Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Procedures For Rangeland Condition Assessment In The Pilbara And Southern Rangelands 2022, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development

Natural resources published reports

To define the procedures used in 2022 by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to complete rangeland condition assessment (RCA) in the Pilbara and southern rangelands region which has predominantly shrub-based pastures. For the rest of the pastoral estate, DPIRD uses the Procedures for RCA in the Kimberley which has grass pastures.

RCA is the process DPIRD uses to make systematic, lease level assessment of rangeland. Rangeland condition considers both the condition of pastures (as defined in the Pasture condition and management guide for the Pilbara rangelands or Southern rangelands pasture condition and management guides) and soils …

Procedures For Rangeland Condition Assessment In The Kimberley 2022, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development

Natural resources published reports

This report defines the procedures used in 2022 by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to complete rangeland condition assessment (RCA) in the Kimberley region which has grass-based pastures. For the rest of the pastoral estate, DPIRD uses the Procedures for RCA in the Pilbara and southern rangelands which have predominantly shrub pastures.

RCA is the process DPIRD uses to make systematic, lease-level assessment of rangeland. Rangeland condition considers both the condition of pastures (as defined in the Pasture condition guide for the Kimberley, Ryan et al. 2013) and soils as determined by erosion, using the …

Agricultural Groundcover Update January 2024, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• About 94% of the grainbelt had adequate (more than 50%) vegetative groundcover to prevent wind erosion in January 2024.
• In the northern half of the grainbelt, a larger-than-average area has 51–60% groundcover, which is expected to decrease to below 50% over the coming months.
• Just under 6% of the grainbelt (855,000 ha) had less than 50% groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion. West Midlands Ag Soil Zone had the highest risk of wind erosion and 14.5% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover.
• Less than 0.5% of the grainbelt had a high to very high risk of wind …

Agricultural Groundcover Update December 2023, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• About 96% of the grainbelt had adequate vegetative groundcover (more than 50%) to prevent wind erosion in December 2023.
• In the northern half of the grainbelt, a larger-than-average area has 51–60% groundcover, which is expected to decrease to below 50% over the summer.
• Just under 4% of the grainbelt (553,000 ha) had less than 50% groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion. West Midlands Ag Soil Zone had the highest risk of wind erosion and 11.4% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover.
• Less than 0.5% of the grainbelt had a high to very high risk of wind erosion …

Agricultural Groundcover Update November 2023, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• About 98% of the grainbelt had adequate (more than 50%) vegetative groundcover to prevent wind erosion in November 2023. This amount of groundcover is normal for the middle of harvest.
• In the northern half of the grainbelt, a larger-than-average area had 51–60% groundcover, which is expected to decrease to below 50% over summer.
• Just over 2% of the grainbelt (324,000 ha) had less than 50% groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion. Mullewa to Morawa Ag Soil Zone had the highest risk of wind erosion and 9.7% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover.
• Less than 0.5% of the …

Status Of The Western Australian Pastoral Rangelands 2023: Total Vegetative Cover And Cover Risk, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development

Natural resources published reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) monitors and reports on the vegetation condition of pastoral rangelands in Western Australia. This 2023 short report uses remotely sensed total cover data available to the end of October 2023, rainfall data to the end of November 2023 and Stock Return data reported in 2022 (the most recent available) to determine cover risk. Cover risk at the land conservation district (LCD) level is an indicator of the likelihood of total cover declining to, or remaining at, low or very low levels. Total cover and cover risk may not be indicative of …

Costs Of Wind Erosion In The Northern Agricultural Region, Anne Bennett

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• To date, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s (DPIRD) estimated opportunity cost of wind erosion for Western Australia’s (WA) agricultural region has only included the costs of forgone production income and therefore underestimates the broader costs of wind erosion events.
• This underestimation of costs was the impetus to create a case study to give an indication of the magnitude of the costs of wind erosion from agricultural land.
• Farmers in the Northern Agricultural Region (NAR) were contacted to seek information about the on-farm costs of wind erosion events that occurred in 2020. Seventeen farmers responded to the …

