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

If so, in what ways has it changed?
Can the reasons for these changes be clearly
identified?
To what degree are the various species of plants
utilized by animals?
What is the relative productivity of the species
present in terms of dry matter yield?
What is the nutritive value of the species concerned?
Are any species toxic or otherwise harmful to grazing
animals?
Which species are perennial and relatively stable in
their annual production?
Which combination of species is likely to give highest
sustained animal production?
Does this combination coincide with the ltclimaxflt
vegetation of the area?
It is useful to consider Hacker's contention that the WARMS
philosophy (see this workshop) is a substantial departure from
the traditional approach. The WARMS objectives to measure
plant and soil changes, to understand their causes and to
convert these into management recommendations, appear similar
to the original objectives. The WARMS philosophy of being
strictly utilitarian and production-oriented, can be met by
the practical interpretation of the above questions. The same
management recommendations from both short and long tern
monitoring can be obtained whether the terminology of
condition or monitoring is used. In all cases we:want to know
what has changed, how does that change affect grazing animals,
what caused the change and what should we do about it. The
WARMS technique of comparing fenced sites with adjacent grazed
sites has much to recommend it in isolating the effects of
stock from the effects of climate.
What is required to initiate the application of the concepts
of condition and trend is, firstly, the deternination of which
species may be regarded as lldesirabletg in any area, and
secondly, the assessment of how far removed the present
vegetation is from the potentially llbestw vegetation, as
measured by its capabilities of sustained high animal
production and maintenance of soil stability.
MONITORING RESEARCH AND DROUGHT
Taylor aid Whalley (1976) suggested that ~ustralian range
research has been suppressed by "the seemingly unresponsive
nature of native pastures to manipulation and the acceptance
of the 'replacement philo~ophy~~~. The past decade has seen an
improvement in this situation and, especially in the past few
years, the formation of landholder committees to tackle
property planning and pasture management in the pastoral zone.
Central to a sustainable pastoral production system is
realistic estimation of carrying capacity. It is important to
note that in the Carnarvon area-of western ~ustralia, Zahran
et al. (1988) showed that at a stocking rate of 1 sheep to 2.5
ha, sheep consumed 1/6 of feed available when feed was
plentiful and 1/2 when in short supply. At a stocking rate of
1:13 ha approximately 1/9 and 1/3 of available fodder was