Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

DEPARTMENT OF PRIMARY INDUSTRIES

Review of natural resource datasets for land capability for the North Central CMA region

A milestone report for MIS 07898 Soil Health for Victoria’s Agricultural Landscapes

July 2007

i Published by: Department of Primary Industries, 2007 Primary Industries Research Victoria Bendigo July 2007

Also published on http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/

 The State of Victoria, 2007

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Authorised by the Victorian Government, Midland Highway, Epsom, Victoria.

The National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Reynard, Keith (Keith Albert), 1957- . Review of natural resource datasets for land capability for the North Central CMA region : a milestone report for MIS 07898, soil health for Victoria’s agricultural landscapes.

Bibliography. ISBN 978-1-74199-291-5 (print) ISBN 978-1-74199-292-2 (CD ROM) ISBN 978-1-74199-293-9 (online)

1. North Central Catchment Management Authority. 2. Land capability for agriculture - Victoria - North Central Region. 3. Land use, Rural - Victoria - North Central Region. 4. Water-supply, Rural - Victoria - North Central Region. I. Victoria. Dept. of Primary Industries. II. Title.

631.47099453

This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements...... v List of abbreviations...... vi 1 Introduction...... 1 2 Background ...... 2 3 History of soil survey across North Central Victoria ...... 3 4 Data available for the North Central CMA region ...... 4 4.1 Administrative units...... 5 4.2 Land use ...... 7 4.3 Geology and geomorphology...... 9 4.4 Soils ...... 12 4.5 Hydrology and hydrogeology...... 18 4.6 Biodiversity...... 20 4.7 Threatening processes ...... 23 4.8 Other available data types ...... 26 4.9 Data licensing...... 26 5. Land resource assessment methodology ...... 27 5.1 Objectives ...... 27 5.2 Land resource assessment survey...... 28 5.3 Standardise data attributes ...... 29 6 Discussion...... 35 7 Recommendations ...... 37 References...... 38 Appendix 1: Data categories available for the North Central CMA ...... 40 Appendix 2: Datasets covered by existing license agreement ...... 46

iii

List of Tables

Table 1 Authorities and organisations operating within the North Central CMA region...... 6 Table 2 Local government areas in the North Central CMA region ...... 7 Table 3 Land use GIS data for the North Central CMA region ...... 8 Table 4 GIS data for geology, geomorphology and geophysical assessment of the North Central CMA region...... 12 Table 5 GIS data for soils, landforms and land systems of the North Central CMA region...... 17 Table 6 Hydrological GIS data for the North Central CMA region ...... 19 Table 7 GIS data for biodiversity of the North Central CMA region...... 23 Table 8 Input layers required to develop the output recharge layer from the CAT model...... 26 Table 9 The data attributes identified as the key polygon attribute information...... 30 Table 10 Percentage figures of total number of soil sites for each attribute (total number of sites =714) ...... 31 Table 11 Evaluation of datasets for land resource assessment (LRA) program ...... 34 Table 12 Tasks and benefits associated with LRA for North Central CMA region...... 36 Table 13 Land resource and land management data sets held by PIRVic Bendigo...... 40 Table 14: Datasets of linear, polygonal or point feature types that are available through the Corporate GeoSpatial Data Library (CGDL)...... 42 Table 15 Datasets of linear, polygonal or point feature types that relate to geology, mineral or groundwater resource and exploration. They describe exploration and tenement licence layers administered by Geological Survey of Victoria. These are all in GDA94 MGA format...... 44 Table 16 Gridded data ...... 45 Table 17 Data layers covered under existing license agreement between the North Central CMA and State of Victoria (administered through Department of Sustainability and Environment [DSE]) ...... 46

List of Figures

Figure 1 Availability of 1:100 000 scale geology mapping based upon project areas (GSV, Victoria). . 11 Figure 2 The extent of all soil and land surveys across the North Central CMA region...... 14 Figure 3 Broad scale survey coverage of the North Central CMA region...... 15 Figure 4 Detailed soil and landform surveys within the North Central CMA region...... 15 Figure 5 Schematic representation of components of risk posed by any hazard ...... 33

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the assistance of a number of contributors to this report. Nathan Day from the North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) has been involved in searching through historical reports and allocating soil attribute information to soil unit codes. Members of the Pedology and Soil Physics sub-platform of Primary Industries Research, Victoria have also been instrumental in providing advice and knowledge of historical reports. Nathan Robinson, Mark Imhof, David Rees and Grant Boyle have all provided valuable background to these studies.

Funding for this report has been provided from the National Action Plan (NAP) funds administered through the North Central CMA.

v List of abbreviations

ASC Australian Soil Classification CAT Catchment Analysis Tool CFA Country Fire Authority CGDL Corporate Geospatial Data Library CLPR Centre for Land Protection Research CMA Catchment Management Authority CNES Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales CRC Co-Operative Research Centre CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research DCFL Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands DoA Department of Agriculture DPI Department of Primary Industries DSE Department of Sustainability & Environment EMS Environmental Management System EVC Ecological Vegetation Classes GDC Geospatial Data Catalogue GIS Geographic Information System GMU Geomorphic Unit GSV GeoScience Victoria LRA Land Resource Assessment LUIM Land Use Impact Model MAT Management Action Target MPV Minerals and Petroleum Victoria PIRVic Primary Industries Research Victoria PV Parks Victoria RCT Resource Condition Target RDN Regional Data Network SCA Soil Conservation Authority SVEG Structural Vegetation VRO Victorian Resources Online VSIS Victorian Soil Information System

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Review of natural resource datasets for land capability for the North Central CMA region

Prepared for North Central CMA by Keith Reynard (Primary Industries Research, Victoria)

1 Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide a summary and review of the spatial datasets that are available to support soil and land management in the North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) region. The focus of most of the datasets will be around important landscape characteristics and natural resource features that could assist with the long-term management of land in the North Central CMA region. These datasets will assist with many of the objectives of the Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS), but in particular the soil and land resource data will be vital in addressing the management actions and targets for soil health outlined in DL12 of the RCS (NCCMA 2003).

‘It is estimated that land degradation has led to a 5 to 10 per cent reduction in land productivity. Without remedial action it is projected that by 2050 the area of degraded land could double in Victoria’ (CSIRO 2004). This comment highlights that not only is land degradation a significant issue, but it also contributes to loss of productivity. The way the land is managed is pivotal to both degradation and productivity and is therefore a significant consideration.

The history of soil related research and investigation in Victoria would show that most soil knowledge developed when the Soil Conservation Authority (SCA) and the Department of Agriculture (DoA) were strong and agricultural settlement was a primary focus. With the decline of the SCA and DoA, soil research and investigations have also declined leading to a contemporary knowledge gap. With the increasing promotion of Soil Health as a whole-of-community responsibility there is a growing realisation that soils play a primary role in any holistic natural resource management strategy and sustainable productivity.

