Successfully managing saline watertables to realise production and environment synergies

Citation

Land & Water Australia. 2009. Successfully managing saline watertables to realise production and environment synergies. [Online] (Updated April 15th, 2009)
Available at: http://lwa.gov.au/node/3196 [Accessed Tuesday 26th of April 2011 04:46:40 AM ].

‘Strategic tree planting’ is the story Yass farmer John Ive and his family want to tell. After moving to the Yass Valley near Canberra, John transformed ‘Talaheni’ from a run down grazing property into a productive farm with increased production and environmental values.

‘Twenty years ago saline seeps were common, pastures poor and in decline, and erosion sites active. With a combination of approaches, starting with strategic tree planting, the worst of the salinity has been rehabilitated and groundwater over substantial areas is declining’ says John.

‘It’s been a long process, but along the way I’ve learned some valuable lessons - about the need to read the landscape and appreciate the processes, to keep detailed records and to be proactive’.

With support from the Land & Water Australia Community Fellowship, John will create a website documenting his management of saline watertables to realise production and environmental synergies with 22 years of diaries, photographs and data.

Since winning his Land & Water Australia Community Fellowship John Ive and his family have won: the 2004 NSW/ACT Regional Achievers Award; were nominees for the 2003-04 National Landcare Awards; winners of won the CPA Australia Triple Bottom Line Award and received a Commendation in the Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment at the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards in June 2004; and winners of the 2003 NSW Telstra CountryWide Landcare Research Award.

John has also been a guest speaker at Land & Water Australia’s Science in the Paddock Breakfast Briefings.