Ord Land and Water : Projects

Since the release of the Ord Land and Water Plan in October of 2000 Ord Land and Water has been active in implementing the strategies and actions of the Plan by building projects in partnership with other organisations or on its own.

The projects are managed by a full time coordinator and have been funded by Federal Government initiatives such as the Natural Heritage Trust, the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and Caring for Our Country, Funding from the Western Australian State Government and Lottery West.

Consulting the community for managemnet plans

Integrated Weed Management of Riparian Areas of the Kimberley

Project Partners

Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia

Department of Environment and Conservation

Kimberley Zone Control Authority

Project Objectives

Protect areas of ecological significance such as the Lake Argyle - Lake Kununurra Ramsar site through the eradication of the highly invasive aquatic plant salvinia and control of other terrestrial invasive weeds such as parkinsonia and rubber vine,

Maintain the integrity of productive pastoral land by stopping the spread of the invasive weed rubber vine, and

Strengthen the biosecurity of the Ord River Irrigation Area horticultural industry by eradicating feral fruit trees on unallocated crown land.

Intended Outcomes

Greater ecological security for significant waterways.

A reduced risk of weeds to productive pastoral land.

Greater security against exotic pest incursions for the horticultural industry.

Landholders successfully managing weeds on their property.

Relevant weed knowledge flowing into and out of the region.

Effective partnerships formed between the community and State Organisations.

Project outputs

Mapping of rubber vine was completed at Lissadell station and Willare. However further mapping of the Willare site will be done after the completion of this project to confirm the new extent of the weed’s spread.

Two workshops for communities on Lake Kununurra were held but two extra were required to sign off on the individual community weed management plans and guide weed control prioritisation.

Mapping of those two communities and associated weed management plans was completed.

Weed control was implemented on and around both communities and on 22 established sites on Lake Kununurra. A total of 552 hectares of weeds were destroyed; 198 hectares as part of the community weed work and a further 354 hectares over the full extent of the Ramsar site.

Weed densities on 7 sites covering 110 hectares reduced from active to a monitoring phase on Lake Kununurra.

Aquatic weed salvinia declared eradicated on Lake Kununurra, exotic fruit trees controlled within scope of project.

Rubber vine control within scope of project completed, Willare site on the Fitzroy catchment not yet in monitoring phase as more plants were found that extended the known area of infestation in 2009.

Two newsletters completed and one fact sheet published and distributed.

Surveys of landholders completed.

Packsaddle Weed Management Plan [3.5mb pdf] [download]

Crossing Falls Weed Management Plan [2.9mb pdf] [download]

Best management Practices for Soluble Pesticide Use in the ORIA

Summary

Ord Land and Water (OLW) received funding under the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality to implement a project to develop best management practices for soluble pesticide use in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA).

This project builds on previous work to assist development and adoption of Best Management Practices to reduce the movement off site of agricultural pesticides in the ORIA. Past work developed guidelines across a broad range of chemicals; this work assisted in reducing significantly traces of insoluble chemicals found off farm. However, there has not been the same success with soluble chemicals currently in use.

By design, soluble chemicals move easily with water and therefore are prone to movement off farm with irrigation and rain events. Reasons for this include:

The soluble nature of the chemicals,

Their efficacy being reliant on timely water incorporation

Management difficulties encountered by growers in the broader scale adoption of guidelines for use with soluble pesticides

In order to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of soluble chemicals in irrigation water, Ord Land and Water (OLW) devised a trial watering strategy. It was proposed to test differences in Atrazine concentrations, as an indicator soluble pesticide, over several watering time lags. Atrazine is a triazine herbicide which is reactive in the water column.

The project will:

Test the efficacy of a soluble pesticide (atrazine) over a number of different application to irrigation time lags to determine an irrigation window that provides efficient control whilst minimising the risk of off site movement of the pesticide

Measure and compare pesticide concentration levels moving off treatment areas over different application to irrigation time lags in the initial and a further two subsequent irrigations.

Soluble Pesticide Report [850kb pdf] [download]

Key Management Actions for Lake Kununurra

SUMMARY

This project has significantly extended the weed work done on Lake Kununurra from the initial six sites covering 20 hectares prior to the project to 19 sites covering 1,640 hectares by its end.

In the three years of project work 963 of the 1,615 project hectares has had control activities carried out on them. The work has included up to three passes over some of the sites to remove all seeding plants initially and follow up work to remove new germinations of plants. As a result five of the 19 sites are now just monitored for weed regrowth a couple of times a year and controlled as required, a further three sites have some sections that are in a similar position and monitored and controlled accordingly.

In this time weeding techniques were refined to suit the target weeds and the climate; this included the following actions –

The initial control work concentrated on killing adult trees to stop any further seed production on the site, subsequent control work done in the following seasons focused on killing seedlings and juvenile plants as they grew to a height they could be detected.

Hard to kill plants such as leucaena and moringa were sprayed carefully to reduce regrowth and checked three months later to ensure all plants had died.

