October 2019 August 2022
September 2023 September 2024
Figure 6. One of the gully heads that was treated by reshaping but with minimal soil disturbance— a rock and soil fill, fertiliser( cow manure) and seeded at Site 20. Note the lack of tussocks after the unplanned graze in 2024. This is discussed in the results section.
METHODS
MONITORING METHODS
The monitoring approach was consistent across the 24 sites. Sites were monitored in the dry season during the years of 2022, 2023 and for most sites in 2024. Sites that underwent maintenance in the 2024 dry season were monitored in early 2025 instead of 2024 to capture the effects of the work done.
The monitoring method used follows recommendations in the Gully and Streambank Toolbox( Wilkinson et al., 2022, pp. 71-73). Most of the data was recorded in two applications on the Survey 123 platform: the Land Condition Assessment Tool( LCAT) and the Gully Monitoring
Tool( GMT) developed by Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries( DAF). These tools formed the bulk of each site’ s yearly report. Other observations included the rainfall and grazing history for the past 12 months, maintenance requirements and landholder communications. In addition, drones were used to capture aerial footage before, during and after maintenance activities.
The LCAT( Advanced version) offers insight into a site’ s progress towards attaining a stable soil and resilient, diverse vegetation, and therefore, is used here to address a key objective of this study- to monitor the level of stability of sites; and their progress towards long-term stability. Whilst
12 GULLY MAINTENANCE AND MONITORING TECHNICAL REPORT