The Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions project provides extension support for improved land management in the Fitzroy region of Queensland

Abstract

The Grazing Resilience and Sustainable Solutions (GRASS) project was developed to assist graziers across the Burdekin, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary River catchments of Australia to comply with Reef Protection Regulations which are a part of the Queensland Reef Water Quality Program (QRWQP). To be compliant, the regulations state that landholders must maintain land with over 50% ground cover at the end of the dry season (30 September) every year. Land in condition ‘C’ or ‘D’ is to be documented and have a plan made to halt the degradation, or improve the land condition (DES 2021). The GRASS project is delivered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (DAF) in partnership with Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups NQ Dry Tropics, Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) and the Burnett Mary Regional Group (BMRG). The overall objective of the GRASS program is to work with individual graziers to develop an Action Plan for Land Management (APLM) documenting the intended management of land in C or D condition to halt or repair degradation, or the continued good management of land in A or B condition. The aim of this paper is to report the key achievements of the DAF grazing extension support activities in the GRASS project including the number of completed APLMs.