Agricultural Groundcover Update October 2023, Justin Laycock

Natural resources published reports

Summary

• About 98% of the grainbelt had adequate vegetative groundcover (more than 50%) to prevent wind erosion in October 2023. This amount of groundcover is normal at the end of spring and pre-harvest in most areas.
• There was a larger than average area with 51–60% groundcover, and groundcover in these areas is expected to reduce over summer to below 50%.
• About 2% of the grainbelt (293,000 ha) had less than 50% groundcover, which is inadequate to prevent wind erosion. Mullewa to Morawa Ag Soil Zone had the highest risk of wind erosion and 8% of this farmland had inadequate groundcover. …

Building The Soil Carbon Sponge At Murray Wells Farm, Tambellup, Western Australia, Wendy Bradshaw

Natural resources published reports

Peter and Wendy Bradshaw farmed at Murray Wells Farm about 25 km west of Tambellup for around 46 years until they sold and retired in 2022. They produced barley, oats, merino and prime lambs on an annual rainfall of 450 mm over 1,000 arable hectares. The farm was on a moderately undulating landscape with a mix of soils including sandy duplex, well-drained sand over gravel over clay, shallow sandy or loamy gravel over cemented laterite and red to brown loamy soils.Their farming philosophy was to view agriculture as an ecological enterprise that included them as part of the ecosystem, and …

Managing Water Quality To Enable Future Irrigation Development In The Kimberley Region, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Natural resources commissioned reports

Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic Modelling to Evaluate the Effect of Farm Chemicals on the Lower Pools of the Keep River

The National Water Grid Authority awarded the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) a project entitled ‘Managing Water Quality to Enable Future Irrigation Development in the Kimberley Region’.

The purpose of the project is to review the current and future risk profile of agrichemicals (pesticides) in the Keep River catchment (Ord - East Kimberley) in the context of irrigation development across the last decade and proposed in the medium term. The results of the review were to define prospective mitigation …

Review Of Toxicity Of Agricultural Chemicals And Implications For Aquatic Fauna Of The Keep River, Samanatha Reynolds, David Morgan

Natural resources commissioned reports

This report was compiled for the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) as part of the National Water Grid Authority (NWGA) project entitled “Managing water quality to enable future irrigation development in the Kimberley Region, WA”. The purpose of this report is to review the toxicity of farm chemicals (herbicides and insecticides) used by farm operators in the Keep River catchment and their potential impacts on the aquatic species in the river, in particular those species that are listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It is designed to complement the report entitled …

Report On And Recommendations Arising From The Visit Of Dr Michael Warne (University Of Queensland) And Robert Sluggett To Kununurra, Michael Warne Dr, Rob Sluggett

Natural resources commissioned reports

Dr Michael Warne of the Reef Catchments Science Partnership and Robert Sluggett of Farmacist Pty Ltd were invited by Richard George of Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to visit Kununurra, Western Australia.

The project was financially supported by the National Water Grid Authority project “Managing water quality to enable future irrigation development in the Kimberley Region”. The aim of the visit was for Dr Warne and Rob Sluggett to engage with farmers, key stakeholders and staff from DPIRD in order to understand the agriculture and water quality in the Ord and Keep river region; and to share …

Building The Soil And The Community At Hollands Track Farm, Newdegate, Western Australia, Jamie Bowyer, Nick Kelly

Natural resources published reports

The Kelly family have been farming at Hollands Track Farm, about 18 km south-west of Newdegate, since 1965. They currently produce grains, beef, eggs and sheep. Long-term annual average rainfall is 350 mm. The Kellys were early adopters – in the 1990s – of the no-till farming system, which is now widely used in Western Australia. Around 2002 they sold the last of their sheep and moved to a continuous cropping program with increased fertiliser and chemical use. They were very good at this system, and it served them well. They really enjoy the challenge of growing good crops. Over …

