Schools Property Planning Competition 2015

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Field Day Notes

Tarriaro Reserve

Narrabri

17th March 2015

Name:

School:

Group:

www.lls.nsw.gov.au

Aims for field day

At the end of today you should have:

become familiar with the host property

learnt more from instructors about Agricultural Production, Riparian and Biodiversity

accessed expertise that helped you to understand aspects of the property planning process

Workstations

Your school group will move around three work stations.

Your teacher will be given your group letter, please record your group letter in the space above.

Please keep to time. When you finish a workstation (even if a bit early) move promptly to your next site.

Sessions Time Site 1Ag-Production

Site 2Riparian

Site 3Biodiversity

Session 1 9:20am - 10:35am Group A Group B Group C

Session 2 10:35am - 11:35am

Group C Group A Group B

Go to next site for morning tea

11:35am - 11:50am

Group B Group C Group A

Session 3 11:50 - 12:50pm Group B Group C Group A

Lunch 1pm - 1:30pm

Finish 2pm

You should use the information from today to determine how best to manage this property and include this in your property plan and report.

You will hear a lot of information today but to keep it simple: Concentrate on looking for any problems that will affect how you may manage this property.

Published by the Local Land Services

Schools Property Planning Competition 2015

First published May 2023

This document has been prepared by North West Local Land Services staff for the purposes of the 2015 Schools Property Planning Competition. Information included in this manual may be fictitious to be used only as part of the competition.

www.lls.nsw.gov.au

© State of New South Wales through Local Land Services, 2023.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this publication is based on knowledge and understanding at the time of writing May 2023. However, because of advances in knowledge, users are reminded of the need to ensure that information upon which they rely is up to date and to check currency of the information with the appropriate officer of Local Land Services or the user’s independent adviser.

Local Land Services May 2023

Site 1: Agricultural ProductionToday we will look at a soil pit and conduct a few simple tests. This will help you to get an understanding of how good or poor the soil is and how to manage it.

We are also going to learn how to measure groundcover. That is, how much of the soil is covered by living and dead plants or rocks and how much is bare ground. This is important as too much bare ground can cause problems such as wind and water erosion and can lead to poor utilisation of soil and soil msoiture.

The next step will be to have a look at what may be the best way to manage this land.

Table 1: Soil Test Results

Test Result or comments Interpretation

Depth of:

Do we have enough soil?

A Horizon: cm

Yes / No

B Horizon: cm

Yes / No

C Horizon: cm

Yes / No:

-A horizon: the topsoil.

-B horizon: the subsoil.

-C Horizon: Parent soil material/ weathered rock.

Soil colour:

Is this a good soil colour?

A Horizon.

Colour:

Yes / No

B Horizon.

Colour:

Yes / No

Dark colours: near surface indicates high organic matter (OM) therefore more fertile.

Reds & oranges: good drainage and low leaching. Generally fertile.

Dull yellow & mottles: Seasonal water logging.

Pale colours and whites: Low OM & poor fertility. Water logging.

Texture

- Ribbon test

Is this soil texture good or poor?

A Horizon.

Texture class:

B Horizon.

Texture class:

The proportions of sand, silt and clay particles in the soil determine soil texture. For example: medium clay or sandy loam. Generally, the more clay the soil has the more fertile it is.

-pH

Is this soil acid or neutral or alkaline?

A Horizon:

B Horizon:

Soil pH is a measure of soil acidity or alkalinity. The pH of a soil can affect plant growth significantly.

Local Land Services May 2023

Rooting depth

Can the plant roots get into the soil?

Are there many roots visible?

Root depth: cm

Yes / No

Yes / No

This is a measure of how far down roots can penetrate into the soil. The deeper the roots can penetrate into the soil the more water and nutrients the plants can have access to.

