This edition of RipRap is on environmental water allocation, a topic that is at the forefront of people's minds as economic, environmental and social demands for water are being made in every region of Australia. The articles features in this

In this issue: Income forecasts turning the table on drought assistance; Dairy project builds on farmer experience: Farming profitably in a changing climate; World spotlight on Australian climate expertise; Southern Australia

Monitoring coastal habitat extent and condition is now easier due to the strategic investment in high resolution images for priority areas around Australia's coastline.

IN THIS ISSUE: New eye on the sky; New Projects - Managing Climate Variability R&D Program; Monthly report helping farmers make 'prophetable' decisions; Value of forecasting proven in NHT projects

The Traprock Resource Monitoring Toolkit is custom-made for Traprock landscapes and with local wool-production systems in mind. However, the kit is designed to be adaptable to landscapes and wool production systems in other regions. The kit is especially significant in that it was built to inform emerging Environmental Management Systems (Traprock Integrated Management System) and sub-catchment planning being undertaken by regional natural resource management bodies. The primary aim of the kit is to provide you, the land-manager, with greater capability to undertake relevant and simple, but meaningful monitoring of your natural assets. The toolkit comprises this Field Guide, a series of Data Sheets and a collection of web-based tools that help you interpret monitoring data and use it to enhance your property planning and management..

Community learning and development is about supporting people in communities to identify and understand issues that are important to them, and providing them with opportunities to take action on those issues

The National Land & Water Resources Audit has commissioned this report to enable expertise in designing and implementing social and economic surveys for natural resource management (NRM) to be drawn together for the benefit of regional bodies, industry and government policy officers. This document outlines the steps involved in conducting a survey. It aims to provide regional bodies, industry and government policy officers with sufficient information to successfully engage a consultant to produce the results they desire.

To improve the management of R&D programs, LWRRDC commissioned an ex-post evaluation of nine completed research projects, all of which were considered to have achieved their intended R&D outcomes. The consultants surveyed key beneficiaries of the R&D to identify the actual outcomes and benefits that had resulted from the projects to users of natural resources and to the Australian community. There were two irrigation, three water, three land and one vegetation project. All operated between 1989 and 1994.

In this issue: Climate Connect 2006; Meet the MCV team; Working with the weather, on land and on water; Drier or wetter-its not all about rainfall; Less frosty for northern wheat growers

This project aimed to discover and negotiate access to all existing GIS (electronic) ECM habitat maps, collate the GIS maps and then apply the relevant national classification schemes, develop new nationally consistent habitat classification schemes where not available and conduct quality assurance and document the national map series. The ECM national habitat map series consists of two main groups of information products: 1. a series of three national habitat maps based on the collaboratively developed national intertidal/subtidal benthic (NISB) habitat classification scheme: 2. four products covering the remaining habitat types of dune, vegetation, estuaries, coastal wetlands and shorelines (beaches).