South West NRM Workshops to be held at:

Morven - June 12th Town Hall

Augathella - June 13th Town Hall

Charleville June 14th RSL, Watson Street

Quilpie - June 15th Bulloo Park (Showgrounds)

Thargomindah - June 16th Town Hall

Eulo - June 17th Town Hall

Cunnamulla - June 18th Shire Hall, Supper Room

Bollon - June 19th Tennis Club

-Preparation for Bushfires
-Fire Permits
-History of Fire
-Healthy Waters Management Plan
-Fire in the Rangeland Ecosystem
-Fire and Property Management
-Fuel Dynamics
-Meteorological Conditions

RSVP  - 07 4656 8500

admin@swnrm.org.au

Or contact your local SWNRM office for more information.

This project aspires to create an innovative & holistic natural resource management consortium initially across 7 properties (339,882 ha's) conserving a range of Threatened Ecological Communities (TEC's), whilst cognisant of developing properties under diverse agricultural, cultural heritage & conservation enterprise outcomes. TEC areas mapped under the Federal Government's TEC program, form a catalyst for on-ground projects, creating nodes of biodiversity, linking TEC's through corridors where vegetative communities allow. The project aspires to protect & strategically manage 17,500 ha's of TEC over 6 years costing of $109.00 / ha (inclusive of GST), promoting project outcomes through case study development & promotion.

The Biodiversity Fund is a key component of the Gillard Government’s strategy to enhance biodiverse carbon stores and secure a clean energy future for Australia.

Announcing the first round of Biodiversity Fund grants, Minister for the Environment, Tony Burke and Minister for Climate Change, Greg Combet said the 317 projects would help to revegetate, rehabilitate and restore around 18 million hectares of the Australian landscape over the next six years.

Collectively these projects have real potential to advance the reversal of biodiversity decline and establish significant areas of carbon storage. They are an important first step in connecting our landscapes and making them more resilient to climate change.

Minister Burke said the Biodiversity Fund would provide much needed long-term commitment to biodiversity conservation and restoration with almost half the projects announced today running over a six year period.

“Providing long-term support to land managers leads to enduring results for our environment and for the community,” Mr Burke said.

“Across Australia, farmers and other land managers already do a great job through Landcare work and the Biodiversity Fund will build on this work.

“A number of projects announced in this first round also align with the intent of the draft National Wildlife Corridors Plan helping to improve connectivity in the landscape through the establishment of landscape scale wildlife corridors.

“This program has received overwhelming support from land managers right across the country with the Biodiversity Fund encouraging an additional $207 million in in-kind or financial contributions.”

In Queensland the Biodiversity Fund will support a project to restore the Condamine catchment landscape in collaboration with the local community.

In South Australia, the Fund will provide $2.6 million to rehabilitate South Australia’s remnant coastal corridor, the Samphire Coast, over the next six years.

The Fund will also support a project to protect Victoria’s iconic River Red Gums and restore native vegetation along the Hopkins River.

Minister Combet said just over a third of the Biodiversity Fund projects indicated that they may go on to participate in the Carbon Farming Initiative.

“These policies will help to protect biodiversity on the land, boost carbon storage opportunities and improve the resilience of unique species against the impacts of climate change,” Mr Combet said.

“The Biodiversity Fund is an important part of the Government’s Clean Energy Future plan and is supported by revenue from the carbon price. It focuses directly on taking action on-ground to maintain the productive capacity of our landscape and natural ecosystem.”

For more information about Biodiversity Fund, and for a list of successful projects, go to http://www.environment.gov.au/cleanenergyfuture/biodiversity-fund/index.html

The main theme is making the most of good seasons by: increasing stock numbers in some paddocks; spelling other paddocks to improve condition; being ready for the inevitable drought de-stocking.

Please feel free to circulate this link around to your contacts, especially those with Mitchell grass country. We are trying to make our information available to as many graziers as possible and overcome the issue of not everyone being able to get along to every field day or workshop that is held. Having the information summarised on YouTube should make it more accessible to a wider audience.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DesertChannels

For more information contact

Dr David Phelps
P.O. Box 519, Longreach Qld 4730
Telephone 07 46501244

Mob 0427270259
Email david.phelps@deedi.qld.gov.au

NSW Government submission on the
proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan
Community information
INTRODUCTION
The NSW Government recognises the importance of creating a sustainable working Murray Darling Basin. This is demonstrated through our ongoing commitment to the 2004 National Water Initiative, and the 2008 Intergovernmental Agreement
NSW has been a leader in water reform over the past 25 years, working with communities, industry and environmental groups to ensure that businesses and communities are able to successfully adapt to change.
The Murray Darling Basin Authority released its proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan (the draft Plan) for public comment on 28 November 2011. The NSW Government Submission on the Murray Darling Basin Plan (the NSW Submission) provides comment to assist the MDBA in developing a final Basin Plan that will achieve optimal outcomes for the environment and NSW communities.
The NSW Submission also highlights the need to develop parallel processes with Commonwealth agencies to address essential NSW concerns regarding the implementation of the Basin Plan, including agreement on Commonwealth funding for State implementation costs and structural adjustment for affected communities.

Not only is the management of the lakes complex in its own right, but it is also part of the equally complex water sharing arrangements of the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.
Everyone who has ever heard of the Menindee Lakes seems to have an opinion as to how the lakes should be managed and typically, the opinions expressed reflect particular interests and perspectives.
The purpose of this paper is to give a brief overview of the Menindee Lakes, how they are currently managed, and how management and operations need to consider a complexity of issues.
Importantly, the paper outlines the reasons the NSW Government does not support the changed operations of the lakes proposed by the Commonwealth Government, that was recently the subject of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commonwealth and NSW Governments.
The Menindee Lakes storage scheme
The Menindee Lakes storage is a series of nine natural lakes, part of the Travellers Lake System adjacent to the Darling River in far-west NSW.
In the early 1950s and 1960s, the NSW Government constructed the Menindee Lakes water storage scheme by connecting the natural lakes and Darling River by a series of weirs, regulators, inter-connecting channels and levees.
When full, the storage scheme has a surface area of 453 square kilometres and stores 1,731,000 megalitres at full supply level.
It is also one of only two storage systems in inland NSW that can be surcharged during floods, although levels must be reduced to full supply level as soon as possible after the peak of the flood has passed.
The initial purpose of the storage scheme was to secure water supply for Broken Hill and to foster economic development in far-west NSW through irrigation. The lakes have subsequently been used to supply water to Victoria and South Australia under the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement.
The Menindee Lakes scheme is owned and maintained by the NSW Government.
Each year the Murray-Darling Basin Authority pays NSW $320,000 and three-quarters of the costs of operations and maintenance.