Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

CONCLUSIONS
Actions to protect and manage Toolibin Lake and its
catchment are being implemented. These actions
have taken Toolibin from a Lake doomed to severe
salinisation to one that now has a chance of survival,
a chance improved with every new management
action. The successful recovery of Toolibin Lake
now depends largely on the speed and extent with
which groundwater recharge can be reduced across
the catchment. This in turn depends on a range of
actions; most importantly, on woody revegetation
that not only significantly reduces groundwater
recharge, but also contributes to sustainable
agriculture and short term farm profitability.
Toolibin provides a vital case study to test
management options and develop sustainable and
profitable farming systems that protect all land values
for current and future generations.
The social and cultural context of management in the
Toolibin Catchment is a significant ingredient in
success. The co-operative efforts and contribution
of a wide diversity of groups is a management feature
of Toolibin and its catchment. While there have
been difficulties, integration of efforts has generally
been very good, and this has improved over time.
The Toolibin experience has emphatically
demonstrated that a wide diversity of groups must
positively interact to combat expensive and complex
management problems. Whether action can be
maintained over a sufficiently long time period to
bring about substantial, positive change at a
landscape scale is a vital question not only for
Toolibin, but for every community where sustainable
land use and conservation of natural diversity are
goals.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper has been greatly improved by comments
and information from: David Bicknell, Audrey Bird,
Jenny Crisp, Jim Lane, Stuart Halse, Daryl Moncrieff
and Doug Sawkins.
Thanks also to David McFall for providing
information on oil mallees used in the paper, and to
Viv Read for early editing.
– 9 –
REFERENCES
Wallace
Agriculture Western Australia, Department of
Conservation and Land Management, Department of
Environmental Protection, Water and Rivers Commission
(1996a). Salinity: a Situation Statement for Western
Australia. A report to the Minister for Primary Industry
and Minister for the Environment. Government of
Western Australia, Perth.
Agriculture Western Australia, Department of
Conservation and Land Management, Department of
Environmental Protection, Water and Rivers Commission
(1996b). Western Australian Salinity Action Plan.
Government of Western Australia, Perth.
Baxter, A. & Bicknell, D. (1996). Toolibin Catchment
Revegetation Manual. Agriculture Western Australia, Perth.
Blyth, J.D., Burbidge, A.A. & Brown, A.P. (1996).
Achieving co-operation between government agencies and
the community for nature conservation, with examples
from the recovery of threatened species and ecological
communities. In: Nature Conservation 4: The Role of
Networks (Eds: D.A. Saunders, J.L. Craig & E.M. Mattiske).
Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, 343-67.
Bowman Bishaw Gorham, Jim Davies & Associates, Rural
Planning. (1992). Recovery Plan for Toolibin Lake and
Surrounding Reserves. Unpublished report prepared for
the Department of Conservation and Land Management,
Western Australia, under the Australian National Parks and
Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program, 1991/92.
Department of Conservation and Land Management,
Perth.
Burbidge, A.A. & Wallace, K. J. (1995). Practical methods
of conserving biodiversity. In: Conserving Biodiversity:
Threats and Solutions (Eds. T.D. Auld, R.A. Bradstock,
D.A. Keith, R.T. Kingsford, D. Lunney & R.P. Sivertsen).
Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping Norton, 11-26.
Endangered Species Unit (1991). The Recovery Process: a
Means of Saving Endangered Species, Habitats and
Ecosystems. Australian National Parks and Wildlife
Service, Canberra.
Halse, S.A., (1987). Probable Effect of Increased Salinity on
the Waterbirds of Lake Toolibin. Technical Report No. 15.
Department of Conservation and Land Management,
Perth.
Halse, S.A. (1988). The last Lake. Landscope, 3: 17-22.
Halse, S.A., Williams, M.R., Jaensch, R.P. & Lane, J.A.K.
(1993). Wetland characteristics and waterbird use of
wetlands in South-western Australia. Australian Wildlife
Research, 20: 103-126.