GROUND COVER
WETLAND EXTENT
GROUND COVER
2050 Burdekin region water quality target :
90 per cent of grazing lands to have greater than 70 per cent ground cover in the late dry season .
The region recorded good overall ground cover with 88 per cent of grazing lands having adequate ground cover in the late dry season in 2022 , compared to 71 per cent in 2021 and 56 per cent in 2020 . This result was largely due to the higher than long-term average rainfall in the Burdekin region in 2021 and 2022 .
The coastal catchments of Black , Don , Haughton , and Ross met the ground cover target for 2022 , while the Burdekin catchment fell just short with 87 per cent of grazing lands having adequate ground cover .
WETLAND EXTENT
2025 catchment management target :
No loss of the extent of natural wetlands ( lakes , swamps and estuarine wetlands ).
The rate of loss of natural wetlands is slowing with a minimal loss ( 19 hectares , less than 0.05 per cent ) between 2017 and 2019 . These losses were predominantly within the Burdekin and Haughton catchments .
No loss was reported in the Ross catchment . Since 2017 , the reporting period has been shortened to two years from the previous four years .