I N S I D E � Forgotten heroes acknowledged � Impulse to conserve � Walking the desert � DCQ News � Cane toads versus frogs

The holy grail of Landcare

A u g u s t 2 0 1 0

the voice of desert channels queensland

the basinBULLET

Editor

C O N T E N T S E D I T O R I A LA S I S E E I T

For more on the work of Desert Channels Queensland, visit www.dcq.org.au, email info@dcq.org.au or call 4658 0600.

It is the western way to quietly go about your work, and get the job done – show-ponies don’t cut any ice with the self-reliant, independent, no-nonsense people of western Queensland. They are more likely to attribute their success to someone else; a ‘job well done’ to lucky coincidence.

However, there is no coincidence in winning half a dozen State Landcare awards in 5 years, culminating in a National Landcare award for the premier Landcare NRM region in the country. It is a testament to the hard work and ability of the team at Desert Channels Queensland, as well as the commitment and perseverance of resilient Landcare groups and their indefatigable members. And it all happens because of how well DCQ engages with, and supports, Landcare activity across one-third of Queensland.

Part of that one-third is the eastern edge of a sea of sand that stretches to the centre of the continent. Two years of good seasons have transformed the Simpson Desert into a Hadean version of the Garden of Eden: vegetation crowds the dunes and water-birds breed between them; life, both in and out of the water, burgeons.

An explosion of life of this magnitude and extent happens rarely – perhaps two or three times in anyone’s lifetime – and getting up close and personal at such a time is reserved for a fortunate few. It is an experience that provokes thought, kindles passion and feeds the soul. Who better to trek the desert, then share it through the magic of her pen, than long-time Bullet contributor and award-winning writer, Helen Avery.

It will not fail to move you.

Holy Grail... 3Better than Monty Python!

Impulse to conserve... 4Who, what, why, when, how

Restated committment... 5Landcare locked in for 3 years

Efficiency drive... 6Tech heads reign

DCQ News... 7Boomerangs and beans

Frogs and toads.. 8Poles apart

Hold that thought... 8Low carbon carnage

Walking the desert... 9A poet in paradise

The Nose Bag... 12Fish food

There are few tougher places to implement Landcare than across the vast Desert Channels region. It is one-third of the state; 510,000 square kilometres of semi-arid rangelands; home to 14,500 people, many of them living in a hatful of small towns; and it’s a prime environment for a suit of invasive pest plants.

Where the coastal contemporaries of the western Landcare groups spend their time planting trees, in the west, there is a continuing battle to keep the enemy at bay. The work of these forgotten heroes of Landcare was acknowledged, in a roundabout way, at the recent National Landcare Awards in Canberra when DCQ was voted the nation’s premier Landcare natural resource management region.

Leanne Kohler, Chief Executive Officer of DCQ, said that the award was great recognition for the organisation. “Obviously, we’re on the right track

Forgotten heroes ack nowledgedTo paraphrase Winston Churchill, ‘seldom has so much been done by so few over such area’.

“...it’s vital that funding levels are maintained to continue the momentum.”

with the way we work with our Landcare groups,” she said, “because we’ve been judged the best in Australia.

“It is great recognition of the partnership between us and Landcare groups in the region, and I’d like to acknowledge and say thank you to all those Landcarers around our region who work so hard all the time, for no recognition.

“But as nice as this award is, it’s vital that funding levels are maintained to continue the momentum.”

As one Landcarer pointed out, if the battle against mesquite and prickly acacia, parthenium and cactus are not continued, the investment by

landholders and governments to date has been a waste.

Peter Douglas and Leanne Kohler receive the national award

I m p u l s e t o c o n s e r v eSince 2004, governments have invested $2 million in Landcare in the region, and this has leveraged about twice that amount from landholders. Most of this investment has gone into controlling pest plants; the irony is that prickly acacia was initially promoted by Government departments as a fodder and shade plant.

Since 2005, DCQ has won 6 Landcare awards, a testament, according to Leanne Kohler, to the quality of the team at DCQ. “We’re fortunate in that we manage to attract really good people,” she said. “The challenge for us is to continue to do that so we can provide the best possible service to the region.”

