The Bugle - 04 November 2005
In news this week
Regional body stories
- Weed control beetles along
- South West launches regional investment strategy...
- And launches into cyberspace
Government updates
- Quarterly financial report assessment begins...
- And audited annual financial statements now due
- Get into it: Research shows how to involve communities in NRM
- Responding to change: process for changing targets under review
- New face joins JSC
- QIRIS team finds new home…
- But still has no name!
Natural resources news
- Catchment group celebrates National Riverprize award
- Survey finds watery obsession obscures NRM vision
Weed control beetles along
A stretch of the Northern Burnett River is teeming with beetles. No not the “fab four” but an army of beetles used for the biological control of blue heliotrope, an invasive perennial weed.
Shire Council staff were joined by staff from Perry Shire Council and Burnett Mary Regional Group for Natural Resource Management Inc (BMRG) for the first large scale release of the beetle, Deuterocampta quadrijuga, in the region on 19 October 2005.
Earlier this year Eidsvold Shire Council received funds from the BMRG to establish a breeding facility for the peculiar looking beetle which attacks the weed's leaves.
The weed team will monitor the release site, hoping that the beetles will establish a self-sustaining population. Additional releases will be made during the growing season.
For further information, contact BMRG Weed and Grazing Coordinator, Dean Power on 4166 3844.
South West launches regional investment strategy
South West NRM will launch its regional investment strategy at Charleville town hall at 9.40am, Tuesday, 15 November.
The strategy outlines almost $4.8 million in investment in NRM in the south west from the Australian and Queensland governments.
South West NRM Chair Tom Garrett and the Member for Gregory, Vaughan Johnson, will launch the strategy.
Past participants in FUTURESCAPES will talk about their experiences in the program and Chris Chillcott will talk about grazing land management in the mulga lands.
In the afternoon, there will be workshops on filling out FUTURESCAPES funding applications, controlling wild dogs and weeds, and a potential Indigenous project for the region.
Please RSVP to Deb or Donna at South West NRM by phoning 4654 7382 by Wednesday 9 November.
South West blasts into cyberspace
Need information about South West NRM? Visit the regional body’s NEW website.
A Community Notice Board section gives access to latest news items; About South West NRM gives details about the company, directors and staff; South West NRM Region describes natural attributes of each catchment and provides a map of the region; Natural Resource Management outlines the main issues for the region, with links to the regional NRM plan and regional investment strategy; Products and Services lists resources and services available to the community; and more…
Quarterly financial report assessment begins
The Natural Resource Management Arrangements (NRMA) section of NR&M thanks all regional bodies who have submitted their quarterly financial reports.
NRMA has begun analysing the reports. Once the analysis is complete, NRMA will advise regional bodies whether their reports have been accepted or whether further action is necessary (for example, forwarding to JSC for consideration).
Regional bodies that are yet to submit their quarterly reports should do so as soon as possible.
For more information, contact NRMA's acting Manager (Performance and Program Management), Anne Goeths, on 3224 2389.
Audited annual financial statements now due
Regional bodies' audited annual financial statements were due to be provided to NRMA on 30 October.
Many thanks to those regional bodies that have already provided their financial statements. For those that haven't, please forward them to NRMA as soon as possible.
If you need to discuss this, please contact Anne Goeths on 3224 2389.
Get into it: Research shows how to involve communities in NRM
Six new publications are available online to help regional bodies get local communities involved in NRM:
- To stand still is to go backwards: effective NRM extension in the Burdekin Rangelands
- The AgSIP dinner party: an appetite for social change in a political context
- Using participatory evaluation for better NRM engagement across different partners - a case in progress
- NRM engagement, Relationships Australia or the rubik's cube?
- Integrated area wide management: a model for achieving natural resource management practice change
- Enhancing resource management in the cotton industry through partnerships
The publications were produced for the APEN (Australia-Pacific Extension Network) NRM symposium in Toowoomba in September.
The papers are available from the AGSIP website. For more information, contact AG SIP Coordinator Valerie Sapin by phoning 4160 0739.
Responding to change: process for changing targets under review
The process for changing management action targets and resource condition targets in regional NRM plans is being reviewed.
Management action targets are short-term targets that relate to whether actions in a NRM plan have been undertaken (for example, the extent to which a program of sampling to determine water quality has been completed). Resource condition targets are medium-term targets that show whether actions are having the desired affect on the natural resource in question (for example, the extent of improvements in water quality toward a specified level).
For many reasons, management action targets and resource condition targets in a NRM plan may be found to be inappropriate. This may be due to factors like changes in the environment, changes in available resources and advances in scientific knowledge. It is important that these targets can be modified so that they remain relevant measures of whether a NRM plan is being met.
The review will determine:
- the conditions or triggers leading to a review of targets
- the steps required to justify the change and ensure approval from the Joint Queensland/Australian Government NRM Steering Committee (JSC)
- the principles and assumptions underlying that agreed approach
- the implications or flow-on effects of target review on regional investment strategies and NRM plans.
A steering committee with regional body, Regional Coordination Group, Queensland and Commonwealth representatives has been formed to guide the review.
This review is being facilitated by Geoff McDonald (CSIRO) and Bruce Taylor (CSIRO), who are working in collaboration with Cathy Robinson (Learning and Evaluation Unit, NRMA). Over the next few weeks they will attend RCG and Collective forums to discuss the review. The review's final report will be completed by 5 December.
