LDC helps communities to tackle landscape problems
Empowering communities in the Bowen and Collinsville region to manage healthy and productive landscapes has been a cornerstone of the Landholders Driving Change ( LDC ) project .
A grassroots design developed by locals , for local needs , provides the overarching framework and has been supported by a community-led cogovernance model .
From the outset , landholders identified weed management as a barrier and challenge to improving land condition on their properties .
In the LDC landholder baseline survey , 47 per cent of landholders identified weeds as a barrier to improving land condition . One year later in June 2019 , this increased to 67 per cent .
LDC submitted an application to Meat and Livestock Australia ( MLA ) in November 2019 to form an integrated catchment priority weed management cluster group .
This was approved and the group started a three-year project through the LDC ’ s BBB Grazier Support activity area .
LDC hosted nationally-accredited weed training workshops to :
• increase awareness of biosecurity and build capacity in the BBB catchment to effectively manage weeds ;
• learn how to clean and inspect vehicles and machinery for plant materials ;
• understand government legislation and requirements ; and
• increase awareness of biosecurity threats and impacts on businesses .
Land managers , non-grazing land managers , local contractors and council representatives attended the workshops .
The Queensland Government funded the first phase of the LDC project , 2017-2021 .
The vision of the Sustainable Agriculture Program is resilient landscapes and productive enterprises , agricultural producers maximising outputs while minimising environmental impacts .
The Sustainable Agriculture Program aims to support and empower producers in the use of best management practices for natural resource management within the agricultural industries of the Burdekin Dry Tropics NRM Region .
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Participants at an MLA weeds management field day at Sonoma Station .
LDC . NQDRYTROPICS . COM . AU
INFO @ LDC . NQDRYTROPICS . COM . AU PH : ( 07 ) 4799 3500
FX : ( 07 ) 4799 3593 12 WILLS STREET , TOWNSVILLE 4810
Landholders Driving Change is a Burdekin Major Integrated Project funded by the Queensland Government through the
Queensland Reef Water Quality Program .