The Bugle - 08 April 2005
In news this week
- Funding keeps regional bodies' offices open
- Landcarers link science to paddocks at national conference
- Pilot studies identify resource condition risk in reef areas
- Pre-accreditation funding boosts Cape York region activities
- Natural resource data is now only a click away
Funding keeps regional bodies' offices open
Special funding from the state will support the eight Natural Heritage Trust-funded regional NRM groups to continue to employ their executive officers and administration staff and run their offices for the 2005 calendar year.
The eight groups are:
- Cape York Community Engagement Group
- Desert Channels Queensland
- Far North Queensland Natural Resource Management
- Mackay Whitsunday NRM Group
- Northern Gulf Regional Management Group
- South East Queensland NRM
- Southern Gulf Catchments
- Torres Strait NRM.
The funds will support these groups to keep their offices open and keep up the great work they've been doing to get regional communities involved in managing our natural resources.
The other regional NRM groups receive operational funding from the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality program.
For more information contact John Keating on 3224 2389.
Landcarers link science to paddocks at national conference
Landcare participants from all NRM regions nationwide went to the National Landcare Facilitator Community Conference 'Landcare Linking Science to Paddocks' in Victoria in March. Participants talked about how to get better adoption of science at the land management scale and session topics looked at issues like how to meet the challenges of sustainable land management, the role of policy in NRM, and what people can do in each region to ensure efficient communication happens between land managers and scientists.
The conference summary, paper and notes can be accessed from the Landcare facilitator website community conference link.
Pilot studies identify resource condition risk in reef areas
Regional groups will receive much-needed information for their resource condition target setting from an NR&M-based project that identifies areas prone to soil erosion, acidification, compaction and decline in fertility and organic carbon.
The salinity team is developing hazard maps combining soil, land use and climate information to help regions meet condition targets. Current work spans several reef catchment pilot areas and the team hopes to attract further funding to look at all reef catchments.
Findings will inform activities such as the Great Barrier Reef water quality monitoring program and the Great Barrier Reef short term modelling project. Draft maps are expected to be released in June.
For more information, contact Ross Bigwood on 3896 9267.
Pre-accreditation funding boosts Cape York region activities
The Minister for Natural Resources and Mines approved pre-accreditation funding for a number of Cape York regional projects last week. The following projects were identified as priorities in the Cape York RIS:
- Weed and feral animal management
- Land and sea management
- Water management
- Catchment management
- Marine and coastal management
- Fire management community planning
- Core operations.
The Ministerial Steering Committee also recommended that a new community planning pre-accreditation project develop a user-friendly version of the Cape York NRM plan in consultation with Cape York stakeholders.
For more information, contact Kate Eden on 3224 8408.
Natural resource data is now only a click away
Regional bodies are regular users of the government's science data, including data from NR&M. The easiest way to get information about what data the government has is to search the Australian Spatial Data Directory.
Accessing the website is free and once you find the data you need, you can contact the officer listed to find out more about costs (if there are any), licence agreements (where needed) and delivery.
For more information about NR&M's data service, contact Stuart Brothers on 3896 9745.
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