Burdekin farmers improving local wetlands to help the reef

A new $300,000 project in the Burdekin will see cane farmers improving the health of local wetlands to help the Great Barrier Reef.

Minister for the Great Barrier Reef Steven Miles said the Connecting cane farmers to local wetlands project would be run by NQ Dry Tropics NRM and its partners.

“The project will trial ways to improve the function of Horseshoe Lagoon near Giru and Lilliesmere Lagoon near Ayr, through changes to on-farm practices, with the aim of reducing nutrients entering local waterways,” Mr Miles said.

“Wetlands are a crucial part of our landscape carrying out many functions, from reducing floods to producing clean water and providing important habitat for many animals and plants.

“They are the great ‘connectors’ across our landscape providing places for our enjoyment and relaxation.

“By improving practices and the health of the wetlands, this project will show that practice change can lead to increased productivity, profit and environmental benefits while developing an engagement model for future projects.”

Mr Miles said the Queensland Government was pleased to fund the project.

“We deliberately look for projects that can meet those three objectives because we strongly believe that productive farming can co-exist alongside the healthy reef”.

NQ Dry Tropics NRM CEO, Dr Scott Crawford, said that healthy wetlands were essential for a healthy Reef:

"Research and modelling has shown that water quality on the reef can be improved by restoring the function of coastal wetlands to trap sediment, nutrients and other land-based pollutants,” Dr Crawford said.

“NQ Dry Tropics will work closely with cane farmers to develop baseline information and monitor environmental and social changes over time.

‘We believe this will result in an engagement and water quality monitoring model that could be adopted for other projects in other locations.

“Cane farmers can get involved with the project on a voluntary basis and they will benefit greatly from being able to see the positive water quality impacts of their activities in real time," he said.

Mr Miles said the project was part of a funding pool of $1.22 million dedicated to help the Great Barrier Reef through four science projects.

The other projects are similarly focussed, and look to help manage sediment and nutrient losses in priority reef catchment areas of the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Mackay Whitsundays.

“The projects selected came ahead of 35 others and were selected due to their location in priority catchments, among other factors.

“The Burdekin project will fill a need for more one-on-one work with cane farmers in the area and help manage nutrient losses in that region, a priority reef catchment.”

Mr Miles said the tenders were a part of the continued investment in research, development and innovation projects by the Office of Great Barrier Reef.

“We continue to support innovative projects that foster improvements in management practice to provide on-ground success and improve reef water quality and will be announcing more projects of this nature in the near future”.

More information is available on www.qld.gov.au/FarmingInReefCatchments.

ENDS

Media contact: Katharine Wright 0422 580 342