1. After looking at the soil pit results did you find any problems with this soil?

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

2. Do you think this is a good soil or a poor soil?

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

Pastures and Ground Cover

By using the quadrant provided, assess the productivity and sustainability of the pasture. Table 3 will help you with filling out your results and the field guide on the following page will show you how to assess your results.

Table 2: Quadrat results

Indicators Quadrat 1 Quadrat 2 Quadrat 3

Groundcover

Litter

Soil Surface

Sward Height

Proportion of green

Production of productive speciesPropertion of legumeSuitablity for animal production

Results (see field guide)

Local Land Services May 2023

Table 3: Indicators of pasture production and sustainability (Meat and Livestock Australia)

Sward Height 0-10cm 10-20cm > 20cm

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3. Is the productivity and sustainability of the pasture low, medium or high? ______________________________

Optional:

3a. Use North West LLS’s Groundcover app to calculate the percentage groundcover at this site. What was your result?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the optimal groundcover percentage for pastures? _________________________________________

Land use and Production

Local Land Services May 2023

5. What is the land capability class of this area? ____________________________________________________

6. What are the limitations for this area? i.e. weeds, low productivity, limited livestock shelter, limited winter feed, flood risk.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

7. List management strategies that could be implemented to improve the land capability in terms of production, ground cover and species diversity. i.e. rotational grazing, resting pastures, supplementary feeding etc.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Do your answers above align with the land managers conditions? Does your proposed plan for this area: (Circle your answer)

Increase productivity of the livestock enterprise? Yes / No

How?______________________________________________________________________________________

Provide alternate water supplies for livestock production? Yes / No

How?______________________________________________________________________________________

Site 2: Riparian

Local Land Services May 2023

1. Name the River at Tarriaro Reserve ______________________________________________________

2. Name the Catchment ____________________________________________________________

3. Name the Basin ____________________________________________________________

4. List some of the reasons why rivers and creeks are important to us

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Why is water quality important?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

There are many ways to evaluate riverine condition. Today we will evaluate two measures of water Quality and the Structural condition of the river zone.

Salinity: Salinity is a measure of the amount of salts in a substance.

6. What are the natural and manmade factors that might influence the salinity of a water body?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Are any of those factors operational at this site?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Is there any physical evidence of salinity issues at this site?

Local Land Services May 2023

____________________________________________________________________________________________

9. What was the result of your test?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Turbidity: Turbidity measures light penetration through water, how turbid water is determines its clarity.

10. What substances affect water clarity?

____________________________________________________________________________________________

11. What is the source of these substances?

Substance Source

_____________________________ ________________________________

12. Why is water clarity important for biological processes in the river ecosystem?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

13. What was your result? ___________________ NTU

14. Use the Habitat Survey Field Guide to evaluate the condition of the riparian zone.

Stream Habitat Survey Field Guide

Local Land Services May 2023

EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY POOR

BANK VEGETATION

10

Mainly undisturbed native vegetation

8 6 4 2

Introduced ground cover or bare ground.

Occasional trees. Also includes sites with

concrete lined canals.

VERGE VEGETATION

10

Mainly undisturbed native vegetation on both sides of

the stream. Verge more than 30m wide.

8 6 4 2

Bare cover or introduced grass cover such as

pasture land.

IN-STREAM

10

Abundant cover, frequent snags, logs or boulders with extensive areas of in-stream aquatic vegetation and

overhanging bank.

8 6 4 2

No cover. No snags, boulders submerged or

overhanging vegetation. No undercut banks. Site

may have rock or concrete lining.

BANK EROSION AND STABILITY

5

Stable: No erosion/sedimentation on

evidence. No undercutting of banks, usually gentle bank

slopes, lower banks covered with root mat grasses, reeds

or shrubs.

4 3 2 1

Extensive or almost continuous erosion. Over 50% of banks have some

form of erosion. Very unstable with little vegetation cover.

RIFFLES, POOLS AND BENDS

5

Wide variety of habitats. Riffles and pools present of varying depths.

Bends present.

