Collection of the Photos
COLLECTION OF THE PHOTOS
The intent of this guide was to provide a visual aid in the assessment of ABCD land condition classes in the Burdekin Dry Tropics rangelands . This was done by capturing photos and data across the region , to act as standards for ABCD land condition assessments .
Photo standards were collected for 15 major land types found in the rangelands of the Burdekin Dry Tropics . For each land type , a range of photos were taken to represent conditions that might be encountered on a pastoral property - whether grazed or ungrazed , weedy or non-weedy , or containing annual or perennial pastures .
The land condition photo standards were collected during the latter months of the northern Australian dry season ( July-November ) over the period 2006 to 2008 . Over 600 sites on 25 pastoral properties were evaluated for suitability and over 50 landholders were directly consulted in the process of collecting the ABCD photographs . A final tally of 126 photo standard sites was assessed , of which 60 appear in this guide .
A standardised site set-up was designed to give a consistent look to the photos and to highlight conditions at the time when land is most susceptible to runoff and erosion - just before the onset of the wet season . In a few instances , the photos show ' green-up ' due to early rain . Each photograph captures an average ' site ' of about 0.25 ha ( 50m x 50m ).
For each rating ( A , B , C or D ), on each land type , a single photo was selected as a standard . The standard was selected as the ' best fit ' to communicate the land condition rating at the time the assessment was conducted . As in all assessments of this type , no single photograph can capture the range of land condition alternatives possible . However , in some instances a standard depicted of one land type may be transferable to another .
12