It’s been an eventful month of property visits as part of the Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS) program. The GRASS program offers graziers on-ground extension support to improve land in degraded (C and D) condition and maintain water quality. The program is implemented across the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary catchments, and Cape York is trialing the program to provide additional support for graziers.
During the visits, property action plans were completed for ten grazing properties in eastern Cape York. The properties spanned the Jeannie, Normanby, and Endeavour catchments, and ranged in size from 100 to 75,000 hectares. Landowners worked with Cape York NRM staff to identify areas of their property that are in a degraded condition, and to come up with possible solutions.
Graziers had lots of great ideas for improving their land, including fixing up breakaways, fencing wetlands, sowing productive pasture species, spraying weeds, and creating additional paddocks to spell country and reduce grazing pressure.
Peter and Judy Irwin from Valley View appreciated being involved in the program.
"It was great to work with Nat and Harry to identify areas of the property that we’d like to improve. We’re always looking for ways to manage weeds, reduce erosion and increase our productivity, and hopefully this project will help us work towards making those improvements."
For staff members Nat and Harry, the GRASS program has been a great opportunity to engage with more graziers.
“It’s always a privilege to visit grazing properties across Cape York. We learn so much talking to graziers and seeing how they manage their land. People know and love their land and they often have great ideas for improvements. Our job is to provide whatever support we can to help turn ideas into plans, and plans into action.”
The GRASS program is funded through the Queensland Government Reef Water Quality Program and is delivered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Cape York NRM