The CSIRO is known globally for its research and development in science and technology (where would we be without WiFi and Aerogard), but not many realize it has its own, autonomous, publishing house. In one of its latest ventures, CSIRO Publishing has backed the talents of 46 diverse contributors to publish Desert Channels, an inspiring, thought-provoking and informative book edited by three talented and passionate Australians in writer, Libby Robin; ecologist, Chris Dickman; and artist, Mandy Martin.

Desert Channels is a combination of art, science and history that explores the ‘impulse to conserve’ in the distinctive Desert Channels country, the Queensland section of the Lake Eyre Basin, where three of the world’s remaining, great, unregulated rivers begin their sluggish journey to Lake Eyre. It is an area where people of diverse backgrounds, but with that common impulse to conserve, have come together with community-based natural resource management group, Desert Channels Queensland, and non-government conservation organizations like Bush Heritage Australia and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

This book will leave you amazed, humbled, and wanting more … and you can get more at the launch of Desert Channels – The Impluse to Conserve at the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame’s Hugh Sawry Gallery in Longreach at 6:00 pm on Friday 24th September, 2010. Performed by committed western advocate, Mayor Bruce Scott of the Barcoo Shire Council, the launch will be supported by an exhibition of stunning artworks and photographs by Mandy Martin, Faye Alexander, Angus Emmott and David Taylor. The event is free but RSVPs are required by 17th September to aldr.martin@bigpond.com. Books will be available on the night, and many of the contributors will be there to sign copies.

Find out more about this wonderful publication at environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/desert-channels or, better still, get your very own copy from www.publish.csiro.au/pid/6406.htm.

Leanne Kohler and Steve Wilson receive the state award from the Governor.

d e s e r t c h a n n e lsT H E I M P U L S E T O C O N S E R V E

Edited by

Libby Robin, Chris Dickman and Mandy Martin

Continued...

G O V E R N M E N T R E S TAT E S L A N D C A R E C O M M I T M E N T

With the Landcare award trophy barely beginning to gather dust on DCQ ’s front counter, the news came that their appl icat ion for three years of funding for a Landcare Faci l i tator was successful. Under the Austral ian G overnment ’s Caring for our Countr y program, $450,000 has been al located to DCQ to continue suppor t to Landcare in the region.

Leanne Kohler sa id i t was good to f inal ly get the news. “ We had been af ter an

answer for some t ime because our previous Landcare Faci l i tator

k new that h is funding was coming to an end, and he was beginning to look e lsewhere,” she sa id.

However, the wheels of government are ponderous and the not i f icat ion didn’t ar r ive before incumbent fac i l i tator, Ron Beezley had decided to move on. Ms

Kohler sa id this has long been an issue with the NRM sec tor.

“Funding is a lways shor t-term, so most people have ver y l i t t le job secur i t y,” she sa id. “ The l i t t le they have quick ly evaporates when a program ends and funding for the replacement is s low to be announced or star t f lowing.”

Ms Kohler sa id that DCQ is in a ver y for tunate posit ion in that i t had another staf f member

who was keen to step into the role. “So much cont inuit y and k nowledge can go out the door when someone leaves,” she sa id, “but we’re real ly luck y in that Craig Neuendor f, who has been with us

for t wo years, and worked a longside Ron, has s lotted stra ight into the role.”

Craig has become wel l -versed in the issues of the bush dur ing his 27 years in the Queensland Pol ice Ser vice, most of them spent in e i ther Kynuna or Longreach. He is keen to work with landholders and townspeople to get even more Landcare ac t iv i t y across the region, and to encourage more young people to become involved.

Craig loves the bush l i fe ; h is idea of re laxat ion is helping someone muster and brand calves, repair fences or spray weeds.

Craig Neuendorf

“... it was good to finally get the news”

Initially developed as a web-based reporting tool for government funded projects, enQuire’s potential to be so much more was immediately recognised by DCQ who have long been one is its keenest advocates.

