Western Local Land Services have worked together with Stuart MacAlpine, a local landholder in the Cobar region to construct approximately 500 ponds across an extensive scalded area to address the properties erosion and protect Aboriginal cultural sites.
The works, which came about through Western Local Land Services 2019/20 Rangeland Rehabilitation Program, were carried out on “Ramsy Park”, Coolabah, and will allow water to spread across a wider area in a chain of shallow ponds across the farm, allowing it to infiltrate deeper into the soils profile as opposed to rushing over it and causing erosion.
The earth banks were constructed by a large grader and selected seeds distributed within. The result has been an acceleration in germination following a recent rainfall event, providing optimal conditions for vegetation to establish in otherwise hard setting bare clay soils.
The owner of Ramsy Park, Stuart MacAlpine is looking forward to seeing the re-establishment of the vegetation return to the property.
“This work is really important as it will allow us to increase our productivity while also making improvements to the landscape in the short and long term,” Mr MacAlpine said.
“It was great to get the majority of the works complete prior to one of the recent rain events and we are already seeing the benefits of our labour. I also found the Aboriginal cultural heritage assessments an important part of the project, protecting these significant areas will minimise their disturbance and has made the project more gratifying”.
The project will benefit the Coolibah-Black Box Woodlands, an endangered ecological community which is severely restricted in its distribution.