Having recognised the need for soil information, the North Central CMA have commissioned this project to identify and collate all existing soil and landscape related datasets with the objective to identify where soils knowledge gaps exist. This will assist in framing future projects for the provision and utilisation of soil related data.

To date the North Central CMA have been active in collating their GIS data layers and this report should be read in conjunction with the Geospatial Data Catalogue (NCCMA 2005) which outlines the existing available data layers on their system. This information is made available to the North Central CMA from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) through the Regional Data Net (RDN) through the provisions of a blanket contract with DSE.

This report will consider the availability of data, and reference information under the following categories: • administrative units • land use • geology and geomorphology • soils

1 • hydrology • biodiversity • threatening processes.

This report is designed to describe the availability of GIS data layers and make recommendations about future data needs while also describing their potential application in some of the models that exist.

2 Background

The North Central CMA’s Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS) (NCCMA 2003) provides the framework for the future direction of natural resource management. The RCS identifies priorities and makes recommendations for natural resource management.

The provision of land capability mapping and land use data are considered priorities for improved land management, reduction in groundwater recharge and improved water quality. A statewide program to map land use is being undertaken by Primary Industries Research Victoria (PIRVic), Department of Primary Industries (DPI).

To date a draft land use layer has been mapped for the North Central CMA region and is provided in the GIS datasets. The collation of existing soil and landscape datasets will identify where soils knowledge gaps exist and help to frame future projects that will require soil related information. Future projects will be framed around the objectives of the Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS) and will help to guide management actions and targets (MATs).

The MATs listed below are specific actions and targets that will benefit from soil and land resource data. The soil information will inform and help to guide the actions outlined as follows: Dryland Package 1: Managing the impacts of dryland salinity

DL1 – complete targeted salinity projects in upper Bet Bet, Redbank, Carrapooee and Reedy and Paradise Creek priority areas by 2008, and Timor West, Bulabul, Natte Yallock, Pental Hills, Glenloth and Marnoo targeted priority areas by 2012; by building community capacity for natural resource management and implementing recommended management practice for multiple environmental benefit (RCS, p. 59).

DL4 – undertake research to develop farming systems that suit floodplain environments and natural resource issues and report by 2008 (RCS, p. 59).

Dryland Package 3: Responding to the challenge of rural residential development

DL9 – development of a ‘Rural Strategy’ that will include an audit of rural lands, a land capability and productivity analysis and the identification of lands to be included within Farming Zone, Rural Activity Zone, Rural Conservation Zone, Rural Living Zone and Low Density Residential and the setting of appropriate resource condition targets (RCTs) (RCS, p. 60). Dryland Package 5: Improved dryland management practice

DL12 – review of regional soil health issues which will incorporate a land resource assessment for the North Central region (RCS, p. 60).

DL13 – adopting Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for sustainable land use options and management practices (RCS, p. 60). Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Water Resources Package 1: Water quality

WR1 – preparing nutrient management strategies and nutrient action plans for catchments within the NCCMA (RCS, p. 84).

WR3 – application of recycled water from waste water treatment plants on suitable soils (RCS, p. 84).

WR4 – development of planning conditions to ensure all high priority domestic water supply catchments and domestic water aquifer intake areas are included and protected in local planning schemes (RCS, p. 84). Water Resources Package 3: Water salinity

WR10 – develop appropriate water quality targets for salinity and nutrients (RCS, p. 85). Waterways and Wetlands Package 1: Protecting and improving riparian wetland habitat

WW5 – identify environmentally sensitive waterways, wetlands and floodplain areas and assist in developing planning controls (RCS, p. 92).

The primary purpose of future land capability assessment is to develop a consistent CMA region-wide soil and landform layer which then becomes the basis for future land capability assessments, land hazard assessment and decision making processes in line with the principles outlined in the RCS. The products developed from this land resource assessment can be integrated across a range of natural resource condition programs, as the soil-landform dataset becomes the baseline for establishing targets for recharge, soil health and erosion, and assessing the risk of degradation. It also provides highly sought after soil knowledge for assessing planning proposals.

3 History of soil survey across North Central Victoria

The first soil survey carried out by the Department of Agriculture (DoA) commenced at Woorinen (near Swan Hill) in 1928, in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). During the following 14 years, seven detailed surveys were carried out in irrigation districts along the Murray River as cooperative projects with CSIR.

These early surveys were focussed upon the northern plains of Victoria, from Shepparton to Swan Hill and Robinvale and were to be used for planning, investigation of district problems and water allocation.

Nine major reports were published between 1944 and 1971 in the Technical Bulletin series. Over 300 generalised soil types (e.g. Kerang clay, Shepparton fine sandy loam) were mapped and published at a scale of 1:32 000. An estimated 55 000 soil profiles (all hand-dug to at least a depth of one metre) were described, classified and sampled for laboratory analysis during this time. The surveyors (usually in teams of two) walked on traverse lines spaced approximately 500 metres apart and described soils at regular intervals using a hand auger. Most of the survey reports were published between 1944 and 1971. Three of the remaining irrigation district surveys were published: Torrumbarry in 1978, Nangiloc in 1986 and Bacchus Marsh in 1987. The total area mapped in all DoA irrigation area surveys was 140 000 hectares.

While the DoA undertook surveys with a focus upon productive capacity of soils, the Soil Conservation Authority (SCA) commenced a program of regional land use surveys in 1954. The aim of these surveys was to obtain information required to determine the most appropriate land uses for an area, and the best methods for their development and combined productivity. The first of these surveys covered a large tract of country in south-western Victoria (comprising the Shires of Portland,

3 Wannon and Glenelg). Similar surveys soon followed in the Grampians catchment and surrounding country and in the Mallee region.

By 1957, the techniques employed on these regional surveys had become streamlined. The terms 'land units', 'land systems' and 'geographic zones' were introduced to differentiate between the scale and detail obtained in the surveys. The Geographic Zone described the landforms, regional geology and dominant soil groups. Land Systems were mapped at a larger (1:250 000) scale and described the landforms, climate, parent material, topography, soils and vegetation. Land Units were mapped at more detailed scales and provided more detailed landform information.

The 1970s and 1980s were a period when the SCA and later Land Protection Division of the Department of Conservation, Forests and Land (DCFL) undertook more detailed land capability surveys for local government and larger regional (1:250 000) Land System surveys. Regional surveys were undertaken for the northern catchments of the Avoca, Loddon and Campaspe river basins. These regional surveys were finalised in the 1980s and 1990s with the completion of the northern catchments and Central and East Gippsland studies.

The more detailed land capability studies for local governments were localised in nature, often focusing on shires that had competing land use pressures (particularly rural-residential and areas of peri-urban growth). These studies were undertaken at a more detailed scale (often 1:25 000) and many were focussed upon shires within central Victoria. While they were completed during the 1990s they provide an invaluable resource of soil and landform information. 4 Data available for the North Central CMA region

An inventory of existing soil and land resource datasets available within the North Central CMA region was undertaken by PIRVic Bendigo. The soil and landform datasets are predominantly outlined in Section 4.4 (Soils) below. This project also considers the range of other datasets available. These have been categorised by themes and are outlined at Sections 4.1 to 4.7 as follows: • administrative units • land use • geology and geomorphology • soils • hydrology and hydrogeology • biodiversity • threatening processes.