4 3 2 1

Uniform habitat.

Straight stream, minimal riffle or pools, uniform depth. eg channelled

stream or irrigation canal.

RECORDING YOUR RESULT

Circle your stream’s rating on the Stream Habitat Record Sheet as you assess each factor (bank vegetation, verge vegetation etc) of your stream’s habitat and add up the score form each factor to obtain a total score.

INTERPRETING YOUR RESULT

Local Land Services May 2023

Assess your streams habitat rating score using the following table:

Score Rating Stream Habitat Assessment

Excellent 36-40 Site in natural or virtually natural condition:

Excellent habitat condition.Good 29-35 Some alteration from natural state:

Good habitat conditions.

Fair 20-28 Significant alterations from the natural state but still offering moderate habitat.

Poor 12-19 Significant alterations from the natural state, often reduced habitat value. May have erosion or sedimentation problems.

Very Poor 8-11 Very degraded, often with severe erosion or sedimentation problems.

15. What condition is your riparian area in?________________________________________________________

16. How could the riparian area be improved?

Issue Recommendation

17. Why is it important that Aboriginal people should have access to this area?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Local Land Services May 2023

Site 3: Biodiversity

At this site we will be looking at a range of issues including biodiversity, biosecurity and emergency response planning.

1. What does biodiversity mean?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the value of remnant native vegetation in terms of the landscape and also economic and production benefits?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4. List the names of trees, shrubs and grasses present in this area. Are they mainly native or introduced?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Multi-Sensory Observation Task

This exercise aims to gain a different perspective on where you are. It will also help you to observe biodiversity in different ways. Choose your own spot away from other students, remain still without communicating with others for 5 minutes. Observe your environs using all of your senses.

Report back to the group your experience and write down what you felt and what you sensed in terms of see, hear, feel or smell.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Local Land Services May 2023

6. Structural Composition Exercise

Use the 50 m transect station to analyse site vegetation and structure composition

# Bare Ground

Native Grass

Weed Litter Other (manure/Rock)

Canopy

Present/ Absent

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

Local Land Services May 2023

# Bare Ground

Native Grass

Weed Litter Other (manure/Rock)

Canopy Present/ Absent

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

338

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

7. Briefly discuss what you have found ____________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________

Local Land Services May 2023

8. Use the Bushland Health Checklist to evaluate the condition of this area.

Bushland Health Check

Answer each question with a tick in the Yes or No column Yes No

Part 1 – Trees and shrubs

Trees are mainly healthy with little or no signs of dieback

Native shrubs and bushes are present in the understorey (i.e. under the trees)

Young trees are present

Old trees with hollows are present

Part 2 – Grasses and Groundcover

There are more than 10 different types of native grasses and herbs present

Between the grass tussocks the ground is covered with a litter of dry grass, bark, leaves, and twigs

Logs, rocks and fallen timber have been left

Part 3 – Weeds and Pests

There are very few weeds (non-native species) present on the area

The area is free of feral animals like rabbits, foxes and cats

The bushland is never or only rarely grazed by domestic stock (sheep and cattle)

Part 4 – Landscape Setting

The patch of bushland is more or less circular or rectangular in shape rather than long and narrow

The area is connected to other areas of native vegetation by one or more bush corridors e.g. roadside or creek vegetation

TOTAL

Add up the ticks in the yes column to see how this patch of bushland is rated.

YES SCORED RATING (circle one) 8-12 Healthy 6-8 Fair 0-5 Unhealthy

9. How would you manage this area of vegetation to improve its health and condition?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What is “farm biosecurity” and what practices can the property owner implement to protect their business?

Local Land Services May 2023

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________

11. What are the types of threats/emergencies that could impact on this property and where can you find information to develop a plan for each threat? List what actions could be included in each plan.

Threat/

emergencySource of information

Types of actions to include in the plan

Local Land Services May 2023

www.lls.nsw.gov.au