Leanne Kohler, CEO of DCQ, said that even back when enQuire was first developed, they could see the potential for it to drive efficiencies far in excess of what was planned in the initial development. “We immediately saw the huge potential of enQuire, so we didn’t take a half-hearted approach,” she said.

“As new potential functionalities were identified, we put our money where our mouth was and backed the ability of the enQuire team to deliver an integrated information management system.”

Ms Kohler said that, more recently, changing times have meant that the organisation has had to work even smarter. “We have streamlined everything from managing expressions of interest for projects, to report acquittals and managing operational and finance systems. Our next goal is it to improve our mapping data storage.”

DCQ’s Data and Information Management Consultant, Emma Egan, said enQuire has allowed landholders and staff members to up-skill and record more information in real time, in the paddock, with hand-held electronic ‘tablets’.

“As the functionality of enQuire has increased, it has provided us with greater efficiency and accuracy, not to mention the significant saving in time,” Ms Egan said. “Tasks that used to require input from three people now only need one.

New technologies and applications are driving efficiencies across all aspects of the operations of Desert Channels Queensland, from the way office documents are stored and retrieved, to how projects are managed. In the vanguard of this new wave is the state-wide reporting and project management tool, enQuire …

EfficienciesTechnology Drives

“With our online system we have managed to operate with half the number of staff. At the same time we have expanded some administrative roles to have more people visiting landholders. It has been very satisfying for me to diversify my role and build a well-rounded understanding of the business.”

Ms Egan said that enQuire had also taken the organisation another step along the way to achieving the goal of a paperless office.

Another initiative that is reducing paper in the DCQ office is the rollout of an electronic document management system, ManagePoint. The program stores all office documents in a central database that allows broad and detailed searches, and instant retrieval by anyone in the office.

Finance and Contracts Officer, Brittany Wakefield, simpley loves the power of ManagePoint. It is so easy to find other people’s work,” she said. “Even if someone has filed a document really differently to me, I can still find it because ManagePoint offers so many different ways to run a search.”

“With a conventional folder-based, electronic filing system, or the old hard file, filing cabinet, if something is filed incorrectly, you can spend hours looking and still not find it. The amount of time saved by ManagePoint really makes it a good investment.”

THIS BOOMERANG ISN’T COMING BACK

Ron Beezley, comedian, joker, good natured, hard working, practical and dedicated, has clocked off for the last time from DCQ. After 3 years of facilitating projects, identifying weeds, talking to landholders, running workshops, driving the long hours to promote the work of DCQ and support Landcare groups, Ron has moved back into training and mentoring. “Gaining respect from co-workers, landholders, government agencies and community groups has been the highlight of my time at DCQ – if you don’t count the tricks and jokes I used to play on the unsuspecting in the office,” Ron said. His practical knowledge, varied skills, good nature and, more importantly, his humour have been a huge asset to DCQ, and will be sorely missed. Ron is only going up the road, as Instructor and Mentor for full-time Indigenous students road at the Australian Agricultural College Corporation’s Longreach Campus. We’ll miss you, mate.

LEADERS MEET IN CAIRNS

Indigenous Facilitator, Jeff Poole and Gerry Fogarty, chair of the Georgina Diamantina Cooper Aboriginal Group (GDCAG), were in Cairns in mid-August for the Australian Government’s National Indigenous Leadership Program. As part of DCQ’s funding obligations, there is a requirement to provide training and up skilling of members of the newly named GDCAG to better equip them for leadership both in their community and within the GDCAG. The 5 day,

.

intensive, ‘men only’ program was comprehensive, well facilitated, empowering and for many men, life changing. Hope Ebsworth and Ken Isaacson, also from the GDCAG, will participate in the same leadership program in the near future. Women from the GDCAG will be able to attend their ‘women only’ program in early 2011.

