Diverting the water from the gully heads was considered the primary treatment for the site with cattle exclusion not considered necessary , if good ground cover was maintained through planned grazing practices .
Much of the sub-catchment ( within the existing paddock boundary ) above the constructed bank was ripped and re-seeded to increase infiltration and increase plant diversity .
A nominal 35ha project area surrounding the gully was used for monitoring the site . The project area was contained within a 1200ha paddock with managed grazing practices and this paddock was sub-divided to a 340ha paddock in early 2021 .
Figure 29 : Drone generated image of the project area ( left ) Sep 2017 and one of the active head cuts ( right ) Nov 2017
It was planned to construct a rock apron , with geofabric and rock , to stabilise the secondary head cut and to also construct a number of grade control structures below the secondary incision to assist in stabilisation of the gully floors , and to reduce active erosion of gully walls .
However , Tom Murphy constructed a stock dam below the secondary head cut , after the first wet season , taking advantage of the major reduction of flow through the gully following construction of the diversion bank .
Unfortunately , this flooded one of the DAF monitoring sites .
Following the change of property ownership and before the head cut could be remediated , the new manager used a dozer to level the secondary head cut and also a long section of a gully from his own initiative .
This also removed the control and head cut 1 gully heads and associated monitoring photopoints . 67