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Name: _____________________________ School ___________________________
Group Letter ________________________
SCHOOLS PROPERTY PLANNING COMPETITION
Field Day “Rosedale” Currabubula, 2014
Aims for field day
At the end of today you should have:
 become familiar with the property “Rosedale”
 learnt more from relevant instructors about soil and salinity
management, riparian management, vegetation management and
cultural heritage
 accessed expertise that helped you to understand all 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
Session 1
Session 2
Go to next site for Morning tea
(Food is waiting for you there)
Session 3
Lunch
Close
9:20am – 10:35
10:35 – 11:35
11:35 – 11:50
11:50 – 12:50
1:00 to 1:30
1:45pm
Site 1
Ag-Prod
Group A
Group C
Group B
Site 2
Riparian
Group B
Group A
Group C
Site 3
Biodiversity
Group C
Group B
Group A
Group B
Group C
Group A
Enjoy the day!
You should use the information from today to determine how best to manage this farm and include
this in your property plan.
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 farm.
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Site 1: Agricultural Production
Today 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. You will also have the
opportunity to look at another soil pit on a different part of the property. This will allow you to
compare soils and understand how they can change across the farm and why we may have to manage
these areas differently.
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.
The next step will be to have a look at what may be the best land use for this area and the types of
crops or pastures options that will best suit this land use.
Test
Result or comments
Interpretation
Depth of:
A Horizon:
Yes / No
B Horizon:
Yes / No
C Horizon:
Yes / No:
cm
-A horizon: the topsoil.
cm
-B horizon: the subsoil.
cm
-C Horizon: Parent soil material/ weathered rock.
Do we have enough
soil?
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:
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:
Rooting depth
Can the plant roots get
into the soil?
Are there many roots
visible?
Root depth:
Yes / No
Is this a good soil
colour?
B Horizon.
Texture class:
Soil pH is a measure of soil acidity or alkalinity.
The pH of a soil can affect plant growth
significantly.
B Horizon:
Yes / No
cm
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.
3/13
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
Ground Cover
Litter
Soil Surface
Proportion of green
Proportion of productive
species
Proportion of Legume
Suitability for animal
production
Results
(see field guide on page
5)
Quadrat 1
Quadrat 2
Quadrat 3
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Table 3: Indicators of pasture production and sustainability (Meat and Livestock Australia)
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3. Is the productivity and sustainability of the pasture low, medium or high? ____________________
Optional:
3a. Use the Namoi CMA 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
5. What is the land capability class of this area? ________________________________________
6. What improvements need to be made to increase the productivity and sustainability of the land?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
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7. What are the limitations for this area? i.e. weeds, low productivity, limited livestock shelter, limited
winter feed.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. 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, fodder cropping,
fertilising/resting pastures etc.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. Do your answers above assist the landholder in achieving their goals (listed in Section 2 of
the manual)? Does your proposed plan for this area: (Circle your answer)
 Increase property value for sale in the future? Yes / No
How?______________________________________________________________________
 Increase productivity of the cattle enterprise? Yes / No
How?______________________________________________________________________
 Improve pasture quality and quantity (including having a mix of types of pastures and
provision of seasonal shortages)? Yes / No
How?______________________________________________________________________
 Encouraging water to stay longer in the creek with better waterholes? Yes / No
How?______________________________________________________________________
7/13
Site 2: Riparian
1. Name the Creek at Rosedale
__________________________________
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?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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?
_________________________________________________________________________________
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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 Guide below to evaluate the condition of the riparian zone.
EXCELLENT
(10)
Mainly undisturbed native
vegetation
(10)
Mainly undisturbed native
vegetation on both sides of
the stream. Verge more
than 30m wide.
(10)
Abundant cover, frequent
snags, logs or boulders with
extensive
areas of in-stream aquatic
vegetation and
overhanging bank.
(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.
(5)
Wide variety of habitats.
Riffles and pools present of
varying depths.
Bends present.
HABITAT SURVEY FIELD GUIDE
GOOD
FAIR
POOR
VERY POOR
BANK VEGETATION
(8)
(6)
(4)
(2)
Introduced ground cover or bare
ground. Occasional trees. Also
includes sites with concrete lined
canals.
VERGE VEGETATION
(8)
(6)
(4)
(2)
Bare cover or introduced grass
cover such as pasture land.
(8)
IN-STREAM COVER
(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
(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
(4)
(3)
(2)
(1)
Uniform habitat.
Straight stream, minimal riffle or
pools, uniform depth. eg
channelled stream or irrigation
canal.
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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
Assess your streams habitat rating score using the following table:
Score
Excellent
Rating
36-40
Good
29-35
Fair
20-28
Poor
12-19
Very Poor
8-11
Stream Habitat Assessment
Site in natural or virtually natural condition:
Excellent habitat condition.
Some alteration from natural state:
Good habitat conditions.
Significant alterations from the natural state but still offering
moderate habitat.
Significant alterations from the natural state, often reduced habitat
value:
May have erosion or sedimentation problems.
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?
List the issues here
Recommendations
17. What are the benefits of access of traditional land owners to the riparian area? ________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
10/13
Site 3: Biodiversity
At this site we will be looking at a range of issues including biodiversity, soils, biosecurity and
emergency response planning.
1. List the characteristics of the soil that you can see at this site. This should include: depth of topsoil to
bedrock, rockiness, texture, plant root depth and colour. Take note of the differences from the other soil
pit that you have already seen or are about to see.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the Land Capability Class of this area? ___________________________________________
3. How is it currently being utilised? _____________________________________________________
4. What are the limitations for this area? __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. List the names of trees, shrubs and grasses present in this area. Are they mainly native or
introduced?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6. What value is remnant native vegetation to the catchment? ________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
This site contains a large area of remnant native vegetation. Let’s look at what value this vegetation
has and how it can be managed and improved.
6. Use the Bush Health Checklist to evaluate the condition of this area.
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Bushland Health Check
Answer each question with a tick in the Yes or No column
Yes
No
Part 1 – Trees and shrubs
a) Trees are mainly healthy with little or no signs of dieback
b) Native shrubs and bushes are present in the understorey (i.e. under the
trees)
c) Young trees are present
d) Old trees with hollows are present
Part 2 – Grasses and Groundcover
e) There are more than 10 different types of native grasses and herbs present
f) Between the grass tussocks the ground is covered with a litter of dry grass,
bark, leaves, and twigs
g) Logs, rocks and fallen timber have been left
Part 3 – Weeds and Pests
h) There are very few weeds (non-native species) present on the area
i)
The area is free of feral animals like rabbits, foxes and cats
j)
The bushland is never or only rarely grazed by domestic stock (sheep and
cattle)
Part 4 – Landscape Setting
k) The patch of bushland is more or less circular or rectangular in shape
rather than long and narrow
l)
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
7. How would you manage this area of vegetation to improve its health and condition?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
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8. What environmental or economic/production benefits do you think that the property owner would
get from having healthy vegetation on their property?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. How does this affect your plan?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
10. What is “farm biosecurity” and what practices can the property owner implement to protect their
business?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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/
emergency
Source of
information
Types of actions to include in the plan
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