Preparation of Forestry ABCD

Specifications

• Client: Reef Catchments
• Scope:

  Verterra drafted the ABCD Management Frameworks for Reef Catchments, integrating the principles of soils, sediment and landscape erosion, to the integrated management of native and plantations forests in the grazing landscape.  The basis for this project applied the principles inherent in the Universal Soil Loss Equation to guide appropriate management actions to benefit both grazing and forest management while minimising erosion and maximising benefit to reef water quality.  Verterra canvassed wide input into the final frameworks.

• Challenge:

  The development of ABCD frameworks for a range of industries is pivotal to implementation, monitoring, measurement and continual improvement through the WQIP process.  The ABCD frameworks are designed to highlight and facilitate communication about the different levels or standards of management practices (as opposed to resource condition) for different water quality parameters (i.e. sediment, nutrients and chemicals).  For plantation and native forest activities, data on the relationship between management practices and export of sediments, nutrients and pesticides was lacking, making preparation of ABCD frameworks difficult.

• Solution:

  Given the paucity of data, it was necessary to classify management practices based on fundamental principles of soil and nutrient loss.  As export of nutrients and chemical contaminants from land is predominantly linked to sediment export, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (Wischmeier and Smith, 1962) was used as a framework to guide management improvements.  Use of this well-established framework provided a consistent and objective basis to classify management practices.

• Benefit to Client:

  The project brought a recognised and widely accepted method of cost:benefit analysis and delivered an objective, defensible evaluation of options to support evidence-based policy development.

• Market Sector: Environment and Natural Resources
• Capabilities:
  • Soil Science
  • Forestry Consulting
• Location: Queensland
• Year: 2014 - 2015