Collaboration drives results

At the start of the Landholders Driving Change project, NQ Dry Tropics held four public meetings giving graziers in the catchment the opportunity to give their view on ways to reduce erosion, and improve pasture cover and water quality. Some graziers were then invited onto a Project Panel to have input into the decision making process. This is the first time this approach has been taken and this gives the project more credibility with graziers, as we have representatives contributing to decisions as opposed to bureaucrats doing so arbitrarily from Brisbane or Canberra.  

My involvement on the Project Panel has given me an understanding of how complex this project is and the amount of work being undertaken in the background to design a project proposal. You wouldn’t be aware of that looking on from the outside.

One standout challenge will be getting other landholders involved, such as mining, National Parks, railways and local councils. That’s going to involve a fair bit of diplomacy down the track.

It’s also essential that we get some demonstration sites underway as quickly as possible in order to inform the whole catchment what we’re trying to do and showcase different erosion control projects. No one solution will fit every situation, so a number of sites will enable people to have a look and say righto that would suit my place, or this one’s too expensive, and so forth.

In my opinion, a partnership approach is essential. For a grazier to take these projects on by himself would in many cases be overwhelming. The fact that someone else is sharing the load and willing to be involved is a massive contribution. What’s great is that we already have a nucleus of graziers involved with the project who have embraced a different grazing attitude, and they will be able to offer advice and support to others about practice change.

For some people change is scary but it doesn’t have to be. Some graziers will be reluctant to get involved initially, but that can come later and will be a lot easier with some peer pressure and once we can demonstrate real outcomes. This means good quality monitoring will be important, and I think that the science is in place to do this effectively both at the demonstration sites and beyond into the Reef. That may take a couple of years but hopefully the results will speak for themselves.