Presentations delivered at the Inaugural Reef Rescue Showcase held last month in Cairns are now available. The presentations include:

• A focus on best-practice science and engagement | NQ Dry Tropics
• Strong partnerships and sound delivery model engaging cane growers in the Lower Burdekin | NQ Dry Tropics
• An overview of Reef Rescue | Mike Berwick
• Partnerships for Practice Change | Fitzroy Basin Association
• Grains BMP program - boosting productivity and reef water quality | Grains BMP officers and participants
• What we understand and what we need to understand better: the change in research focus | Hugh Yorkston, GBRMPA
• Underpinning science to target improved practice change | Fitzroy Basin Association
• Industry-wide Reef Rescue projects - big picture projects helping out regional growers and graziers
• Milking the P's to change: powerful partnerships using performing programs, precision planning and proven practices | Rick Kowitz, Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation
• Horticulture: in partnership with the Reef | Growcom
• Healthy Country: managing the land for healthy waterways - a case study from SEQ | SEQ Catchments
• Reef Rescue success in the Wet Tropics | Terrain

 The Mackay Whitsunday best practice fire guidelines provide advice on the time of year to burn, years between fires and intensity and patchiness fires should achieve, to be rated as a good fire in the region. Bad fires are easily identified as fires that cannot be contained, and they generally occur late in the dry season when they threaten lives and property, native flora and fauna, as well as crops and cattle feed.

Friendly fire may seem an unlikely way to look at bushfires but it actually is the solution to a lot of wildfire problems. Whenever there is a major wildfire event, many people and a lot of equipment are gathered together and work tirelessly as a team to contain the fire before it does any more damage. A wildfire is bad for people, property and the environment.

Fire can also be good for people, property and the environment when it is used to reduce the dead grass and leaves that fuel a wildfire or create fresh green shoots for grazing, or to control an invasive weed like lantana or regenerate a forest and maintain a range of habitats for biodiversity.

Two new Reef Rescue publications will be available in March, helping to spread the word about the unique Queensland program. A fact sheet provides an overview of the program, the role of industry and regional NRM groups and how funding can be accessed by land managers across reef catchments. A new quarterly newsletter provides industry and regional groups with an avenue for sharing news about how their work is contributing to improving the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. The first newsletter features stories about a new DVD produced by CANEGROWERS, managing for fire across Cape York and how Reef Rescue has given new graziers a hand in the NQ Dry Tropics region. Both publications, produced in partnership by Queensland Farmers Federation and Queensland Regional NRM Groups Collective are available online at www.rgc.org.au from 10 March 2010 or by contacting Lane Pilon on 07 4699 5000. The deadline for the next edition of the newsletter is Tuesday 30 April and contributions can be sent to sam@wombatcreative.com.au.

 

Reef Catchments Mackay Whitsunday Inc has progressed its ‘Managing Climate Change’ project, assessing the impacts of sugar cane production in the Mackay Whitsunday region and the efficacy of Reef Rescue targets to deliver improved reef water quality under a more variable climate.

Reef Catchments has launched their new Reef Rescue newsletter for the Mackay Whitsunday region. Reef Rescue, which is in its 2nd funding year, is part of the federal government’s ‘Caring for our Country’ program. The newsletter reviews the first year’s activities, gives case studies and identifies key contact officers across the cane, horticultural and grazing industries.

Reef Catchments is pleased to announce the official release of the Best Practice Fire Management Guidelines for the Central Queensland Coast.