Dealing with salinity in Wheatbelt Valleys - Department of Water

1990s, the wheatbelt valleys in particular began to
show signs of secondary salinity suggesting that
earlier estimates of 2% of the landscape affected
by salinity might not be accurate. At the same
time, people were starting to look beyond salinity
simply as being a cause of a ‘loss’ of productive
farmland. New words like ‘biodiversity’ and
‘environmental values’ began to be heard, and
concern was being expressed about the impacts of
rising saline groundwater on rural infrastructure
such as roads, rail and towns – which as we have
already observed are mainly located in the most
vulnerable parts of the landscape - the wheatbelt
Frost and Burnside
One of the first regions to form an LCDC was the
Yilgarn in 1983. The Yilgarn at the time had one of
the highest lodgements of land clearing
applications and the LCDC were aiming to
maintain some control of these clearing
applications. Members of the committee firmly
held the view that local people were best
positioned to make recommendations about land
clearing. However, by this time it was not the
valley floors that were under threat, rather the
‘recharge sites’, in particular the wodjil soils that
were being cleared.
valleys. At the same time as the LCDCs were forming,
Building a basis for community action
At the same time as farmers, scientists and
Governments were beginning to see secondary
salinity as an issue that needed to be addressed in
a more deliberate manner, structures to enable
engagement around the issue were emerging. It
was during the 1970s and 1980s that Governments
responded to growing concerns about the state
and trends in the natural resources used for
agriculture throughout rural and regional Australia.
At the Commonwealth level, the release of the
national soil conservation study in 1978
(Department of Environment, Housing and
Community Development 1978) provided the
basis for direct intervention by the
Commonwealth into the management of land and
water resources in the States – to be called initially
the National Soil Conservation Program (NSCP),
then the National Landcare Program (NLP), and
culminating in the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT).
The funds coming to WA from this source have
grown from around $1m annually in the early
1980s to $30 million currently.
Actions in WA created an environment to handle
these additional resources. Changes to the Soil
and Land Conservation Act 1945, passed in 1982,
allowed the Commissioner for Soil and Land
Conservation to establish Soil Conservation
District Committees (to be later known as the
Land Conservation District Committees) who had
a responsibility to help administer the Act and take
pro-active action to prevent and repair land and
water degradation. The growth in the number
and activity of the LCDCs vastly exceeded
expectations and the funds from the
Commonwealth were an important source of
resources for professional support and on-ground
demonstrations.
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catchment groups were also becoming established.
The North Bodallin and the Beacon River
Catchments were some of the first to become
established under the National Soil Conservation
Program. While valley floor salinity was an issue in
both catchments, surface water management and
erosion were also concerns.
Processes of community involvement and
participation underpinned natural resource
management planning and policy throughout the
region during the 1990s. These processes were
guided by policies developed under the
Commonwealth Government’s commitment to
the Decade of Landcare, and the use of Telstra
sale funds invested through the Natural Heritage
Trust. In was during this time that Western
Australia developed the State Salinity Action Plan
1996, which was founded on principles of farming
system development, community involvement,
catchment planning processes and hydrological
research. While there remains considerable
support and argument for community
participation, the Decade of Landcare concluded
on a note that this is only the beginning and other
forms of salinity management must be developed
(Mid-term NHT reviews 1999).
In this respect it was significant also that much of
the additional funding for salinity management in
WA was directed at the protection of public
assets, with targeted investment into nature
conservation and improved water quality in
recovery catchments, and in protecting rural
infrastructure through the Rural Towns Program.
Communities under pressure
In this time of greater awareness of the impact of
agriculture on the natural resources, social trends
continue to have a significant impact on the way in
which valley floor salinity is viewed and managed.