Control work continued throughout the wet season to get on top of seed germination at the seedling stage. This was the single most effective strategy employed, however operators need to be cautious of heat exhaustion issues and take preventative measures.

Revegetation by means of replanting proved to be not necessary due to the vigorous nature of native regrowth.

Mapping gave an indication of the spread of weeds on the lake, what weeds were spreading the quickest and what ones were capable of completely displacing native bushland given enough time. This enabled the target weeds to be prioritised accordingly –

High priority weeds: Salvinia, neem, leucaena and fruit trees (Mangoes, date palm, pawpaw)

Medium priority weeds: Parkinsonia. Bellyache bush, moringa and coral vine.

Low priority weeds: Garden Plants (Rain trees, carpentaria palms, poinciana, golden shower)

Revegetation and monitoring sites have been set up as a part of this and other Ord Land and Water projects, this work will be maintained into the future with ongoing projects.

Finally the project culled feral cattle from areas on the lake where their numbers were starting to have an impact on native vegetation through the spread of weeds and trampling.

Management Actions for Lake Kununurra [1.3mb pdf] [download]

Delivery of Best Management Practices to Ord Catchment Land Managers

Summary

Project outcomes

Best practice management strategies adopted by land managers that resulted in the protection and recovery of water resources and associated riparian and aquatic biodiversity.
Reduced impacts of erosion threatening production and aquatic and riparian biological diversity.
Greater understanding of landscape influences on land management.
Engagement of Indigenous and Non Indigenous land managers in the natural resource management process.

Verification of outcomes achieved

A survey was undertaken of those who attended project erosion workshops. The survey showed that attending landholders and employees were better able to plan and undertake erosion control works. This was demonstrated in on ground actions amounting to at least 2850 km of station roads and fence-lines assessed for potential erosion problems, and works undertaken where needed as a direct result of those workshops.

The bulk of the demonstration sites installed over the life of project are still in operation and successfully assisting in erosion remediation activities on site.

The Fire Forums and associated workshops successfully pulled together community members and stakeholders to give them information on the status of various fire related projects in northern Australia. From the pastoral forum came a coordinated burning between the Department of Environment and Conservation and landholders.

On request, a further 150 DVDs (50 initially distributed in WA) demonstrating erosion rehabilitation techniques that were produced as part of this project were distributed across all the Kimberley and Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Project benefits to the environment and the community

Landholders reducing the effects of erosion - leading to improved water quality.

Reduced infilling of waterways.

Improved vegetation retention and primary production in the Ord catchment.

Increased understanding of fire issues by the local community and stakeholders leading to a project to develop a local management plan and implement early season burning strategies.

Key challenges

Indigenous engagement. (expected)

Wet season flood events. (expected)

High rainfall in July 2007 (extremely unusual)

Fitting into landholder’s production schedules’ that were in turn dictated by weather and fire.

Other organisations engaged in project delivery

Various landholders and the Halls Creek East Kimberley LCDC partnered the project when property/equipment/labour was required for the grader schools and demonstration sites.

Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley agreed to maintain one demonstration site beyond the life of the project.

Victoria River District Conservation Association and the Halls Creek East Kimberley LCDC as partners in the erosion workshop.

Victoria River District Conservation Association and the Halls Creek East Kimberley LCDC as partners in the erosion DVD production and distribution.

Various organisations and projects that supported the fire forums which included but was not limited to –

Fire and Emergency Services Authority

Department of Agriculture and Food

Brolga’s Environment

Tropical Forestry Services

Tricia Handasyde

Julie Melbourne

Sara Strutt

Tropical Savannas CRC

Kimberley Land Council

Miriwoong Gajerrong Corporation

Regional Landcare Facilitator

Halls Creek East Kimberley LCDC

Shire of Wyndham East Kimberley

Eco Fire Project

Alan Lawford

Department of Environment and Conservation

Carlton Hill Station

Nadeen Lovell

Best Management Practices Ord Catchment Land Managers [3mb pdf] [download]

Minimising the Off-Site Impacts of Pesticides in the ORIA

Project Objectives

To support the long-term sustainability of irrigated agriculture in the Ord through the development of guidelines with the agricultural industry for Minimising the off-site impacts of pesticides in the Ord River Irrigation Area.

The major aims of the project were to:

Carry out a risk assessment and identify pesticides of most concern in terms of threat to the riverine ecosystem health in the Ord River.
Conduct monitoring of pesticide residues in tail waters.
Enhance the natural attenuation of pesticides prior to the release of drainage water.
Develop with industry guidelines for better on-farm management of pesticides to minimise off-site impact on surface and groundwater.

Funding Parties

Funding and support for the project has come from the following organisations -

ORIA Farmers

Department of Transport and Regional Services

Horticulture Australia Limited

Methods

Stage 1

Risk assessment and monitoring

Risk Assessment [download]

The risk assessment for surface water and ground water of the ORIA involved gathering of pesticide use data for selected farm production systems including information on soil and climatic conditions, hydrological conditions and an integration of pesticide loading, toxicity and transport parameters.