The North Central CMA has also been active in accessing GIS data layers. All Victorian CMAs have agreements with the Spatial Information Infrastructure Branch, DSE for the provision of GIS data layers that are available from the Corporate GeoSpatial Data Library. This information is made available to the North Central CMA through the Regional Data Network (RDN). The layers subject to this agreement are listed at Appendix 2.

All layers held by the North Central CMA have been catalogued in their Geospatial Data Catalogue (GDC), 3 rd Edition, June 2005. This report should be read in conjunction with the North Central CMA data catalogue. Datasets documented in the North Central CMA data catalogue relate to a wide range of Geographic Information Resources Management Programs within the region. However, it should be noted that the catalogue is not exhaustive and many other geospatial datasets exist within the organization. The incorporation of additional geospatial datasets from throughout the organization into the GDC is an ongoing process. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Additionally the datasets are outlined in Appendix 1 in tables that have been categorised based upon the type of data, the source of data and/or the custodianship of the dataset and are set-out in tables as follows:

• Data available through the Corporate GeoSpatial Data Library (CGDL) that are point, poly or linear features. Overall there is widespread but broad coverage of natural resource datasets across the North Central CMA. These data layers range from vegetation in the form of ecological vegetation classes (EVCs), tree cover, structural vegetation (SVEG) and flora point sites to cadastral layers (roads, administrative boundaries), land management through to land use, soil and landscape information. The North Central CMA already has access to many of these layers through the RDN.

• Data available from Minerals and Petroleum Victoria (MPV) that are point, poly or linear features and relate to geology, mineral or groundwater resource and exploration. Many of the data layers produced by MPV are based upon exploratory operations of mining companies and therefore are limited to the areas licensed for exploration. A number of the MPV layers are administrative boundaries of various mining licences such as exploration licences, extractive tenements or mining licence leases.

• Radiometrics data is available for the North Central CMA region. MPV capture geophysical data from various project areas across the state. The data has been collected at transect spacings up to 400 metres apart. These datasets have been stitched together to form a statewide image in .ers format, or ER Mapper grids and can be suitably used at scales of 1:100 000 and broader. There are also other finer geophysical surveys that have taken place within the North Central CMA region which have been used primarily for mineral exploration. For access to these layers it is recommended to contact Geoscience Information and Geophysics Section, Geological Survey Branch, MPV.

Data layers in all of the above classes have been processed to ensure consistency of datum and formats, and are now available as GIS datasets for use in ArcView or ArcGIS. The tables also outline the nominal input scales, the master library group (relevant to those datasets in the CGDL) and a brief description of the data. Furthermore the layers described in Table 13 (the CGDL datasets) have metadata associated with them which is available in a separate but associated document ‘Catalogue of GIS Datasets’.

The GIS datasets outlined in Sections 4.1 to 4.7 relate primarily to existing data that is available through the CGDL and are generally in polygonal, linear or point feature types. While some of these datasets are covered under the existing Data Supply Agreement with the State of Victoria, the remainder will need licensing arrangements to be undertaken prior to transferring to North Central CMA (refer to Section 4.9 Data licensing).

4.1 Administrative units

Theme overview

The North Central CMA region covers an extensive area of Central Victoria of close to 30 000 square kilometres, bordered by the Murray River to the north, the Central Highlands to the south and Mt Camel range to the east. The regional population is over 230 000 with the major urban centre being Greater Bendigo with a population of 90 000. The region contains more than 50 urban centres with larger regional centres including Swan Hill, Echuca, Donald, Maryborough, Castlemaine, Kyneton, Daylesford and St Arnaud.

5 The region includes the four major river catchments of Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca and Avon- Richardson. The Campaspe and Loddon rivers drain directly into the Murray River whereas the Avoca River drains into a series of terminal lakes and wetlands (the Avoca Marshes). The Avon- Richardson catchment is internally drained, with most surface water draining into Lake Buloke in the north of the catchment.

Approximately 13 per cent of the region is public land, with much of this reserved and managed for specific purposes including national, state and regional parks, flora reserves and reference areas.

The region was once Australia’s premier gold mining region. Several gold mining ventures are currently active in the region, mostly in the Bendigo area. Fossicking is widespread throughout the box-ironbark forests of the goldfields.

Relevant documents and sources of information

State Government Departments and authorities that have interests in the North Central region are listed in Table 1 and include: Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs), local governments, Country Fire Authority (CFA), Parks Victoria (PV), Landcare groups and other groups with a specific focus such as conservation, forestry, tourism or residential.

Table 1 Authorities and organisations operating within the North Central CMA region Authority Contact details

Department of Primary Industries Web site: http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au

Email: [email protected]

Customer Service Centre: 136 186

Department of Sustainability & Environment Web site: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/index.htm

Email: [email protected]

Customer Service Centre: 136 186

Parks Victoria Web site: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au

Information Centre: 131 963

Country Fire Authority Web site: http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au

Email: [email protected]

Landcare Australia Web site: http://www.landcareaustralia.com.au

Email: [email protected]

Information number: 1800 151 105

Information and contacts also available at:

http://gmr.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/rimmo/Lcweb/directory.html

Local governments that are fully contained or partially contained within the North Central CMA region are listed in Table 2. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 2 Local government areas in the North Central CMA region Local government area Web site address

Ballarat City Council http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/

Buloke Shire Council http://www.buloke.vic.gov.au/

Campaspe Shire Council http://www.campaspe.vic.gov.au/

Central Goldfields Shire Council http://www.centralgoldfields.com.au/

Gannawarra Shire Council http://www.gannawarra.vic.gov.au/

Greater Bendigo City Council http://www.bendigo.vic.gov.au/

Hepburn Shire Council http://www.hepburn.vic.gov.au/

Loddon Shire Council http://www.loddon.vic.gov.au/

Macedon Ranges Shire Council http://www.macedon-ranges.vic.gov.au/

Mitchell Shire Council http://www.mitchellshire.vic.gov.au/

Moorabool Shire Council http://www.moorabool..vic.gov.au/

Mount Alexander Shire Council http://www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/

Northern Grampians Shire Council http://www.ngshire.vic.gov.au/

Pyrenees Shire Council http://www.pyrenees.vic.gov.au/

Swan Hill Rural City Council http://www.swanhill.vic.gov.au/

Yarriambiack Shire Council http://www.yarriambiack.vic.gov.au/

Relevant GIS data

Whilst this project aims to collate existing GIS datasets that relate to soil and landscape information, the North Central CMA have been active in gaining access to other GIS data layers available from the CGDL. These include many of the administrative data layers such as local government boundaries, road layout and township locations amongst others. For further information about these data layers refer to the North Central CMA Geospatial Data Catalogue (GDC), 3 rd Edition, June 2005.