For more information, contact: Cathy Robinson on 3224 7788, Bruce Taylor on 3214 2638, or Geoff McDonald on 3214 2290.
New face joins JSC
Evelyne Meier is the new head of Natural Resource Management Arrangements in the Department of Natural Resources and Mines and the new face on the Joint Queensland/Australian Government NRM Steering Committee (JSC).
Evelyne has a strong background in industry development and trade. Within the Queensland Government she has worked with the meat processing industry, on sugar industry reform and developed policy for aquaculture.
“I’m looking forward to working with the canegrowers again, as well as meeting the other industry players, regional body staff and directors and people involved in the community NRM groups around the state,” Evelyne said.
Evelyne holds a PhD in public policy from the University of Queensland. Originally from Switzerland, she has lived in Australia for 11 years.
Everyone in NRMA extends a warm welcome to Evelyne.
QIRIS team finds new home…
October has been a time of change for the Queensland Integrated Regional Information System (QIRIS), with the project moving from the Department of Natural Resources and Mines to be hosted by SEQ Catchments.
The QIRIS project is developing a web-based system that will help regional bodies manage the information they use in their every day work (like how many trees have been planted on what farmer’s property). QIRIS will help regional bodies track how they are progressing against their NRM plans. Regional bodies will be able to use QIRIS to prepare their reports to government and will allow natural resource management to be coordinated within and across regions.
The project team is reaching full strength with its analysis, design and development teams working hard to build the base platform for the new web-based system. We will soon be asking users to test this earliest version.
To assist everyone transferring to the new system, QIRIS’s Liz Hardie and Andrea Kennedy are working with NRMA to propose the smoothest approach, especially for the coming round of reporting. They will be holding change management workshops, sending out information and regular updates, and are available to answer any questions about the upcoming changes.
The project has a monthly newsletter available to anyone who is interested. If you would like a copy, please email the QIRIS team.
QIRIS’s new home is 37 Merivale Street, South Brisbane. If you have any questions about the QIRIS project, the new system and how to transfer to it, please contact Liz Hardie on 3846 4755 or 0417 174333 or Andrea Kennedy on 3846 5933 or 0421 616464.
But still has no name!
Sadly, the new system has no name! So the QIRIS team is asking all creative types to suggest something snappy that encapsulates all that is QIRIS. Please contact Liz or Andrea with your suggestions. You will have their eternal gratitude and may even win a fabulous prize!
Catchment group celebrates National Riverprize award
Bulimba Creek Catchment Coordinating Committee (B4C) celebrated receiving the Thiess National Riverprize at the Carindale site of its proposed Southside Sustainability Centre last Friday.
B4C is one of the most active and successful urban-based NRM groups in Australia.
The group’s many awards since officially becoming B4C in 1997 (although it has been around in different guises since about 1987) include the 2000 SEQ Regional Award for Excellence, a Queensland Landcare Alcoa Community Group Award in 2001, and a Healthy Waterways Joint Grand Prize Winner in 2004. The crème de la crème, though, is this year’s Thiess National Riverprize!
Dignitaries present at the Riverprize ceremony included Judy Spence (Minister for Police and Corrective Services), Michael Caltabiano (Member for Chatsworth), Councillors Kerry Rae and Adrian Schrinner from Brisbane City Council and representatives from B4C supporters such as Powerlink, Coles-Myer and Boral.
B4C has been instrumental in bringing together players from all levels of government and business. A prime example is B4C’s relationship with Powerlink that provided 2.5 hectares of land for the proposed “Southside Sustainability Centre” on the site of the old Carindale Nursery. The centre will showcase water-saving devices, energy efficiency, native and edible garden design, promotion of indigenous culture, community education, and much more.
The Riverprize is testament to B4C members’ and volunteers’ dedication to their community and their local environment. Congratulations!
Survey finds watery obsession obscures NRM vision
A survey of 162 people who visited the Condamine Alliance stall at the Ag Show in Toowoomba in September found that water was the overwhelming environmental issue for people in the catchment.
Water issues were expected to rank highly in peoples’ minds with the current drought and the debate about the proposed use of recycled water for drinking in Toowoomba.
But the Condamine Alliance considers the survey results as being equally important for what they don’t reveal – that is, any widespread concerns among rural or urban people about the other problem areas identified in the Condamine Catchment Natural Resource Management Plan, such as vegetation and biodiversity, salinity, land use and management, and community development.
Matters related to the other themes accounted for less than 5% (on an individual basis) of the environmental issues nominated as paramount.
Pollution in various forms (11%) and salinity (3%) were the next highest ranking issues nominated by people in the unprompted question about the key environmental issue.
Encouragingly, 50% of those surveyed indicated knowledge of the Condamine Alliance.
The Alliance is seeking an effective strategy to engage the community across the whole spectrum of NRM issues.
For more information, contact Don Turner on 4620 0106.
We welcome your input and feedback on this newsletter. If you have any contributions, comments or suggestions please contact Shona Strachan or Paul Rees.
The Bugle is a weekly newsletter published by Natural Resource Management Arrangements, Natural Resources and Mines, highlighting regional natural resource management activities around Queensland.
Last updated 21 January 2009