Can you read the landscape?

Reading the landscape and understanding the significance of small changes in the landscape are essential skills for farmers, particularly in the Wimmera Mallee where change can be very slow due to low and unpredictable rainfall.

BCG's 'Reading the Landscape' workshop held at Keith and Helen Barber's property east of Birchip on 17 April 2007, put participants through their paces. The morning involved 'hands on' explanations of techniques and indicators that farmers can use, to quickly assess the landscape for signs of degradation and repair on their own properties.

"The half day workshop, supported by the Wimmera Mallee Ecosystem Function Project, of which BCG is a partner, went extremely well. The workshop ran well overtime due to the keen interest of participants" said Jodie Odgers, BCG Project Officer. "Farmers across the region have always been interested in the environment in which they live. This workshop gave them the opportunity to learn new environmental assessment skills to quantify what they are seeing in paddocks and remnant vegetation areas on a daily basis."

Workshop, guest presenter David Tongway, an Honorary Fellow CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, gave participants the tools to confidently undertake their own assessments of their landscape by looking at the health of the soil and vegetation. The simple assessment takes a 'common sense' approach and the indicators help identify if a landscape can retain rather than lose critical resources of soil, water and nutrients.

Cheap and simple rehabilitation steps including reduced grazing pressure and the use of logs and branches to trap resources such as soil and seed were also discussed and demonstrated.

For more information on the workshop or the Wimmera Mallee Ecosystem Function Project contact Jodie Odgers on (03) 5492 2787 or email.

David Tongway (pictured at centre) showing workshop participants a technique to determine soil texture, one of the soil indicators that can determine a healthy soil.

<- To The Wimmera Mallee Ecosystem Function Project