4.2 Land use

Theme overview

Land use in the North Central region is diverse, with agriculture the principal activity, utilising 75per cent of the land. The flatter and more fertile areas within the catchment have been substantially cleared for dryland agriculture, principally sheep and beef cattle grazing (NRE 1997), viticulture and cropping. The cropped areas include grains such as cereals, legumes, oil seed and hay. Forestry is also a significant land use, particularly around Creswick and Daylesford, (see VRO website: http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/nthcen_landuse ). Irrigation areas cover much of the lower Loddon and Campaspe riverine plans with horticultural land uses and dairying the main enterprises. Land close to the major centres is increasingly developed for horticulture, new and emerging agricultural commodities and for ‘lifestyle’ farming. Intensive animal production industries are also represented in the region.

Approximately 13 per cent of the region is public land, with much of this reserved and managed for specific purposes including national, state and regional parks, flora reserves and reference areas. The most intensive forest operations are concentrated in foothill forests and softwood plantations in the south. A range of products including firewood, posts and poles, furniture timbers, honey and Eucalyptus oil are obtained from forests and woodlands in the north.

7 Major threats facing the region include irrigation and dryland salinity, water quality decline, groundwater contamination, soil acidification, erosion and soil structural problems, flooding and drainage, fragmentation and destruction of wildlife habitat, and pest plant and animal infestations and proliferation.

Relevant documents and sources of information

There are several main sources for information on land use and land use change. The Australian Natural Resources Atlas is a large project involving a number of organisations including Land and Water Australia (LWA) ( http://www.lwa.gov.au ) and the National Land and Water Resource Audit (NLWRA) ( http://www.nlwra.gov.au/ ). The atlas is available at http://audit.ea.gov.au/ANRA/atlas_home.cfm and provides information and maps at a national level on land use and land use change. The mapping is coordinated by the Bureau of Rural Sciences (BRS) (http://www.affa.gov.au/brs ), which is also overseeing a nation-wide land use mapping project. DPI and DSE are involved with this land use mapping project for Victoria. Land use maps for Victoria are available at the Victorian Resources Online web site (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/vrohome ). More information regarding land use can be accessed through the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Local government offices may also have more localised information on land use and changes in their area, as do CMAs.

Relevant GIS data

Land use data listed in Table 3 is currently available and complete. This list is likely to change over time and is not a complete summary of the available spatial data, rather it provides an indication of the type of spatial information available. Datasets that are held by DSE or DPI form part of the Corporate Geospatial Data Library (CGDL). Information about these datasets has been taken from the CGDL metadata, which is available to departmental staff via the internet.

Table 3 Land use GIS data for the North Central CMA region Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

LANDUSE100 1:100 000 DPI - Tatura 25-100 m Land use in the North Central CMA region. Still under development – draft version currently available from PIRVic, Tatura office

LANDUSE250 1:250 000 DSE – 100 m-1 km Broad agricultural landuse categories that was Landscape initially used to support the State of the and systems Environment Report, 1992 1:500 000

PLM100PLY 1:100 000 DSE - Crown ± 100 m Land management and legal status for Victoria – land there are several other datasets that are derived information from this

PLMLS100 1:100 000 DSE – Spatial +100 m Public land describing current legal status Information Infrastructure

PLMMT100 1:100 000 DSE – Spatial +100 m Public land with simplified current management Information status Infrastructure

Whilst this section has collated existing GIS datasets that relate to land use information, the North Central CMA have been active in gaining access to other GIS data layers available from the CGDL. For further information about these data layers refer to the North Central CMA Geospatial Data Catalogue, 3 rd Edition, June 2005.

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

4.3 Geology and geomorphology

Theme overview

The North Central CMA region lies within the large sedimentary Murray Basin, which evolved at the beginning of the Tertiary period. The Murray Basin has experienced periods of marine incursion during which time marine sediments were deposited. During the Quaternary these marine sediments have been covered by a veneer of aeolian sediments (dune fields, sheets, lunettes, and source bordering dunes) and alluvial units (channel, floodplain, and lacustrine deposits).

A statewide geomorphic framework is currently under development by PIRVic to provide a hierarchical classification of landform development ranging from large broad landform regions down to local unit level. The Geomorphic Unit (GMU) provides an understanding of land in terms of its form and process.

There are four broad regional GMUs that exist in the North Central CMA region: the extensive Riverine Plains, the North Western Dunefields and Plains, the Western Uplands and the Western Plains. The Riverine Plains

The Riverine Plains is the alluvial plain associated with the Murray River and essentially consists of two GMUs - the older alluvial plain of the Shepparton Formation and the current floodplain of the Coonambidgal Formation.

The extensive alluvial plains of the Shepparton Formation consist of treeless plains alternating with prior stream plains and stream channel levees. The soils of the extensive treeless plains are mostly clay soils of Red Sodosols while the levees tend to be of sandy clay texture. The upper metre or so often contains visible carbonates, suggesting accessions of dust from deserts to the west. The original vegetation was grasslands and woodlands in which grey box was prominent. The current floodplains of the Coonambidgal Formation are found along the Murray River and beside streams flowing northward from the Great Dividing Range - the Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca, Wimmera and Richardson rivers. There are also some aeolian landforms such as lunettes and source bordering dunes. Clays predominate and the original vegetation is mostly fringing woodland of black box and redgum.

The North Western Dunefields and Plains

The North West Dunefields and Plains comprises the Calcareous dunefields (Woorinen Formation) GMU and the Siliceous dunefields (Lowan Sand, Sunset, Big and Little Desert) GMU.

The Siliceous dunefields occur mainly in the Mallee and the Wimmera CMA regions, while the Calcareous dunefields is the major North Western Dunefields and Plains GMU occurring in the western and north western part of the North Central CMA region.

The Tertiary sea reached as far east as the Swan Hill/Kerang districts. In Pliocene times the sea retreated westwards, depositing Parilla Sand on a plain with a fairly regular series of NNW trending stranded beach ridges. This surface was laterised. Faulting has produced several broad ridges and troughs, e.g. the north-south Cannie Ridge to the west of the Avoca River. Calcareous aeolian dust known as ‘parna’ (Butler 1956) blanketed the landscape in the north-west of the North Central CMA region, including the undulating plains on the marine Parilla Sand. This landscape represents the eastern limit of the extensive Wimmera plains. Much of the Calcareous dunefields region is covered by a multi-layered deposit of variably calcareous sands, loams and clays.

9 The Western Uplands

Most of the North Central CMA region comprises the Western Uplands, embracing the upper reaches of several north-flowing streams - the Campaspe, Loddon and Avoca catchments.

Elevations exceed 800 metres only in a few small areas, notably Mt Macedon at 1001 metres. The areas straddling the divide have the highest average annual rainfall, over 700 mm, and the headwaters of the Campaspe and Loddon rivers receive more than 1000 mm. Average annual rainfall in the northern parts of the uplands is only about 400 mm.

