The rationale for the development of a national experiment within the Sustainable Grazing Systems (SGS) Key Program is outlined, together with a brief description of the sites, their focus of study and the results of a pre-experimental modelling process at three locations. The location and pasture types being studied for the six sites in the national experiment (North-West Slopes, NSW; Tablelands, NSW; Wagga Wagga, NSW; North-East Victoria; Western Victoria, and Western Australia) are described.

This Irrigation Insights information package brings together information on current equipment and techniques for measuring and monitoring soil water status, extending to their use as controllers in automatic irrigation systems. We have limited the equipment described here to those products with agents and backup within Australia. The hub of the publication is a collection of tables summarising the main product features. This enables you to compare product features. As well as technical data, there is also commercial information on suppliers, contact details, availability and price (accurate at August, 2000). Case studies from personal experience and from the literature provide further insight into the advantages and limitations of each device in relation to its potential applications.

This report considers the biophysical condition of the landscape of a prominent farming household in operating and developing their property, Payneham Vale. The property has been substantially renovated to improve its resource conservation, and this report reflects on the success of these renovations. The report is in the circumstances of developing salinity, and over the difficult climatic conditions of 2000-2001. It can be considered as a case study on a relevant impact on the rural community. As well as documenting the renovations, the report describes the property conditions over a diverse spectrum of landscape health indicators that are applicable to farms. These indicators are reviewed in general terms through the Overview of investigations section, with specific research highlights pointed out, and in more complete treatment in a set of technical appendices.

This review explores some of the more innovative techniques and procedures that can be used to improve regional resource use planning outcomes in rangelands. It also recommends what sorts of R&D are needed to enhance the effectiveness of regional approaches. New attempts to deal with regional issues in rangelands must learn from the successes and failures of previous regional planning experiments in Australia and elsewhere

The Managing Climate Variability Research and Development Strategy focuses on investments which increase forecasting accuracy, builds the predictive capability of key attributes such as soil moisture, and develop tools which translate climate forecasts and resource attributes into decision support tools for primary producers and natural resource managers.

This final report discusses the: * development, methodology, outcomes and outputs of the three research projects funded by the OBP under the Aboriginal Management and Planning for Country subprogram (SP5) * the work of the Aboriginal Steering Committee * the challenges, constraints and opportunities of this work. Aboriginal Management and Planning for Country 14 The three research projects were: * Plants and animals of Kija, Jaru Country: Aboriginal knowledge conservation and ethnobiological research in the upper Ord catchment * Data management, GIS and cultural mapping with Kija and Jaru people in the upper Ord catchment * Capacity-building and two-way learning for Kija, Miriwoong-Gajirrawoong and Balangarra people in the lower Ord catchment.

The report describes, analyses and evaluates approaches to the assessment of river systems and conservation values in other types of ecosystem. The report concludes that there is no readily available strategy for identification of the ecological value of rivers. In addition, there is no overview of the aspects of river systems or river sections which constitute ecological value.

This project provided valuable review of environmental impact and development of

risk assessment strategies within the Australian Cotton Industry. It was found that

GM technologies can reduce potential environmental impact by reducing or

changing pesticide use practice. Although the benefits of Bt cotton varieties and

reduced endosulfan use are well documented, a strong correlation between pesticide

use (per ha) and average rainfall was observed. This indicates that climatic

conditions offer a potential predictor of environmental impact. These results are

based on the assumption that insect pressure is greater during wetter periods, thus

requiring more insecticide use. We would therefore expect to observe an increase in

pesticide use and environmental impact when growing conditions improve,

commensurate to the use of Bollgard cotton within the industry.

Analysis of environmental impact of herbicide use did not show a significant

reduction associated with the introduction of Roundup Ready (RR) cotton. These

results indicate that improvements in herbicide use scenarios could potentially have

been made by reduced use of "high impact" residual herbicides with introduction of

RR cotton but this did not occur. However, the use of RR Flex and Liberty Link

cotton may improve the potential environmental impact of herbicide use if such

reductions in use of residuals is achieved. We also identified a slight negative trend

(r2=0.3) between herbicide application and precipitation. This indicates that if the

climates become drier then an increase in herbicide use (g/ha) will be observed. We

expect this was either a response of growers, aiming for a higher level of crop

protection for improved yields or reducing the risk of crop failure, or a more virulent

response by weeds during dry periods. The results of the analyses conducted within

this project were used to direct industry goals with respect to environmental

custodianship.

An experiment conducted within this project showed that pesticide residues

dissipate faster in actively composted cotton gin trash (GT) than in passively

composted GT. This experiment evolved from a previous study concerning potential

environmental exposure and the regulation of GT wastes. Whilst composting of GT

is recommended to reduce the concentration of pesticide residues, the resources

required may be too large for an effective BMP. Further studies, with respect to reuse

of GT, are more likely to identify a more suitable industry-wide management

practices.

The Australian River Assessment Scheme (AUSRIVAS) is a series of procedures and associated software for the rapid assessment of river conditions or 'health' using macroinvertebrate communities. AUSRIVAS includes a set of predictive computer models relevant to particular Australian States and Territories, seasons (spring, autumn or spring and autumn combined) and habitats for river macroinvertebrates (eg. riffles and pool edges).The models attempt to predict the macroinvertebrate families in a specified subsample from a standard kick or sweep net sample, assuming natural or near-natural conditions at the sampling site. The predictions are based on physical, chemical and vegetative features of the site. The predicted fauna can then be compared with the fauna actually observed to infer departures of the macroinvertebrate community from its natural state.

A workshop entitled _Microbial Indicators of River Health_ was held at Macquarie University, Sydney, on 31 July- 1 August 1997. The purpose of the workshop was to investigate the use of microbial indicators for monitoring river health. This book contains summaries of the papers presented at the workshop and some details of the techniques demonstrated during the laboratory sessions on day 2.