water regimes, and to conserve more than 110 threatened species of plants and animals.

To encourage farmers to increase the extent and condition of native vegetation on their properties, a range of incentives such as market based instruments have been funded with more than $8 million from Caring for our Country over four years, and delivered by the Murray Catchment Management Authority (CMA).

Farmers voluntarily enter into a legally binding contract or property vegetation plan (PVP) with the CMA in return for receiving financial incentives. In the past two years, funding has delivered 74 incentive PVPs, which has resulted in the maintenance and improvement of 8300 hectares of remnant vegetation throughout the catchment. This includes 2 037 hectares of endangered ecological communities as well as fencing of 305km of stream bank to better manage stock access.

Catchment coordinator David Costello say in the past two years, Murray CMA has focused investment in remnant native vegetation in medium-high condition where biodiversity is at greater risk of decline if intervention does not occur.

"Endangered ecological communities that have been specifically targeted include the federally-listed box-gum, boree, buloke, and Inland grey box woodlands, as well as state-listed yarran shrublands and sandhill pine woodlands," he says.

One landholder to take up an incentive is Andy Dore who, with his wife Katrina, manages a mixed grazing and cropping property at Urana in southern NSW. Bordering on Lake Urana, the property contains native vegetation areas, wetland and creek frontages.

Andy used the funding to fence 175 hectares of endangered boree woodland and sandhills, rich in native plant diversity. The project was a success and the Dores elected to sign an in-perpetuity Property Vegetation Plan, which will ensure the long-term protection of the site, regardless of any future changes in land ownership.

"We needed to reduce grazing pressure, control the timing of grazing native grasses in the bush block and control when the stock have access to the wetland," Andy explains. "The fencing around the wetland has reduced damage to the soil from stock, improved groundcover and reduced wind erosion on the western side of the property. The new fence also allows us to move stock through to the woolshed more easily.

"The site is regenerating well, but is lacking that shrubby layer so this spring we're direct seeding shrubs to improve diversity and develop the ecosystem. These changes have added to the sustainability of our farm, at the same time as protecting these special areas for the enjoyment of our whole family."