Most surface rocks are Palaeozoic sediments. There are some large granitic plutons which take in the Mt Alexander and Cobaw Range and Mt Korong. The Terricks Range is an isolated pluton protruding from the riverine plain. Some valleys, notably along the Campaspe and Loddon rivers, contain basalt which is contiguous with the vast volcanic plain in the south. The basalt is mostly strongly dissected, with prominent stony scarps.

The hilly lands are mostly gently sloping. Moderate slopes occur in the south-east in and around the Cobaw pluton, along the Pyrenees, along the Mt Camel and Heathcote Ranges and on numerous metamorphic aureoles which are prominent in otherwise gently sloping landscapes. Steep slopes are confined to small areas, for example, Mt Macedon, Mt Alexander and in parts of the Pyrenees. The Western Plains

To the south of the uplands lies the vast Western Plain, much of which is a volcanic plain with deep sodic soils. These are gently undulating and formed on basalt and extend northwards along the Loddon valley as far as Bridgewater. The basaltic plains are frequently dissected by lateral streams and may remain as small, flat topped remnants. Notable examples occur along the Loddon River valley between Guildford and Daylesford. There are also stony rises on the younger basalt flows.

The only area of volcanic rocks in the Avoca catchment occurs in the south-east where basalt extruded in the Clunes area during Pliocene times flowed down Bet Bet Creek, cutting off the Late Tertiary Avoca River from the Loddon River system.

Relevant documents and sources of information

There are several sources of information and reports on the geology and geomorphology in the North Central CMA region. Victorian Resources Online provides a good source of information and mapping for the statewide geomorphology of Victoria which is available at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/landform_geomorphology . This site provides an excellent background to the development of the Geomorphic Framework, a hierarchical approach to classifying the landform evolution. It also lists the Geomorphic Divisions highlighting the major divisions and sub-divisions being developed by the Geomorphic Reference Group. Additionally a description of geomorphological units (GMUs) specific to the North Central CMA region may be found at the website: http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/nthcen_landform_geo?OpenDocument .

GeoScience Victoria (GSV) is a business of the Minerals and Petroleum Victoria (MPV) within DPI. GSV has a range of geological data products including radiometrics images and regolith mapping. Map indexes of GSV data are available under http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nrenmp.nsf/FID/- C11B7C2F08BB8C52CA256C51007EFEA2?OpenDocument . In terms of available geology data, there is statewide coverage at 1:250 000 scale which provides a complete coverage within the North Central CMA region, however the availability of 1:100 000 scale geology mapping is dependent upon project areas. This is highlighted in Figure 1. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Figure 1 Availability of 1:100 000 scale geology mapping based upon project areas (GSV, Victoria).

Geophysical information is used quite extensively in soil and landform characterisation assessment projects. It is also utilised in geological exploration programs and GSV has a high level commitment to collecting geophysical information in support of mining industry requirements. An outline of the geophysical data products can be viewed at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nrenmp.nsf/FID/- D8646D9323ACA31CCA256BF3000163C2?OpenDocument .

Radiometrics is an extremely useful information set used in PIRVic’s soil and landform projects. Radiometric data measures natural gamma radiation of three naturally occurring elements, potassium (K), thorium (Th) and uranium (U). These elements help to remotely detect differences in surface soils down to approximately 30 cm and help to delineate soil boundaries. The geophysical data held by GSV is collected as image data. PIRVic has taken the images and converted to a grid based format suitable for importing to ArcView and ArcGIS platforms. PIRVic now has a statewide layer of radiometric grids suitable for use at varying scales down to 1:50 000 scale. Additionally there are other areas of radiometric image information that have been flown over localised areas at varying scales of resolution in pursuit of mining exploration. These are also available through GSV.

Relevant GIS data

Geological and geomorphological data listed in Table 4is currently available and complete. This list is likely to change over time and is not a compete summary of the spatial data available, rather it provides an indication of the type of spatial information available. Datasets that are held by DSE or DPI form part of the Corporate Geospatial Data Library (CGDL). Information about these datasets has been taken from the CGDL metadata, which is available to departmental staff via the internet. Other, more specialised information may also be available for different regions.

11 Table 4 GIS data for geology, geomorphology and geophysical assessment of the North Central CMA region Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

GEOL100 1:100 000 DPI – GeoScience Accurate to Geological data – outcropping rock units and Victoria 1:100 000 boundary types separating rock units

GEOL250 1:250 000 DPI – Geoscience Accurate to Primary geological data, geological polygons and Victoria 1:1 000 000 boundaries

GEOPHYSICAL_ 1:100 000 DPI – Geoscience Accurate to Geological rock types and rock type boundaries POLYS_100K Victoria 1:1 000 000 based upon geophysical interpretation

GMU250 1:100 000 DPI, DSE – 100 m to Hierarchical framework of geomorphic units in three to Landscape tiers 1 km Systems 1:250 000

RADIOMETRICS 1:50 000 to DPI - PIRVic 50 m grid Radiometric grids based upon Potassium (K), cell sizes Uranium (U) and Thorium (Th) 1:250 000

4.4 Soils

Theme overview

The soil and landform features of the North Central CMA region are closely related to the geology and geomorphology (refer Section 4.3) and these soils should be considered in relation to the evolutionary development of these areas as outlined in the previous section.

There are a range of soils occurring in the North Central CMA region that have strong texture contrasts between the surface and subsoil horizons. These have previously been referred to as duplex soils under the Northcote Factual Key (Northcote 1979) system and are now referred to as the Sodosols and Chromosols under the Australian Soil Classification (Isbell 1998). Soils occurring within the North Central CMA region that lack strong texture contrast and were formerly referred to as gradational soils under the Factual Key are now referred to as Dermosols, Ferrosols and Calcarasols under the Australian Soil Classification (ASC). Cracking clay soils have a high shrinking and swelling capacity and crack as the soil dries are known as Vertosols, while shallow soils that are weakly developed with low water holding capacity are the Tenosols.

Sodosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Sodosols?OpenDocument )

Red Sodosols are the dominant soil type of the North Central CMA region. They occur mainly on the older alluvial plains of the Riverine Plain (refer Section 4.3) where they may contain carbonates in the subsoil. These are generally referred to as the ‘red brown earths’. There is a textural sequence from soils with a high proportion of sand on prior stream levees to clay soils on the floodplains. The lighter soils have higher productivity, both under dryland and irrigated farming. The heavier soils are more affected by hardsetting surfaces and low hydraulic conductivity.

Red Sodosols with gravels in the upper horizons are associated with the Palaeozoic sediments on gentle hillslopes and they are also limited to the volcanic plains west of the Cairn Curran Reservoir.

Yellow to yellow brown Sodosols occur on hillslopes, on volcanic plains and on older alluvial plains. Where they occur on gentler slopes on Palaeozoic sediments, sheet and gully erosion may be a problem, and in places tunnel erosion.

Vertosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Vertosols?OpenDocument ) Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Vertosols, or cracking clay soils, occur in four situations in the North Central CMA region - on floodplains, ridged plains, volcanic plains and palaeolacustrine plains.

Large floodplains on which grey Vertosols predominate occur beside the Murray and Loddon rivers, whilst other streams have smaller occurrences. Salinity status is generally low however poor surface structure usually limits agricultural use to grazing.

The ridged plain of the Avon Richardson catchment is dominated by grey Vertosols with self mulching surfaces and alkaline sodic subsoils, while occurrences of grey and black gilgaied Vertosols are found in volcanic plains of the upland Loddon and Campaspe rivers.

Calcarosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Calcarosols?OpenDocument )

Calcarosols have gradational texture profiles with abundant carbonates at depth. Colour is mostly red brown and the subsoils are sodic . Light textured Calcarosols with loamy surfaces occur in the north- western part of the North Central CMA region where east-west sand dunes alternate with broad swales. These lighter soils have lower fertility and are more prone to wind erosion.

Heavy textured Calcarosols occur further to the south in association with sub-round hummocks. The upper metre of these soils is permeable but tending to lower permeability at depth. The land is relatively fertile, stable and productive.

Dermosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Dermosols?OpenDocument )

Dermosols are well structured gradational soils. Within the North Central CMA region they occur mostly as hillslope Palaeozoic sediments with stony profiles and are usually less than 0.5 m thick. Some areas of deeper Dermosols occur on the colluvium along the Mt Camel Range, on a number of the metamorphic aureoles and to the south of Lake Eppalock.

Volcanic plain Dermosols occupy erodible units on stony rises or scarps. Profiles are shallow, stony and red, brown or grey depending on drainage status. Associated soils are Vertosols on alluvium.

Friable red Dermosols are similar to Ferrosols, but lack the high free iron oxide contents, and often have high stone contents. They occur on the steep slopes of the Mt William Range (composed of Cambrian volcanic and sedimentary rocks), on the Macedon Range (composed of rhyodacite), and on the gentle slopes on Palaeozoic sediments to the west of Woodend.

Chromosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Chromosols?OpenDocument )

Chromosols display a significant texture change from loamy upper horizons to clay subsoils which are neither sodic nor strongly acidic. Subsoils are strongly mottled and strongly structured with shiny clay peds suggesting some early Pleistocene weathering. The major land use on Chromosol soils within the North Central CMA region is grazing.

Hillslope Chromosols occur widely in the uplands, mostly on granitic rocks on and near major catchment boundaries. Slopes are mostly gentle but may be moderate, for example, along the Heathcote Range. Tenosols may occupy steeper slopes.

13 Volcanic plain Chromosols are found on basalts near the main divide. The surface horizons contain abundant quartz sand and gravels, indicating the presence of transported particles by wind and water deposition. Vertosols usually occur on adjacent valley alluvium.

Ferrosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Ferrosols?OpenDocument )

Ferrosols, traditionally known as 'krasnozems', have friable red subsoils high in free iron oxide, and lack strong texture contrast between the surface (A) horizons and subsoil (B) horizons. They occur along the Great Divide, from Romsey to Beaufort, on volcanic plains in areas of higher rainfall, and also on numerous volcanic vents. Their structure is generally very well developed but there are exceptions, notably in the Romsey/Lancefield area.

Tenosols (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/NC_Soils_Tenosols?OpenDocument )

Tenosols have little profile development and frequently occur as stony loams less than 0.5 m deep on steep hills with sedimentary rocks, scattered throughout the uplands. Associated soils may be Dermosols and shallow stony Sodosols.

Coarse sandy Tenosols of variable depth occupy steep granitic hills and alluvium-colluvium derived from these. Associated soils are mostly Chromosols.

Soil and land surveys

With the growing realisation that soils play a primary role in any holistic natural resource management strategy and sustained productivity, the North Central CMA have commissioned this project to identify and collate all the existing soil and landscape related datasets. One of the main objectives of this report is to identify where soils knowledge gaps exist and where additional soil and landform information may be required. Figure 2 illustrates the extent of soil and land surveys that have taken place in the North Central CMA region. Whilst an initial glance may indicate there is very little area remaining that would require soil survey to take place, these surveys have been undertaken at different periods of time, by different agencies and with different spatial focus, leading to varying levels of detail.

Figure 2 The extent of all soil and land surveys across the North Central CMA region

The different levels of detail can be defined in two different ways. Firstly the concept of scale needs to be appreciated. Secondly the survey standards and number of soil parameters, or attributes that were measured and analysed also needs to be understood. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

The concept of varying scales of surveys gives rise to the differentiation of broad scale surveys versus finer scaled surveys. Broad scale surveys are considered to be 1:100 000 scale or broader as these are generally appropriate at regional planning levels but lack the data reliability to be utilised at finer scales. Fine scale surveys are considered to range from 1:25 000 to 1:50 000 scale and are appropriate for local government planning and broad property planning. The surveys and relative scales are listed in Table 5 below. Figure 3 highlights the broad scale surveys while Figure 4 shows the fine scale surveys. While many more surveys have been undertaken at a fine scale, it is the broad scale surveys that encapsulate a far greater spatial extent within the North Central CMA region. Therefore the reliability of this data limits its capacity to be used at a finer scale of resolution.

Figure 3 Broad scale survey coverage of the North Central CMA region

Figure 4 illustrates the extent of fine scale surveys within the North Central CMA region. Most of these surveys have occurred as either the DoA surveys undertaken to develop irrigation areas on the Northern Riverine Plains, or as a part of the SCA surveys to provide detailed land resource information for local government planning, occurring principally along the Calder corridor in this region. As a result of the increased level of detail, soil point information has been obtained at a far greater intensity. Soil sites that have been extracted from the Victorian Soil Information System (VSIS) are also shown on these maps.

Figure 4 Detailed soil and landform surveys within the North Central CMA region

The Victorian Soil Information System (VSIS) is currently being developed for the storage of all soil site information across the state. In the future this tool will provide soil information about soil sites from all over Victoria. The intention is to keep it updated as new data are gathered, however at this stage of development it will require enormous effort and resources to input the backlog of data for soil sites.

15 Currently there are 714 soil sites from the North Central CMA region stored within the VSIS. There are approximately 45 000 soil auger sites collected as a part of the DoA surveys stored within DPI’s archive system. Landholders within the North Central CMA region have recently undertaken to make their soil test results available, however these will need to be quality assured and methods of analysis known.

Relevant documents and sources of information

There are several sources of information and reports on the soils in the North Central CMA region. Victorian Resources Online provides a good source of information and mapping for the soil information of Victoria which is available at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/nthcen_soil .

Relevant GIS data

The datasets listed in Table 5 highlight data that is available in digital form, and are highlighted in Figure 2. As mentioned these studies have been undertaken at different times, by different agencies and at different scales and therefore contain varying levels of detail. While the scale of data collection and accuracy limitations are listed in Table 5, the range of attribute information collected and methodology are not listed. These aspects need to be considered in assessing the appropriateness of data.

