Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Images 2.1 : An Integrated Model Of An Arid Grazing System, Z G. Yan, K M. Wang

Resource management technical reports

The name IMAGES stands for An Integrated Model of an Arid Grazing Ecological System. The model was initiated by Dr R. Hacker in 1987-8 as an activity to (1) evaluate alternative management strategies and (2) identify key ecological processes and research priorities in shrub rangelands of Western Australia. Version 1 of the model was published in Agriculture Systems in 1991 (Hacker et al. 1991) and here after will be referred to as IMAGES 1. IMAGES 1 is a vegetation model, capable of predicting the prob ility of recruitment and mortality of the desirable species in a given vegetation type under …

Increasing Plant Water Use To Reduce Salinity : Proceedings Of A Seminar Held At The Esperance Civic Centre 31 July 1996, R J. Short, Greening Western Australia, Soil And Water Conservation Association Of Australia. Western Australian Branch

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Environmental Water Quality - A Guide To Sampling And Measurement, Richard J. George, Davie Weaver, James Terry

Agriculture reports

The guide covers the problems associated with sampling water in the field and suggestions to overcome them. The main types of water pollution that potentially occur in the south west of Western Australia are discussed and for each contaminant, the origins and environmental effects are briefly described and where available, water quality guidelines are provided for major water uses. This is followed by specific requirements of the collection, storage and analysis of samples. The guide also includes further reading and details on suppliers, analytical costs and web resources.

Data Dictionary, Coastal Land And Groundwater For Horticulture From Gingin To Augusta, Werner Runge, Dennis Van Gool

Agriculture reports

This report summaries the primary digital data which was used to analyse the land and groundwater resources along the coastal strip between the shires of Gingin adn Augusta - Margaret River.

Salinity Action Plan, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In November, the Premier of Western Australia, Richard Court, released his governments strategy to tackle one of the State's most serious environmental problems - salinity. This article provides a summary of the action plan, full details are available in a two volum set 'Salinity - a situation statement for Western Australia' and 'Western australian salinity action plan'.

Copies of the reports are available from Publication Section, Agriculture Western Australia, 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth 6151. Phone (09) 368 3729

Soils Of The Mantinea Loop Ord River Valley East Kimberley Western Australia, N Schoknecht, C Grose

Resource management technical reports

A brief assessment of the soils of 1,186 hectares in the Mantinea Loop, and their suitability for irrigated agriculture, was conducted in June 1994. Four map units based on soil, landform and vegetation were identified. The soils are mainly calcareous brown fine sandy loams. The landform is an alluvial plain, with numerous small depressions and channels caused by the meandering and flooding of the Ord River.

Soils Of The Mount Beaumont Area, G G. Scholz, Henry Smolinski

Land resources series

Mount Beaumont Mount Beaumont is approximately 100 km north-east of Esperance in the south-east of Western Australia. In 1982 an area of 35,000 ha of virgin Crown Land was released for agriculture (identified as Mount Beaumont Stage I) and later it was proposed to release a further 33,600 ha (Mount Beaumont Stage II). Following development of the first stage, doubts arose about the suitability of the soils for agriculture, so the Department of Agriculture (now Agriculture Western Australia) surveyed the soils of the Mount Beaumont Stage II area before further land release. The survey indicated severe limitations to production and …

Soils Of The Ivanhoe West Bank East Kimberley Western Australia, C Grose, N Schoknecht

Resource management technical reports

A brief assessment of the soils of 2,064 ha of land on the Ivanhoe West Bank and their suitability for irrigated agriculture was conducted in May-June 1994. Sandy or loamy soils occur on broad levees adjacent to the Ord River, and areas of 'black soil' and 'red soil' plains occur behind these levees. Some areas of the red soil plain and levees are deeply dissected, and occasional active erosion is evident.

An Assessment Of Airborne Electromagnetics For Hydrogeological Interpretation In The Wheatbelt, Western Australia, Peter De Broekert

Resource management technical reports

No abstract provided.