State And Transition Models For Tussock Grasslands And Woodlands Of The Kimberley: Final Project Report, Anna E. Richards, Brett Abbott, Robert Sudmeyer, Matthew Fletcher, Kath Ryan, Suzanne Prober, Philip Thomas, Pouria Ramzi, Jodie Hayward, Chris Hetherington, Karyn Reeves, Wayne J. Fletcher

Natural resources commissioned reports

The Kimberley region in north-west Western Australia is covered by extensive savanna woodlands and tussock grasslands. Approximately half the region is under pastoral leases predominately used for beef production. The Western Australian (WA) government Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) undertakes lease assessment and inspection to ensure the maintenance of pastoral land condition (maintenance of perennial grass cover that supports livestock grazing and soil condition). This presents several challenges around defining land condition and practices that support and improve long-term ecological sustainability of pastoral lands. The objective of this project was to develop state and transition models (S&TMs) …

Using Landsat Satellite Imagery To Estimate Groundcover In The Grainbelt Of Western Australia, Justin Laycock, Nick Middleton, Karen Holmes

Resource management technical reports

Maintaining vegetative groundcover is an important component of sustainable agricultural systems and plays a critical function for soil and land conservation in Western Australia’s (WA) grainbelt (the south-west cropping region). This report describes how satellite imagery can be used to quantitatively and objectively estimate total vegetative groundcover, both in near real time and historically across large areas. We used the Landsat seasonal fractional groundcover products developed by the Joint Remote Sensing Research Program from the extensive archive of Landsat imagery. These products provide an estimate of the percentage of green vegetation, non-green vegetation and bare soil for each 30 m …

Status Of The Western Australian Pastoral Rangelands 2022: Total Vegetative Cover And Cover Risk, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development

Natural resources published reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development monitors and reports on the vegetation condition of pastoral rangelands in Western Australia. This 2022 short report uses remotely sensed total vegetative cover data available to the end of October 2022, rainfall data to November 2022 and Stock Return data reported in 2021 (the most recent available) to determine cover risk. Cover risk at the land conservation district (LCD) level is an indicator of the likelihood of total cover declining to, or remaining at, Low or Very low levels. Total cover and cover risk may not be indicative of vegetation condition and …

Investigations Of The Potential For Irrigated Agriculture On The Bonaparte Plains: Hydrogeology, Aquifer Properties And Groundwater Chemistry, Don Bennett, Paul Raper, Robert Paul, Tim Pope, Richard J. George Dr

Resource management technical reports

‘Cockatoo Sands’ is a common name for the Cockatoo Sands family of soils (comprising red to yellowish-red sands, sandy earths, and loamy earths) that have formed from quartz sandstone colluviums in relatively isolated patches throughout the East Kimberley region of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Cockatoo Sands are recognised as potentially suitable for irrigated agriculture because they are generally well drained and not subject to waterlogging or inundation. These characteristics allow them to be cultivated and prepared for planting various crops during the wet and dry seasons of northern Australia.

Expanding agricultural production onto the Cockatoo Sands around Kununurra …

Land And Water Resources For Irrigated Agriculture In The Pilbara, Paul Galloway, John A. Simons, Karen Holmes, Dennis Van Gool

Resource management technical reports

This report documents the procedures used to identify suitable locations for irrigation development in the Pilbara region. It is the first study to investigate the potential for irrigated agriculture across the Pilbara. We used a desktop analysis to ascertain water availability and spatial data modelling to determine the potential of the land and soil resource to support irrigated agriculture. This study was part of the Pilbara Hinterland Agricultural Development Initiative (PHADI).