GRADING TO CONTROL EROSION

Erosion Control Grader Workshops were recently held at “Greendale”, Tambo; “Riverview”, Prairie; and “Marion Downs”, Boulia. Landholders met up once again with Darryl Hill, student of erosion for more than 40 years, and presenter of grader workshops right across the Australian rangelands. Graziers got the low down on how to make their work environment safer, reduce travel time on property access roads, create more effective fire breaks, and reduce the time spent maintaining their tracks. Darryl believes that most new erosion is due to property access tracks and fence lines. “What may seem time-consuming in the short-term will alleviate costly repairs in the future,” he said. Darryl was joined by David Phelps and Jenny Milson of DERM who complimented these workshops with information about grazing management, ground cover and poisonous plants. Lauren Chimes, the North West Queensland Primary Health Care’s HERB (Health Education Reaching Blokes) nurse, was on hand to keep an eye on the fellas by checking their health.

REPORTING ON PERFORMANCE

It’s that time of the year when Sue Akers buries herself in enQuire to extract the relevant information and consolidate it into our annual performance report. A sample of what DCQ achieved for 2009 – 2010 is: protection of an axe quarry, rock art, burial and hanging tree sites by fencing to reduce impacts from foot and vehicle traffic; 8 projects for fencing to land type for protection, improved grazing management, erosion control, and rehabilitation of riparian and of concern biodiversity areas; 8 projects on strategic control of prickly acacia and parkinsonia (the 16 projects covered 231,000ha); completion of 2 town common management plans; and an independently conducted

organisational performance review that was very positive about DCQ’s professionalism, client focus, skills, knowledge and people-oriented culture.

DC SOLUTIONS GOES WALKABOUT

Mike Chuk has been on a foray to Birdsville to plan a series of walking trails for the Diamantina Shire Council to allow locals and visitors to experience the natural and cultural heritage of the town and its surrounds, while also contributing to their health and well-being. The trails take in sand dunes, streetscapes, river flats and waterholes, and are part of the Diamantina Shire’s push to enhance the services and experiences of their towns. DC Solutions had previously planned similar trails for the other Shire town, Bedourie, and for Boulia. Mike reckons that western country, on the back of its second good season on the trot, has never looked better.

The update of the magnificent ‘Heart of Australia’ Lake Eyre Basin map is completed and off to the printer. Alun Hoggett has done a great job of managing a very complex project, and keeping everyone on track, while the steering committee has smoothly guided collaboration between numerous jurisdictions and interest groups. The new map will be launched at the 5th Lake Eyre Basin Biennial Conference in Alice Springs in mid-September.

Other recent or ongoing work includes: synthesis of technical documents, literature review, project audits, streetscape plantings advice, signage design, book layout design, GIS support, mapping, editing services, training in video storytelling and editing, as well as land and water management planning.

COFFEE ANYONE?

Like coffee? Support Landcare? Then Lattes for Landcare is for you. Pop into the DCQ office and enjoy a freshly-ground cup of Espresso Essential Coffee from the Revolution coffee machine. All proceeds to be poured into Landcare.

A large specimen collected in Longreach weighed 1.57kg! Males grow 89- 124 mm; females 88-230 mm. This exceeds any known native species. Cane toads are also active year round; they don’t hibernate or seek refuge like our native frogs.

A toad is distinguished from all other species, by its leathery, dry, dull-brown warty skin, distinctive erect upright posture and very large prominent parotoid glands behind the head. Colours vary from sandy yellow to brown with variable brown patches. Toads inhabits a variety of habitats, prefering tracks and roadways with low grassland and dense vegetation tends to be natural barrier. Its call is a long trill, rather like an outboard motor.

Toads thrives near human habitation, they feed on i n s e c t s

attracted to lights and will breed in urban fish ponds. Eggs are produced in long “necklace” like strings. Tadpoles are black, grow to 24 mm and often form dense schools. All stages of development are poisonous – egg, tadpole and adult. Females are known to lay in excess of 35,000 eggs in a season. Native predators are few, with toad incursions into new areas usually decimating wildlife populations before slowly recovering.

Our native frogs don’t grow anywhere near as large; our largest species such as the New Holland Frog Cyclorana novaehollandiae grow to a maximum of 100 mm. Our native frogs typically are ‘moist’ in appearance and prefer more natural habitats than the Cane Toad. The Cane toad is now an unfortunate component of our regional wildlife, take a second look next time you see one, it could be a local!

