Mt Pleasant
landholder Garlone
Moulin, second
left, with JCU
researchers Rishab
Pillai, Natasha Ryan
& Eric Nordberg.
LEARNING HUB
TO TRIAL
NEW APPROACHES
BIODIVERSITY, PRODUCTIVITY, PROFITABILITY…
CAN THEY BE MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL?
The Hub is trialling how regenerative
agriculture practices can restore
landscape function in a production
grazing landscape.
The design is based on natural
sequence farming principles and
was designed and supervised by the
Mulloon Institute. On-ground works
consisted of log and rock weirs,
earth weirs and a bywash placed at
critical points in the project gully to
encourage water to flow out onto the
small floodplain a eas, restoring the
historical landscape function.
The structures are ‘leaky’, aimed
at filling the gully catchment so
that the landscape rehydrates. This
intervention will be complemented
by landscape management practices,
including sustainable grazing
practices.
The project has an education
‘learning hub’ component aimed
at building capacity and improving
4
community engagement. It’s being
driven by Mt Pleasant owners Jamie
Gordon and Garlone Moulin.
“This is the exciting part of the
project because it is sharing
and engaging with the project’s
community of interest which stretches
well beyond those of us directly
involved in the project,” Ms Moulin
said.
“It includes the broader rural
community, research and education
institutions, government agencies
and whoever else wants to come and
observe and study the project and
results.”
James Cook University is conducting
biodiversity surveys to determine
if the designed works can improve
water quality and increase
biodiversity values at the project site.
This information will also help decide
how best to manage biodiversity in a
grazing system.