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SPECIAL FEATURE: OUTBACK WA
unsurprisingly found the majority
of pastoral rangelands were in
need of rehabilitation if there
was any hope of minimising soil
erosion, further vegetation loss or
the onset of noxious weeds.
A survey conducted by the
Western Australian Department
of Agriculture in the mid-90s on
the Murchison area reported
an area some 1,561 km2 was
so severely degraded it may
never recover its former pastoral
capacity. Of greatest concern is
badly degraded land in the very
fertile areas alongside rivers,
small streams and creeks and
surrounding wetlands, home
to unique and diverse natural
Australian wildlife. Areas such
as these are vital to the ecology
and protecting our overall water
supplies as they filter runoff into
waterways, minimising pests
while maintaining a healthy soil
balance. If there’s one thing any
experienced 4WDriver knows,
it’s if the first line you took didn’t
work, try a different approach.
Repeating the same thing over
and over expecting a different
outcome seldom achieves a
solution. Eventually, a well-worn
track becomes over-used; it
doesn’t matter it used to be the
best way over the obstacles.
With ever diminishing returns
and increasing degradation in
land health, we’ve tipped the
natural balance and consumed
the vegetation at a rate beyond
what the land can sustain,
particularly given shifts in
weather patterns and the slow
growth rate of native species.
“An area three times
the size of Tasmania
has now been
degraded to the point
its productivity and
natural balance has all
but been lost.”
It’s time to take a new line.
The Outback needs people
to survive and flourish, but
pastoralists are struggling
to make a living let alone
undertake the considerable
scale of rehabilitation needed for
adequate land regeneration. They
want to protect and repair the
land they love; they have learned
some historical practices are
simply not viable in the long term.
Old shearing shed on a former pastoral station.