When compared with the control site , there was a statistically significant improvement in all vegetation attributes ( cover and biomass ) for the hillslopes , gully channel and gully walls at the Mt Wickham treatment site following the 2020-21 wet season . Statistical analysis showed that for cover and biomass there has been a significant shift for all vegetation sites except gully channel biomass . This suggests that these improvements are greater than what would be expected with natural climate ( rainfall ) variability .
( A ) ( B )
( C ) ( D )
Figure 14 . Mt Wickham hillslope above ( A ) control gully in 2018 and ( B ) the treatment gully in 2018 and ( C ) control gully in April 2021 and ( D ) treatment gully in April 2021 .
Vegetation cover and biomass improved on hillslopes and gully walls in the first year following gully treatment and has continued into the second year . The significance of this result should not be underestimated - prior to treatment 100 % of the ‘ catchment ’ was in ‘ D ’ condition and this moved to 78 % in ‘ C ’ condition in a single season . To compare with the control , only 9 % of the ‘ catchment ’ moved to ‘ C ’ condition ( Table 10 ). The post-wet season results for the treatment site in 2021 showed 17 % of the catchment in ‘ B ’ condition , 62 % in ‘ C ’ condition and only 20 % in ‘ D ’ condition , compared to 92 % in ‘ D ’ condition at the control site .
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