Key factors included agronomic practices and how they related to pesticide migration, with particular reference to water management practices. The Risk Assessment provides a list of compounds that represent the greatest risk to the environment and therefore were the targets of focused monitoring and management.

The risk assessment was followed by limited targeted monitoring for the ‘high-risk’ pesticides that have been identified. The timing of this monitoring coincided with pesticide application. This helped to validate the assessment by confirming which pesticides and in what quantities were likely to leave the farms and their pathways of migration.

Stage 2

Monitoring and experimentation

The initial phase of this stage of the project was aimed at developing a better understanding of pesticide migration from farms. To achieve this, samples of tail-water were obtained during the first irrigation after pesticide application to understand when and in what quantities pesticides were leaving the paddock.

This was followed by experiments to test several on-farm management options that would become the basis form further work.

A three-pronged approach was developed and implemented in consultation with the growers. The experiments for developing on-farm management options were selected on their practicality and as likely to be adopted by the irrigation community.

The approach and experiments planned included:

(i) Minimise residue moving off farm: Options selected included using polyacrylamide (PAM) as a flocculant, incorporating pesticides mechanically into the soil and targeting pesticide contact away from water furrows.

(ii) Enhanced natural degradation: This entailed enhancing natural degradation of the pesticide through grassed tail water ditches, however it was realised that water flows off farm were substantial and backing up water would cause problems with crop waterlogging. Therefore this line of investigation was halted after grower consultation.

(iii) Removal of residues from drainage water: Novel cost-effective sorbents for removal of pesticides from water are being developed by CSIRO and other agencies. Laboratory tests appeared promising. Some preliminary trials were done using these materials, however they were found to be impractical under the conditions.

In addition, experiments were carried out to test the commercially available rapid screening kits for pesticide residues under ORIA conditions, for selected pesticides such as atrazine.

Stage 3

Data analysis and development of Guidelines for on-farm management

In this stage of the project results from the first two stages were analysed in order to develop guidelines to minimise off-site migration of pesticides in ORIA.

Additionally training in the use of kits tested in Stage 2 was provided to stakeholders providing them with simple techniques to detect residues moving off-farm providing early warning and facilitating better management.

Outputs

A better understanding and awareness of the impact of pesticide residues on ecosystem health in the ORIA and associated riverine ecosystems.
A list of pesticides considered ‘high risk’ using present management practices.
Identification of on-farm management approaches for minimising the off-site migration of pesticides and enhancing their natural breakdown on farm and in drainage water.
Practical guidelines for better management of pesticides in the ORIA.
Validation of simple residue analysis kits and training of industry users.

This is a cooperative project with a number of partners working locally to meet the needs of the present irrigated agricultural industry in the ORIA.

Guidelines for Minimising Off-Site Movement of Pesticides in the ORIA [3.5mb pdf] [download]

Funding and Project Partners

ORIA Farmers

CSIRO

Department of Transport and Regional Services

Horticulture Australia Ltd

National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality

National Heritage Trust

Department of Environment

Department of Agriculture Western Australia

Ord Bonaparte Program

Miriwoong Translation Project

Project Objectives

To select and translate into the languages Miriwoong and Kriol parts the Ord Land and Water Management Plan for broadcast over local radio. From this we hope to create a greater understanding of the Plan by the community and in particular the Traditional Owners and create the opportunity for their equitable participation in the future management of the region's natural resources.

Methods

Traditional Owners worked with staff from OLW and the Mirima Language centre to identify goals, associated strategies and actions from the Plan that were considered important to local Indigenous people. These were summarised as messages, written into plain English then translated into Miriwoong and Kriol.

The messages were broadcast over Waringarri Radio in five minute information packages that delivered the selected message firstly in English, followed by Miriwoong and then Kriol.

Outputs

To encourage participation of Indigenous people in future local natural resource management planning.
To expose the community to the language of a significant portion of the community.
To development an education tool for Traditional Owners to learn their own language.

Funding and Project Partners

Lotterywest.

Mirima Dawang Woorlab-Gerring Dawang Language Centre

Waringarri Radio 6WR

On Farm Water Use Efficiency

This work was undertaken jointly by ORIA farmers, the Department of Agriculture and Ord Land and Water in 2004 in an attempt to develop water efficiency guidelines. This work was continued and expanded into the projct 'Demonstrating Sustainable Farming Systems' by the Depatment of Agriculture in 2005.

Artificial Wetlands Assessment

This project builds on earlier work that has identified suitable existing artificial wetlands for assessment of their capacity to act as a ‘filtering system’ to remove contaminants in irrigation drainage water, and preliminary monitoring for chemical and nutrient attenuation within the system. This project will monitor a production season and the following wet season for movement of contaminants into and out of the artificial wetland system. Information from this project will be used to develop recommendations of the feasibility of using artificial wetlands as a management tool to reduce the impact of contaminants in irrigation drainage water on the Lower Ord River.]

Artificial Wetlands Report [2.9mb pdf] [download]