This project assisted with establishing a baseline for the assessment of land condition and to monitor the integrated management of weeds, pest animals and fire to manage natural resources and maintain ecosystem resilience. This project developed and established processes for undertaking soils, weeds, fire management, vegetation condition, water management and infrastructure baselines from which to monitor change, with a specific focus on the identification of risk to the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon.

The consultant :

• Worked with Cape York NRM staff to develop structure to receive information from property planning, demonstration sites and baseline monitoring to feed into the ATLAS resource;
• Facilitated meetings with land holders in partnership with Cape York NRM Sustainable Industries officer to outline current best management practices;
• included conservation and environmental values (eg. regional ecosystem, species lists and management as provided by Cape York NRM) to include in property plans.

The project provided several key outcomes, including improving uptake of good natural resource management practices and contributing to planning for climate change adaptation through building the capacity, skills, knowledge and confidence of land managers. Its primary focus however was to identify risks and actions to mitigate these risks for properties whose water’s flow into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon.

The outputs contributed to the Cape York NRM program: Cape York Healthy Country: Improving the quality of water entering the GBR Lagoon