We used existing rangeland land inventory information augmented with digital spatial environmental data, in a process known as map disaggregation, to create soil and landform maps that had a …

Mapping Salt-Affected Land In The South-West Of Western Australia Using Satellite Remote Sensing, P A. Caccetta, John A. Simons, S Furby, Nicholas J. Wright, Richard J. George Dr

Natural resources published reports

Dryland salinity is a pervasive form of land degradation that has resulted from the clearing of about 17 M ha of native vegetation and the introduction of predominately cereal and pasture-based farming systems in the South-West of Western Australia. The change in water balance caused by clearing deep rooted endemic woodlands increased recharge and resulted in rising groundwater levels. After a lag period, the regolith began filling and groundwater approached the soil surface, evaporating and depositing stored salts in the rootzone of salt sensitive crops. Groundwater levels also rise and affect areas of remnant native vegetation, streams, wet-lands and rural …

Ecological Risk Assessment For The State-Wide Small Pelagic Scalefish Resource, S. Blazeski, J. Norriss, K. A. Smith, M. Hourston

Fisheries research reports

In July 2021, the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development convened an ecological risk assessment (ERA) of the fisheries that access the State-wide Small Pelagic Scalefish Resource. The ERA considered the potential ecological impacts of the West Coast Purse Seine Fishery, South Coast Purse Seine Fishery, Purse Seine Development Zones and the recreational fishers who catch small pelagic scalefish. The assessment evaluated the impact of each fishing sector/method on all relevant retained and bycatch species, endangered, threatened and protected species, habitats and the broader environment.

Assessment Of Soil Sampling Equipment For Guiding Fertiliser Decisions, David Weaver, Robert Summers, David Rogers, Peta Richards, David Rowe

Resource management technical reports

A range of methods, technologies and equipment are used to collect representative composite soil samples from paddocks. Once collected, soil samples are analysed for various parameters that provide evidence to guide fertiliser decisions. The sampling methods, technologies and equipment used must result in samples that consistently represent the parameter of interest.

Soil sampling technology and equipment has advanced from manual devices (such as pogo-stick-style foot-thrust core samplers [pogo]) to a variety of mechanised core-thrust samplers and augers that are fitted to vehicles or battery drills. Each device may function differently under different conditions, and each requires differing levels of human …

The Potential Of Remotely Sensed Vegetation Indices For Monitoring Pasture Condition, Pouria Ramzi, Karen Holmes

Resource management technical reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) is developing an integrated monitoring system using remote sensing and on-ground measurements to track pasture condition across Western Australia’s pastoral region. We extended and adapted the methods developed in the Pastoral Lease Assessment Using Geospatial Analysis (PLAGA) project (Robinson et al. 2012), which combined remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) with on-ground pasture condition observations to assess the potential of using different vegetation indices in a statewide condition monitoring system.

There were 6 regions in WA’s pastoral rangelands with DPIRD on-ground condition traverse points: Kimberley and Broome, Pilbara, Yalgoo and Sandstone, Goldfields, …

Rehydrating The Landscape At Yanget, Geraldton, Western Australia, Jamie Bowyer, Rod O'Bree

Natural resources published reports

Rod and Bridie O’Bree’s farm is 25 km east of Geraldton in the Northern Agricultural Region of Western Australia. The long-term rainfall average is 486 mm although that has dropped to 354 mm over the last 30 years. They run a 150 head beef cattle herd, fatten 500-700 lambs annually and have a 40-60 head horse stud on the farm. They purchased the farm early in 2008 after one of the worst droughts in the area. There was little to no vegetation, brown or green, across the farm and all of the water from a 25 mm rain event ran …

Otoliths Of South-Western Australian Fish: A Photographic Catalogue, Chris Dowling, Kim Smith, Elain Lek, Joshua Brown

Fisheries research reports

Due to the species-specific nature of otoliths and given they are often the only part of the fish preserved when fish die, otolith catalogues can be used in numerous applications, such as diet studies in fish eating animals, including pinnipeds, fish and sea birds; archaeological purposes such as reconstructing indigenous people’s diets from otoliths found in middens or evolutionary history of fish species by comparing fossilized otoliths. Given the unique mixture of subtropical and temperate fish, including many endemic species that occur off the southwest corner of WA having a catalogue for this area is extremely important for people working …

The Applicability, Efficacy And Risks Of Natural Sequence Farming In The Dryland Agricultural Zone Of South West Western Australia, Nik Callow, Rose Anne Bell

Natural resources commissioned reports

Natural sequence farming (NSF) is an approach to restoring degraded agricultural land, developed by Peter Andrews on his property Tarwyn Park in New South Wales. The approach aims to rehydrate the landscape by slowing the movement of water with a series of structures and then using this water to drive plant growth and improve soil function.

