soil-conservation-people-religion-and-land.pdf - South West NRM

Cover Story
LAND STE ARDSH
udes Toward The Land
Dr. Brian Roberts is Dean of
School of Applied Science,
Darling Downs Institute of
Advanced Education,
Toowoomba, Qld.
Background
Landholders have come under
increasing pressure from a variety of
city-based groups in recent years. A
number of these groups maintain that
rural producers should show more
sensitivity to the land and its living
organisms. The issues such as animal
welfare and kangaroo protection are
somewhat removed from the more
basic issues of soil conservation, land
clearing and salinity. In the past the
conservation lobby has been primarily
concerned with the more emotive uses
of land such as those involving the
sand islands and rain forests. This
has led rural producers to regard
those who identify with the concept
of conservation, as idealistic and not
in tune with the realities of rural
production and its economic
framework.
In 1985 the National Farmers
Federation initiated a nation-wide
campaign to bring both the economic
plight of the landholder, and his
importance to the nation's exports,
to the attention of the federal
government. This campaign has so
far done little to impress on the
public at large that rural producers
not only accept their responsibility as
the trustees of the community's land
resources but that they can
demonstrate that they are dependable
stewards of the land. This
stewardship implies leaving the land
in a better condition than they
received it - a concept which to date
has not always been recognised as the
hallmark of a good farmer or grazier.
It is against this background that
our past, present and future attitudes
toward land should be analysed, so
that we may develop a fair and lasting
man/land relationship in this wellendowed
country. In short, we
require a combination of financial
incentives, educational programs and
regulatory guidelines, to form the
basis for the development of land use
systems which are in balance with
nature to the extent that we may
confidently expect permanent plant
and animal production from our
ecosystems. This will mean optimum
rather than maximum levels of
production and the acceptance of the
land ethic which forms the
foundation of our appreciation of the
natural resource base to our
economy. :
Attitudes to land in
historic perspective
1.
Going back in history we recognise
a familiar pattern common to most
settlement eras where the acquisition
of land is seen as a new-found
security in which the ability of the
land, including the mulga lands, to
produce wealth is paramount.
The pioneers' relation to their land
is one of survival of man in an
environment over which he has little
control. He exploits nature by
fencing, developing watering points
or clearing for cropping or increased
production. In the pastoral situation,
there is generally a much greater
awareness of man's dependence on
nature, notably his dependence on
rainfall and the carrying capacity of
native pastures on different soils and
in different seasons.
Early in the settlement period
landholders became aware of the
effects of overstocking on their
animals. Unfortunately, the more
insidious, but longer-lasting effects
on the land, are less easily observed.
As such, deterioration of grazing
land is generally not recognised
THE AUSTRALIAN CONSERVATION FARMER PAGE 5