Soils Of The Weaber Plain, East Kimberley, Western Australia, J C. Dixon

Resource management technical reports

The Weaber Plain, north-east of Kununurra, is one of three "black soil" plains in the Kimberley area of Western Australia. It comprises about 15,000 hectares of irrigable land, part of which is known as Stage 2 of the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA). The area was surveyed in 1977 following a similar survey of the nearby Keep River Plain and preceding a survey of the Ivanhoe Plain, which has since been developed commercially. Map units and soil series used in those reports have also been used for this rep ility in crop selection, preferring high water use crops.

Land Capability Assessment For The Wellington-Blackwood Survey, Peter J. Tille

Resource management technical reports

This report has been produced to provide more detail on the land capability assessments presented in the Wellington-Blackwood Land Resources Survey (Tille 1996). In that report, the land capability of each of the soil-landscape subsystems has been summarised with a brief description. Capability ratings are provided here for each of the map units (including subsystem phases) which appear on the two map sheets (Tille et al. 1996) accompanying the Wellington-Blackwood Land Resources Survey.

Soil Information Sheets For The Mount Beaumont, Mallee And Esperance Agricultural Areas, Department Of Agriculture And Food, Landcare Western Australia, Esperance Land Conservation District Committee, Mount Beaumont / Howick Catchment Group (W.A.)

Agriculture reports

Each sheet summarises information on the soil's characteristic properties, and associated land use suitability and management. A photograph of a representative profile is provided for each soil. Technical terms are defined in soil sheet glossary. Information is presented under the following headings: soil series and groups, occurence, native vegetation, soil profile description, characteristic soil properties, soil classification and agricultural land use and management.

Soil Information Sheets For Part Of The Jerramungup Agricultural Area, Tim D. Overheu, Landcare Western Australia, Jerramungup Land Conservation District Committee

Agriculture reports

Each sheet summarises information on the soil's characteristic properties, and associated land use suitability and management. A photograph of a representative profile is provided for each soil. Technical terms are defined in soil sheet glossary. Information is presented under the following headings: soil series and groups, occurence, native vegetation, soil profile description, characteristic soil properties, soil classification and agricultural land use and management.

Degradation Of Remnant Vegetation, Richard George, Don Mcfarlane, Russell Speed

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Remnant vegetation, wetlands and riverine systems on both private and public land throughout south-western Australia are being rapidly degraded by dryland salinity, inundation, silting, nutrient enrichment and weed invasion. Richard George, Don McFarlane and Russel Speed outline some of the reasons why this is happening and provide some case studies that highlight actions to protect these remnants.

Rex ' 96 : An Expert Guide To Revegetation, David Bicknell

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Agriculture Western Australia has provided coordination and technical input to a powerful source of information on plants for Australian conditions. David Bicknell outlines some of its features and uses.

Farmers, local government, advisers and even gardeners often have trouble finding the right plant for the right place for a given purpose. Rather than spend a lot of time, money and effort looking through scattered sources of information, many people stick with a limited number of species year after year. This neglects plants that may be much better suited to the purpose, and also fails to develop Australia's huge range of …

Improving Dairy Farm Performance, Ruth Dilley

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Austraian sairy farmers produce more milk per cow and per farm than their eastern Sttates counterparts and the milk is also of higher quality. But there is always room for improvement and as grain prices rise it is crucial that maximum benefit is derived from the cheapest feed source - the pasture.With this in mind Ruth Dilley looks at the Dairy Farm Performance Program - a comprihensive farm database developed by Agriculture Western Australia.

Something Fishy Is Going On - Aquaculture, David Berry

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Aquaculture id Australia's fastest growing primary industry. Product from fish farms is currently valued at $399 million, forecast to exceed $5oo million by 2000.

