The Bugle - 24 March 2005
In news this week
- 8th International Riversymposium 2005 - Riverprize nominations close Friday 15 April
- State of Region Reporting update
- Land managers get the edge in natural resource management
- Soil conservation measures - Design manual for Queensland
- Collecting water when catchments wet themselves
- Water for people, water for life
8th International Riversymposium 2005 - Riverprize nominations close Friday 15 April
There are only a few weeks to go before the Thiess National and International Riverprize nominations close on Friday 15 April. The prize is one feature of the annual conference which is this year titled 8th International Riversymposium 2005 "Water and Food Security - Rivers in the Global Context".
Prize money for the prestigious awards has now increased to $150 000 for the International winner (Australian projects eligible to enter) and $50 000 (doubled for 2005) for the National winner.
The following excerpt is from the Riversymposium website.
"Thiess Riverprize was established by the International River Foundation to recognise excellence in river management and provide an incentive to further the national and international efforts of restoring healthy rivers".
For further information on how to enter, and terms and conditions, download the Riverprize nomination form.
For more information about the Riversymposium and how you can become involved go to Riversymposium 2005 information.
The Riversymposium is part of the annual Riverfestival which will be held in Brisbane from 2-11 September this year. Find out more about the Riverfestival.
State of Region Reporting update
A range of coordinated activities involving SPRA, Natural Resource Sciences, EPA and selected regional nrm bodies are progressing a State of Region Reporting Framework. It is envisioned that State of Region Reporting will provide valuable information on natural resource condition at the regional scale and the effectiveness of community, industry and governments progress towards the sustainable management of our natural resources.
There is a current focus on the collective development of a discussion paper. This paper builds upon the collective learnings from previous studies and will outline the critical components and principles of a State of Region Reporting process and identify the resources, systems and relationships necessary for its successful implementation.
The development of this paper has been supported through a range of collaborative activities to ensure State of Region Reporting is collectively supported, and based on a scientifically rigorous and operationally achievable process.
Further information is available from Chris Chinn, NR&M, on 3362 9318.
Chris Chinn
Land managers get the edge in natural resource management
Natural Resources and Mines, with support from Australian Landcare Management System Ltd and FarmBis Australia, are developing a monitoring guide to assist land managers in achieving sustainable management on their farms.
The Land Managers Monitoring Guide is a voluntary tool which will provide valuable information on how to monitor for indicators relating to soil, water, and vegetation, as well as giving guidance on management options for land practices.
The guide will cover more than 50 key natural resource monitoring indicators on water quality, salinity, river health, fire, vegetation and biodiversity issues. The information in the guide will be web- and CD-based and can be used by land managers to track how well they are managing the possible environmental impacts of their farm activities.
In coming months, members from the Community and Landscape Sciences team at NR&M in Brisbane, hope to travel throughout the state to discuss the guide with regional bodies and to being trialling by land managers. These groups are two of the main target audiences for the Guide.
The hands-on workshops and meetings are currently being planned and dates for these will be sent out soon in The Bugle.
The development of the guide has stemmed from an increase in demand by farm managers for environmental monitoring as part of managing a farm business. The guide will help support regional monitoring & evaluation efforts, the proposed State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy, and the Reef Water Quality Protection Plan which encourages land managers to monitor and assess their potential environmental impacts.
The guide will be progressively published with the first part of the tool to be released soon.
For more information about its release date, please contact Andy Grodecki, NR&M, on 3896 9539.
Kylie Hey
Soil conservation measures – Design manual for Queensland
Much has been learnt about the control of soil erosion since erosion control programs began in Queensland in the middle of the last century. Considerable progress has been made by farmers and the devastating soil losses that were so commonplace in cropping lands in the 1950s are a distant memory. But soil erosion is still a very significant issue despite the low rainfall patterns experienced over the last 10 years.
The Department of Natural Resources and Mines is producing a manual on the design of soil conservation measures, which aims to capture the available knowledge on this topic for use by private consultants and regional bodies. Eleven chapters are already on the NR&M website. The remaining 6 chapters are due for completion by June 2005.
For more information about the soil conservation design manual, please contact Bruce Carey, NR&M, on 3896 9390.
Bruce Carey
Collecting water when catchments wet themselves
Activity in the Burnett Mary has recently focussed on establishing a network for events monitoring, which involves community groups as well as the regional NRM group (BMRG), city council (Bundaberg), and the DPI. Links among various projects have been identified, which means an improved regional capacity to sample for suspended solids and nutrients being flushed into streams during wet-season storms. Results will support not only the development of catchment scale models, which are useful for planning catchment restoration activities, but will also develop data useful for management action plans that are now being put into place.
Last week we had a great great time getting out onto the river for a few days! We did a shadow test/dummy run in the Mary, to ground truth the process of getting samples out of the water and into the lab .... and results from shadow testing of MRCCC field equipment (dO, pH, EC, temp) against DNR equipment were close.
For more information, please contact Graeme Esslemont, Burnett Mary NRM Regional Officer, on 4131 5736
Graeme Esslemont
Water for people, water for life
Story courtesy: NR&M news
World Water Day was celebrated in hundreds of countries on Tuesday, with communities looking at ways of using water more efficiently and equitably as demand for it increases.
The United Nations marked the occasion by declaring March 22 as the start of the International Decade of Water under the theme 'Water For People, Water For Life'.
We live in the driest inhabited continent on earth, but, individually, Australians use the most water. As our population grows, every drop counts – each one of us has a part to play in making our available water supplies go further.
Simple tactics like installing AAA-rated water-efficient products in the home; watering gardens more heavily but less frequently; and using a bucket of water instead of a running hose to wash the car can save our communities millions of litres of water a day.
In Queensland's catchments, NR&M is managing the roll out of water resource plans and resource operation plans that will guide the allocation and sustainable management of water and ensure Queensland’s future needs can be met.
The plans will not only ensure security of supply to water users, they also seek to protect natural ecosystems and, in turn, the quality of our water.
In Parliament, the Minister marked World Water Day by launching an environmental flows poster, produced by NR&M, which will be sent to all Queensland school libraries in the coming weeks.
The poster shows the life of a river, and the effects of human interaction.
The United Nations, meanwhile, has identified 11 challenges the world faces in managing its water resources, eight of which have been condensed into a number of fact sheets.
For more information, please contact Warwick Sinclair, Public Affairs, Brisbane, on 3405 6965.
Warwick Sinclair
We welcome your input and feedback on this newsletter. If you have any contributions, comments or suggestions please contact Kylie Hey or Shona Strachan.
Last updated 23 January 2008