These GIS layers are held on behalf of the Victorian State Government by Primary Industries Research Victoria (PIRVic), who is custodian for soil and land resource datasets.

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 5 GIS data for soils, landforms and land systems of the North Central CMA region Dataset name Scale Auspicing Accuracy Description agency

SWHILL_CP 1:32 000 Dept of Ag Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils on the Swan Hill Irrigation Area [parts of the Parishes of Tyntynder and Castle Donnington] (Sargeant 1962)

EWIM 1:100 000 Dept of Ag Accurate to 1:100 000 Soils of the Eastern Wimmera (Badawy 1984)

ROCHEST 1:32 000 Dept of Ag Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Rochester and Echuca Districts (Skene & Harford 1964)

LOD-MID 1:25 000 Dept of Ag Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Mid Loddon Valley (Skene 1971)

KERANG 1:32 000 Dept of Ag Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Torrumbarry Irrigation District (Sargeant, Newell & Walbran 1979)

HUNT25_MU 1:25 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Huntly District (Bluml, Boyle & Jones 1995a)

STRATH25_MU 1:25 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye District (Bluml, Boyle & Jones 1995b)

MAR25_MU 1:25 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the City of Greater (urban fringe) Bendigo, Marong District (Bryant & Lorimer 1993)

MAR50_MU 1:50 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:50 000 in A land capability study of the City of Greater rural areas Bendigo, Marong District (Bryant & Lorimer 1993)

KYTON25_MU 1:25 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the former Shire of (urban fringe) Kyneton (Baxter & Boyle 1996)

KYTON100_MU 1:100 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:100 000 A land capability study of the former Shire of in rural areas Kyneton (Baxter & Boyle 1996)

MITCH100 1:100 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:100 000 A land capability study of the Shire of Mitchell in rural areas (Bluml et al. 1996)

LODCATCH 1:100 000 CFL Accurate to 1:100 000 Land inventory of the Loddon River Catchment (detailed soil (Schoknecht 1988) information is limited)

CAMP_MU 1:40 000 & SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:40 000 A report on the Residential Land Capability and 1:100 000 (urban fringe) and Agricultural Land Suitability in the Shire of 1:100 000 (rural) Campaspe (Bluml et al. 1998)

CAMPLS 1:100 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:100 000 A study of the land in the Campaspe River Catchment (Lorimer & Schoknecht 1987)

AVOCLS 1:250 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:250 000 A study of the land in the Catchment of the Avoca River (Lorimer & Rowan 1982)

ROM50_MU 1:50 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:50 000 A land capability study of the former Shire of Romsey (Baxter, Boyle & Jones 1994)

WOOD50_MU 1:50 000 SCA (CLPR) Accurate to 1:50 000 A land capability study of the former Shire of (urban fringe) Newham and Woodend (Singleton & Lorimer 1992)

SOIL_PTS 1:1 to DPI – Various Soil reconnaissance sites in the Victorian Statewide Landscape Soils Database (VSSD) 1:100 000 Systems

17 4.5 Hydrology and hydrogeology

Theme overview

The North Central CMA region includes the four major river catchments of Campaspe, Loddon, Avoca and Avon-Richardson. The Campaspe and Loddon drain directly into the Murray River, while the Avoca discharges into the northern swamps. During flood events the Avoca River may drain to the Murray River or via a series of effluent stream channels to other terminal lakes. The Avon- Richardson catchment is internally drained with most surface water terminating at Lake Buloke.

Water is transported into the North Central CMA region from the Goulburn catchment (via the Waranga Western Main Channel) for domestic and agricultural uses. Major storages in the catchment include Lake Eppalock, Cairn Curran and Tullaroop reservoirs. Combined with the many other smaller water storages, they provide more than 1.5 gigalitres for irrigation, urban and domestic uses. Three of the four North Central sub-catchments include extensive irrigation infrastructure which services farmers in this region, as well as the Mallee and Wimmera regions, through a Domestic Stock and Supply System. The Avon-Richardson is the only North Central catchment with only a small irrigation district. (VRO Website) (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/nthcenregn.nsf/pages/nthcen_water_swresources?OpenDocument )

Major studies undertaken on the hydrogeology of the Murray Basin in North Central Victoria include those by Lawrence (1975), Macumber (1991) and Tickell and Humphreys (1987). Groundwater in the North Central catchment is extensively utilised for stock and irrigation purposes and, increasingly, for town water supplies. Studies of groundwater within this region have predominantly been into the effects of salinity upon land and water quality.

The basal aquifer system in the Murray Basin is the fluviatile Renmark Group, which consists of the Warina Sand, which is dominantly a quartz sand, and the younger Olney Formation, which tends to be more carbonaceous and silty to clayey. The Renmark Group lies beneath the thick sequence of the Geera Clay and Ettrick Marl aquitards. Groundwater flow is mainly north and north-westerly and salinities in the Renmark Group increase along flow paths. The Renmark Group has had some preliminary testing of groundwater yields, but because of its greater relative depth, has not been exploited at this stage.

The sands and gravels of the Calivil Formation infilled the former valleys of the Avoca, Loddon and Campaspe drainage systems that were incised into the Renmark Group. The aquifer is well developed close to the highlands where coarser grained sediments were deposited. The aquifer becomes increasingly more confined to the north. Groundwater salinity to the highland front is usually low but increases to the north along flow paths to be highly saline beneath much of the Riverine Plain. Groundwater from the Calivil Formation is exploited around the Basin margins for irrigation and stock water but it becomes too saline for irrigation beyond about 80 km of the highland front.

In the Avon-Richardson catchment, groundwater usage generally ranges from stock quality to salt farming potential. The Avoca catchment's groundwater resources are not well documented but stock use is a reasonably common application. Irrigation potential also exists in the Natte Yallock/Rathscar area and in the Wooroonook Lakes/Glenloth areas.

Relevant documents and sources of information

There are a variety of management plans, monitoring schemes and strategies relating to river and wetland health, which are relevant to the Victorian Volcanic Plains. The Victorian River Health Strategy (available at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dse/nrenlwm.nsf/LinkView/EA483C56ACB4981E4A256B6C001796839B926 Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

10925EB41C9CA256D0300212E74 ) outlines the Victorian State Government framework for management and restoration of Victoria’s river systems. The strategy outlines targets and priority- setting criteria for future investment in river health and restoration works. In addition to the Regional Catchment Strategies developed by each CMA, CMAs have developed River Health Strategies, which identify assets, threats and management strategies relating to waterways in the specific area. These are generally available on the CMA web sites (see previous section). CMA web sites also provide a range of information on the area’s sub-catchments and basins, waterways, wetlands and groundwater.

