Stability and grazing land management
The level of control over grazing at gully sites is an important factor affecting the success of remediation efforts( Wilkinson et al., 2022, p22; Day & Shepherd, 2019, p. 20). Trends between the stability achieved at small-scale sites and the landholders’ level of management towards improving land condition at the site was investigated. This is expressed as the level of‘ Focus on land condition’ with three categories: High, moderate and low focus. An example of‘ high focus on improving land condition’ is excluding cattle for the first year, then giving the gully area a short graze( e. g. one day) when the soil is firm but plants are still growing,( to stimulate plant growth root and shoot), and adapting management to promote the establishment of a diverse suite of plants. On the other hand, an example of‘ low focus on land condition’ is grazing the gully area with the rest of the paddock with no scheduled wet season rest. Most landholders’ management of the sites was classed as: Moderate focus on land condition which tended to involve a rest in the wet season and 2-5 months of grazing in the dry season with the rest of the paddock.
10 10
8 8
Number of sites |
6
4
|
Number of sites |
6
4
|
|
2 |
|
2 |
0 |
Stable |
Mostly stable |
Partly stable |
Active / unstable |
0 |
Stable |
Mostly stable |
Partly stable |
Active / unstable |
|
High focus on land condition |
|
Moderate focus |
Low focus |
|
High focus on land condition |
|
Moderate focus |
Low focus |
Figure 27. The level of stability achieved at treated catchments of small-scale gully sites verses the landholder’ s focus on improving land condition( 2019 / 20-2024).
Figure 28. The level of stability achieved at treated gullies of small-scale gully sites verses the landholder’ s focus on improving land condition( 2019 / 20-2024).
36 GULLY MAINTENANCE AND MONITORING TECHNICAL REPORT