Landscape Resilience—Improving Coastal Wetland Ecosystems Through Improved Understanding of Best Irrigation Management Practice in the Lower Burdekin

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BBIFMAC

Cane farming

On-ground work, Monitoring, Planning, Education extension

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Queensland Regional Natural Resource Management Investment Program

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June 2016

July 2017

The NQ Dry Tropics 'Landscape Resilience' project is working towards improving the health and function of Horseshoe Lagoon; a priority wetland on the Haughton River floodplain. With our project partners, Burdekin Bowen Integrated Floodplain Management Advisory Committee Inc.  (BBIFMAC), we are engaging adjacent cane growers to monitor their on-farm water balance to increase their knowledge of water use and quality, expand their capacity for change, and foster stewardship towards the wetland. This project will also engage the multiple stakeholders that influence the condition and values of the site to improve their knowledge and understanding of wetland functions and create linkages between individual practices and impacts on the lagoon, and the downstream effects flowing to the Great Barrier Reef.

This project aims to help to improve the condition and function of Horseshoe Lagoon—a high priority wetland in the Burdekin River Irrigation Area (BRIA) on the Haughton Floodplain, by:

• Supporting four adjacent cane farmers through on-farm extension activities to increase their understanding of the impact individual farm practices have on Horseshoe Lagoon, inspiring them to make irrigation and nutrient practice change, and to help them to foster a sense of stewardship over the lagoon.
• Engaging with multiple stakeholders that influence the condition and values of the wetland (cane farmers, SunWater, Burdekin Shire Council, QPWS and community groups) to improve their knowledge and understanding of wetland functions and create linkages between individual practices, impacts on the wetland, and downstream effects flowing to the GBR.
• Establishing and monitoring the ecological condition of Horseshoe Lagoon to determine biophysical changes over time.

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