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development engaged the University of Western Australia to review the applicability, efficacy and risks associated with using NSF principles and practices in the south-west dryland agricultural zone in Western Australia. The review has combined information from the …

A Review Of The Economics Of Regenerative Agriculture In Western Australia, Anne Bennett

All other publications

• There is no published work detailing the economics of regenerative agriculture in Western Australia.
• Of the work completed in other jurisdictions and nations captured in this review, the profitability of regenerative agriculture compared with conventional agriculture was variable, although generally lower.
• The loss of income associated with the transition from conventional agriculture to regenerative agriculture is a significant barrier to adoption, although it is enterprise-sensitive.
• Farmers who are operating regenerative agriculture systems self-report higher levels of wellbeing.
• Conventional agriculture and regenerative agriculture are overlapping approaches.
• The literature presented in this review is mostly based on small samples, case studies or …

Resource Assessment Report Abrolhos Islands And Mid-West Trawl Managed Fishery Resource, Mervi Kangas, A Chandrapavan, Anne Wilkins, E. A. Fisher, S. Evans

WA Marine Stewardship Council report series

This document provides a cumulative description and assessment of the Abrolhos Islands and Mid-West Trawl Managed Fishery (AIMWTMF) and all of the fishing activities (i.e. fisheries / fishing sectors) affecting this resource in Western Australia (WA). This resource comprises of a single species of scallop, Ylistrum balloti which occurs in inshore waters to around 40 m depth at the Abrolhos Islands. This species is captured exclusively by demersal otter trawl gear in the West Coast Bioregion.

Desktop Review Of Groundwater Prospectivity For Irrigation In The Lower De Grey River Area, Don L. Bennett, John A. Simons

Resource management technical reports

The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) has identified priority areas in the Pilbara that warrant further investigation into their capacity for irrigated agriculture and related businesses. The De Grey River area is one of these.

The lower De Grey River area, upstream of the De Grey River Water Reserve, was identified by the Transforming Agriculture in the Pilbara (TAP) project for staged investigations of viability. Progression through these stages, each with increasingly detailed groundwater and soil suitability investigations, is dependent on prospectivity.

This document provides a summary of DPIRD’s initial desktop groundwater evaluation in the lower De …

Water Quality Study Of The Muchea Livestock Truck Wash, Simon Clarendon, David Weaver, Justin L.M Hardy, Claire Coffey, Robert Summers, David Rogers, Peta Richards

Resource management technical reports

Across Australia there is a lack of information on the quality of the water discharged from facilities that are used to wash livestock trucks. This water quality scoping study partially fills that information gap and provides a starting point for future planning, design and construction of livestock truck washes.

The study was undertaken in 2011–12 at the Western Australian Muchea Livestock Centre, and aimed to gain insights into water quality associated with the truck wash facility at that site. These insights can help to inform the planning for further construction of truck wash facilities throughout the state, and whether disposing …

Geology, Soils And Climate Of The Margaret River Wine Region, Peter J. Tille, Angela Stuart-Street, Peter S. Gardiner

All other publications

This report is an extract from the broader description and analysis of the Geology, soils and climate of Western Australia's wine regions. It expands on the brief descriptions in the second edition of 'Viticulture' (Coombe & Dry 2004) concerning the soils and landscapes of Western Australia’s main wine growing regions. We have tailored this report extract to the specific needs of the Margaret River wine region. It contains local soil names and soil-landscape zones and systems maps.

The wine industry recognises the importance of giving customers an understanding of the vines’ environment and how that may influence wine character …