The Cane Toad Bufo marinus; is a native of Central and South America, was brought to Australia via Hawaii in 1935 to control two beetle pests of sugar cane. Today the species has spread well south into NSW, north to the suburbs of Darwin and west as far as Windorah along the Cooper system in the Western Queensland’s Channel Country, and adjacent to Kununurra in Western Australia.

T h e o t h e r l o s e r :The human cost of war is horrendous; it’s the frontline statistic which ultimately categorises a conflict in the annals of history. Battles won and lost dominate the early stages but

then the casualty figures take precedence as the conflict wearies on. And it’s the non-combatants who are hardest hit.

If we can steel our minds to the human tragedy of war, we might reflect on the other great loser in the equation, the environment. It’s been calculated that a limited nuclear exchange would release the equivalent of about 690 million tonnes of CO2 while the Iraq war has generated CO2 emissions between 250 and 600 million tonnes.

Whether driven by the ideal of minimising their carbon footprint, or the pragmatic imperative of reducing dependence on a diminishing resource, the US is aiming to have a fully operational carrier strike group, dubbed the Great Green Fleet, by 2016, that uses no fossil fuels. The US army is also using wind turbines and solar panels to reduce oil dependence, and American and British scientists are developing less toxic explosives and lead-free bullets in an effort to leave behind less poisoned battlefields.

However, poison will remain in the lives of those affected, and the battlefields will still be littered with bodies silently returning to the soil.

Hold that thought!Cane Toads versus Native Frogs – telling them apart

Handle the Cane Toad with care, as the milky fluid from its neck glands is toxic. You should wash your hands after handling any frog or toad, but this is especially important after handling Cane Toads.

Andrew Harper is principal of Outback Camel Company. From years of intense personal experience with Australian deserts, he has evolved a creative and workable approach to travel in one of our most remote areas. He combines serious science, adventure, isolation and animals to offer trips that have a powerful impact on everyone who participates.

The season begins out from Alice Springs in April, moving east across the desert, turning west in mid-season to finish in the Centre in September. Trips range from 2 to 4 weeks. All expeditions include a number of scientists and academics – ecologists, botanists, anthropologists or historians. Most of those other travellers attracted to trips of this kind have a more than passing interest in the world around them. The blend between specialists,

general people from a wide range of backgrounds, and a core of experienced cameleers, works very positively.

The last few summers have been kind to the Desert. The rains have been generous. The response belies the definition of desert. Our base camp was a drying swampland a few kilometres beyond the Ethabuka homestead, a surreal carpet of soft, green daisy burr with scattered lignum and coolibah. The initial impression was of a chaos of camels, vehicles, stores, saddles, ropes, swags – a peaceful sort of chaos that surprisingly quickly evolved into routine, structure and efficiency with everyone – cameleers, cobs and camels – aware of their role in the functioning of the expedition. Cobs is the name given to new chums on trips. I

Walking the Desert

Story and images by Helen Avery

Time was meaningless, destination and definition pointless. I was adrift in an ocean of dunes suspended beneath a massive canvas of sky.

At night, lying against the earth, cocooned in the warmth of a swag, it felt as if I was no more than one more miniscule fragment of light spinning from a thread, as dizzy with delight as a child on a swing. During the day, the explosion of life surrounding us was astonishing. Each single step had the potential to become a voyage of discovery. Perspective became a metronome swinging from immense to miniature, from resilience to fragility, from ancient to immediate.

unloading and we began walking south towards the top corner of the Simpson Desert National Park. The desert became our home, the camels our lifeline, the sky our rooftop.

It is not easy to explain the impact of a desert landscape, the power. There is a sameness; dune after dune, swale after swale, sky beyond sky and yet …

The more time you spend there, particularly walking, sleeping, waking, walking, the more you learn to see, the more acutely aware you become of every nuance. You hear the incredible sounds of silence, the differences between the songs of ‘smallbrownbirds’. You see the textures of sand, variations within plant families, the tracks of unseen creatures. You scent changes on the wind. You feel the toughness of thorn, the softness of blossom, the scorch of heat, the bite of bitter cold. You taste salt and earth and sweet rain (Yes! In the desert! In mid-winter!)

