Best management practices for grazing in wetlands
Do you have...
- a wetland on your property?
- stock grazing in wetland areas?
- an interest in managing your use of wetland areas?
If your property is located within the Gwydir Wetlands or the Macquarie Marshes and you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you need to know about this Grazing in Wetlands Project.
What’s the project about?
The Grazing in Wetlands Project is part of the NSW Wetland Recovery Program (WRP) and focuses on the Gwydir wetlands and Macquarie Marshes.
The program aims to deliver long term and permanent benefits to ecologically significant wetlands across NSW. This will benefit the wetlands, rivers and importantly, the communities that depend on them.
The Best Management Practice for grazing in wetlands intends to provide graziers with knowledge to ensure sustainable environmental and financial outcomes given the resources currently available.
By talking with and surveying graziers, this project will benchmark current management practices and clarify good management practices. It will identify training needs and collate current knowledge on key grazing species for graziers.
What will the project deliver?
A clear guide to sustainable management practices
Best Management Practice guidelines for grazing will be prepared through consultation with landholders and other stakeholders. The guidelines are intended to promote the adoption of more environmentally and economically sustainable grazing practices.
Graziers can help by getting involved and contacting the project team. This will give them the opportunity to highlight good on-farm management practices.
The project gives landholders a chance to identify specific practices that could be changed and an avenue to clarify mechanisms to drive change.
Paddock Plants information guides
Landholders in each wetland have identified a list of key wetland plants that influence grazing management. Information gathered about these plants during the project will be used to develop Paddock Plants identification guides for wetland species.
These will include knowledge on the growth habits, management or control options and fodder value of the selected species. These guides will provide information to assist graziers to manage their wetland plants sustainably.
Using the expertise of landholders, along with scientific expertise this project has been designed to increase awareness, understanding and adoption of management practices for sustainable grazing in the Macquarie Marshes and the Gwydir Wetlands.
If you’re a landholder who grazes areas in the Gwydir wetlands or Macquarie Marshes, you have something to contribute to this project. We would like to hear about your experiences and we welcome your input.
This project was funded by the NSW Wetland Recovery Program through funding provided by the State Government and the Australian Government’s Water Smart Australia Programme.