Whilst the figure pales into insignificance alongside world production (about $45 billion) it does represent a huge window of opportunity for prospective investors and for Australian primary producers who are keen to diversify.

David Berry reports on the prospects for yabbie and marron farming in Western Australia.

Ribbons Of Blue, Martin Revell, Thelma Crook

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Ribbons of Blue is a water quality awareness program that involves schools and community groups in monitering local water bodies.

The concept originated in the Environmental Policy Planning section of the Office of Premier and Cabinet, in 1989. Martin Revell and Thelma cook outline the scope of the program and highlight some major achievements.

Weeds : A Curse For Native Plants In Farm Woodlands, Max Abensperg-Traun

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Weeds have a mJOR IMPct on native Australian plants, particularly in the tropical north and the agricultural regions of southern Australia.

Maz Abensperg-Traun, and his clooeagues from the CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, explainthe effects of weed invasion on the diversity of native herbaceous plants in faarm woodlands in the centeral wheatbelt of south-west Western Australia.

Wellington-Blackwood Land Resources Survey, Peter J. Tille, Georgina Wilson, National Landcare Program (Australia)

Land resources series

This report presents descriptions to accompany land resource maps of the Wellington- Blackwood district, east of Bunbury in the south-west of Western Australia. The maps cover an area of about 760,000 hectares and are presented as two map sheets at a scale of 1:100,000. Four different physiographic zones cover the survey area: • The Western Darling Range Zone occupies the major portion of the area and consists of a deeply dissected lateritic plateau overlying crystalline rocks. Three soil-landscape systems containing 24 subsystems have been identified and mapped within this zone. • The Eastern Darling Range Zone is in the south-east …

Land Use Planning For Agriculture And Sustainable Rural Development, Ian Kininmonth, Andrew Bathgate, Ross George, Dennis Van Gool

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

An important goel for agriculture will be to achieve sustainable land use patterns and management systems.

Land use planning has a role to play in helping agticulture achieve this goal. Ian Kininmouth, Andrew Bathgate, Ross George and Dennis Van Gool discuss the directions land use planning could follow.

Geraldton Region Land Resources Survey, L Gary Rogers, National Landcare Program (Australia)

Land resources series

This report presents results from soil and landform mapping at a scale of 1:250,000 for approximately 2.1 million hectares of the wheat-sheep belt of Western Australia. The study area corresponds with the Geraldton advisory district for Agriculture Western Australia and is the northern extent of the wheatbelt. The area covers parts of three major geological regions of Western Australia: the Perth Basin, Carnarvon Basin and the Yilgarn Craton. Fifty-one soil-landscape systems have been identified, some of which have been divided into subsystems, and are illustrated on the accompanying maps. The landform, parent material, rainfall, land use, native vegetation and soils …

Soils Of The Knox Creek Plain East Kimberley Western Australia And Northern Territory, C Grose, Noel Schoknecht

Resource management technical reports

An assessment of the soils and landforms of approximately 12,000 ha in the Knox Creek Plain in Western Australia and the Northern Territory was conducted in May and June 1994. Seventeen map units were identified and their soils, landform and vegetation characteristics were described. Grey or brown cracking clays predominate on the plain, however variable red or brown soils on the coarser alluvium of remnant levees are common in the south and south-east.

Abandon The Paddock : A Valid Method Of Rehabilitation?, Max Abensperg-Traun

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The scale of the revegetayion needed to combat land and habitat degradation can only be achieved over a long period of time. An alternative to revegitation is to abandon parts oof the farm for passive regeneration. Max Abensperg-Traun, and his colleagues from CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, report on some outomes from such a strategy.

No-Till Sowing : Helping To Keep Cropland Soils In Place, Kevin Bligh, Paul Findlater

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Repeated erosion of tilled land can ;ower crop and pasture yields because of reduced available moisture and nutrient storage. Kevin Bligh and Paul Findlater look at the causes of water and wind erosion and the role of no-till sowing in minimising erosion.