Land Condition Assessment Tool training

Early in April, Cape York NRM hosted a training session in Cooktown utilising the Land Condition Assessment Tool (LCAT).

Rob Hassett from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries travelled to the Cape to share his expertise in identifying grasses and accurately monitoring grazing land condition.

The Land Condition Assessment Tool is a rapid science-based method used to score the health of grazing land from A to D, A being the optimal score. It uses information including the dominant pasture species, density of declared weeds, ground cover, and many other factors to calculate a score.

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries extension officers from Rockhampton, the Northern Gulf RMG grazing and rangelands team, and the Department of Environment and Science representatives, joined Cape York NRM staff for the two-day training.

Dan Wingett from Northern Gulf Resource Management Group said that the LCAT tool, with associated reference guides and assessment rules, puts any user in a good position to record technical monitoring data.

"The land condition scoring system's a great addition to the ABCD framework, '' he said. It provides incremental steps to evaluate change throughout the project."

After a day of theory, the group headed out to Beefwood Park in Lakeland to try out the tool and test their skills where the group was joined by property owner Wal (Ken Vale).

Cape York NRM’S Harry and Nat have been busy exercising their new skills in grass identification and land condition assessments, while developing property action plans with landholders through the Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS) program.