You intuit, to some small degree, what it must have been like to wander this place as part of a small intimate group of human beings, utterly dependent on one another, on the country you are passing through, on the elements and on the gods.

You learn that your needs are, in fact, very simple and very few.

was never quite sure whether it was derogatory or affectionate! Participation in the routines of camels and camp was an integral part of the trip and a great equalizer!

The camels underpin the whole experience. I have worked and lived with grazing animals all my life and have a deep respect for what animals give to support the lives of human beings. The only camels I had seen were perhaps in a passing circus, and I guess I had the caricature version in my imagination … camels

bite, kick, spit, swear, stink, are ludicrous to look at and don’t drink often!

Without camels, it would not be possible to experience the desert with the degree of intimacy and relative comfort we were privileged enough to. Their size and strength are amazing. Their tolerance is incredible. They are powerful, patient, persistent. The mechanics and biology of their bodies is remarkable. They eat anything. They drink rarely. They bite, belch, kick, spit, swear, stink, are

ludicrous to look at … and they are magnificent!

A rudimentary lesson in camel speak, swag rolling, knots, saddling

up, loading and

Continued...

Latte for LandcareG o r d o n L i g h t f o o t o n c e s a n g :I’m on my second cup of coffee, And I still can’t face the dawn…

I write as a poet, I realise! In the meantime the scientists were beside themselves trying to record, identify, categorise all the things we saw and the traces of things we didn’t see! The cameleers plodded alongside the two camel strings, zig-zagging up and down dunes, looking out for campsites with feed, firewood, shelter; planning camp fire menus, keeping a constant eye on saddles, loads, camels and cobs. The rest of us sprawled untidily across dunes and swales, wandering freely wherever the inclination took us, straggling back towards the team when it was time to make camp for lunch or the day’s end.

Four weeks in the desert, a single month, a moment, less than a moment. I feel … a sense of cleanliness, a great humility, a sense of awe. I feel as if I have been given the opportunity of reaching out, of touching – with a touch so small, so light, so insignificant in the scheme of things – but, I have been able to feel through the palms of my hands and the soles of my feet, the ancient beating heart of this continent we call home.

Lovers of the dark, exotic bean would fully endorse these sentiments; just the idea of a coffee – anticipating a steaming cup of our favourite brew and imagining its rich, heady aroma – can sustain us through a difficult morning.

That first ‘heart-starting’ sip of the day is essential for true coffee aficionados, and a second mug should always be at hand. DCQ understands this, and now has a state-of-the-art, fully automatic coffee and hot chocolate dispenser. The weekly cost of the unit is offset by the time saved by not having to duck down town for the daily coffee order for the office, and the profits are going to, what else but, Landcare.

If you’re passing the office and fancy a freshly-made latte, cappuccino or flat white, it’s yours for a mere $3. Feed your addiction and Landcare in the same fell swoop.

The Nose Bag -fancy fish ASIAN STYLE CRISPY FISH

:4 rice paper wrappers per serve2 small fillets of soft white fleshed fish2 shitake mushrooms2 shallotsSmall knob of ginger1 garlic cloveA splash of soy sauce

Finely slice the mushrooms, shallots, ginger and garlic, and mix with a splash of soy to moisten. Soak the rice paper wrappers until soft. Lay a wrapper on the bench. Place a piece of fish on top and a couple of tablespoons of filling. Roll up tightly, folding the ends over. Wrap a second time with another wrapper to ensure it is well sealed. This can sit until you are ready. Deep fry in oil at around 180C until crispy and golden. Serve as they are, or with noodles.

Fancy a bit of fish but

tired of fish fingers? Shark and taties not

cutting it? Why not have a go at the following?

D E S I G N A N D L A Y O U T B Y D C S O L U T I O N S Desert Channels Queensland is funded by

QueenslandGovernment