The web site ( http://www.vicwaterdata.net/vicwaterdata/home.aspx ) for the Victoria Water Resource Data Warehouse provides a large amount of information about Victoria’s water resources and incorporates data from programs such as Waterwatch (http://www.vic.waterwatch.org.au/ ) and the Index of Stream Condition.

The Victorian Resources Online web site (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/vrohome ) also provides access to a large amount of data on hydrology, including rivers and streams, groundwater, bores and wetlands.

Relevant GIS data

Hydrology and hydrogeology data sets listed in Table 6are currently available and complete. This list is likely to change over time and is not a complete summary of the available spatial data, rather it provides an indication of the type of spatial information available. Datasets that are held by DSE or DPI form part of the Corporate Geospatial Data Library (CGDL). Information about these datasets has been taken from the CGDL metadata, which is available to departmental staff via the internet. Access to this information and datasets can be sought through departmental offices or by referring to the ‘Catalogue of GIS Datasets’ associated with this report. Other, more specialised information may also be available for different regions.

Table 6 Hydrological GIS data for the North Central CMA region Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

BASIN100 1:100 000 DPI – Landscape 100 m - Major river basins of Victoria Systems 1 km

HYRDO25 1:25 000 DSE - SII 10-100 m Linear hydrological features

HYDRO100 1:100 000 DSE - SII 100 m - Linear hydrological features 1 km

HYDROP100 1:100 000 DSE - SII 10-100 m Polygonised hydrological features illustrating water bodies

HYDFLP25 1:25 000 DPI – PIRVic Surface hydrology flow paths

WATER100 1:100 000 DSE - FRIS 100 m - Water bodies and areas – more recent update of 1 km HYDROP100

WETLAND_1788 1:25 000 DSE - BNR 10-100 m Wetland location and extent prior to European settlement

WETLAND_1994 1:25 000 DSE - BNR 10-100 m Wetland types and extent based on aerial photography from the 1970s and 1980s

WETLANDDIR 1:25 000 DSE - BNR 10-100 m Directory of Important Wetlands. Details of wetlands available at http://www.ea.gov.au/water/wetlands/database/index.html

RAMSAR100 1:100 000 DSE - BNR 10-100 m Ramsar listed wetlands

19 4.6 Biodiversity

Theme overview

Prior to European settlement, the vegetation of the North Central CMA region was a mixture of woodlands and forests occurring on the slopes and higher altitude areas of the upper catchment and lightly wooded and natural grasslands occupying the riverine plains to the north. Riverine forests dissected this landscape while much of the plains also contained a range of permanent and temporary freshwater wetlands.

Since that time, mining, timber extraction and clearing for agriculture and urbanisation have drastically altered the vegetation of the region. Only a very small percentage of native grasslands survive due to development for agriculture, whilst elsewhere the structure and species composition of many areas has been altered by past mining and timber harvesting practices. Remnant forests and woodlands in the North Central CMA region are confined mainly to rivers and floodplains, with isolated pockets scattered throughout the region. Large river redgum forests, including the Barmah and Gunbower, are under threat from changed flooding regimes.

The native vegetation of the North Central CMA region can be categorised into a number of distinct types based on differences in broad landscape, floristic, structural and ecological features. The vegetation communities are commonly referred to as ecological vegetation classes (EVCs). Forty-six different EVCs have been identified within the North Central CMA region. EVCs are the basic mapping units used for biodiversity planning and conservation assessment at landscape, regional and broader scales in Victoria.

Biodiversity can be described as a natural resource asset that includes all of the native plants and animals which occupy or, in the case of migratory birds, pass through the region. It includes aquatic and terrestrial species, as well as vertebrate and invertebrate fauna. The ecological patterns of landscapes are represented by bioregions, which are characterised by particular vegetation complexes and associated fauna. The North Central CMA region comprises parts of eight bioregions which are described as follows:

Victorian Riverina (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_victorian_riverina)

This bioregion is characterised by flat to gently undulating landscape on recent unconsolidated sediments with evidence of former stream channels and wide floodplain areas associated with major river systems and prior steams. Alluvium deposits from the Cainozoic period gave rise to the red brown earths and texture contrast soils (Chromosols and Sodosols) which dominate the Riverine Plain.

The vegetation is dominated by Plains Grassy Woodland, Plains Grassland, Pine Box Woodland, Riverine Grassy Woodland, Riverine Sedgy Forest, Gilgai Plains Woodland and Wetland ecosystems.

Goldfields (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_goldfields)

The Goldfields bioregion is dominated by dissected uplands (predominantly a northerly aspect) of lower Palaeozoic deposits. Metamorphic rocks have formed steeply sloped peaks and ridges. A variety of relatively poor soils are dominant with yellow, grey and brown texture contrast soils (Chromosols and Sodosols) and minor occurrences of friable earths (Dermosols and Ferrosols). Box Ironbark Forest, Heathy Dry Forest and Grassy Dry Forest ecosystems dominate the lower slopes or poorer soils. The granitic and sedimentary (with Tertiary colluvial aprons) terrain is dominated by Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Grassy Woodlands much of which has been cleared. Occasional low-lying corridors of alluvial valleys between the uplands are dominated by Low Rises Grassy Woodland and Alluvial Terraces Herb-rich Woodland ecosystems .

Murray Mallee (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_murray_mallee)

The Murray Mallee bioregion is typified by calcareous material in the form of broad undulating sandy plains that is often associated with linear, east-west aligned, low sand dunes with intervening heavier textured swales developed from Cainozoic deposits of alluvial, aeolian and swampy deposits. The vegetation is dominated by East/West-Dune Mallee with some Chenopod Mallee and Shallow-Sand Mallee.

The plains, drainage lines and groundwater discharge landscapes are dispersed with salt lakes and gypsum flats with lunettes developed on the eastern margins of the lakes. The Cainozoic deposits give rise to calcareous earths (Calcarosols), cracking clays (Vertosols) and red sands (Rudosols). The vegetation is dominated by Gypseous Plains Shrubland, Saline Shrubland (Raak), Plains Grassland and Drainage-line Grassy Woodland.

Murray Fans (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_murray_fans)

The Murray Fans bioregion is characterised by a flat to gently undulating landscape on recent unconsolidated sediments with evidence of former stream channels, braided old river meanders and palaeochannels and broad floodplain areas associated with major river systems and prior steams (known as braided/anastomosing streams). Alluvium deposits from the Cainozoic period gave rise to the red brown earths and texture contrast soils (Chromosols and Sodosols).

The vegetation is a mosaic of Plains Grassy Woodland, Pine Box Woodland, Riverina Plains Grassy Woodland and Riverina Grassy Woodland ecosystems.

Central Victorian Uplands (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_central_uplands)

Central Victorian Uplands is dominated by Lower Palaeozoic deposits giving rise to dissected uplands at higher elevations, amongst granitic and sedimentary (with Tertiary colluvial aprons) terrain with metamorphic and old volcanic rocks which have formed steeply sloped peaks and ridges. The less fertile hills support Grassy Dry Forest and Heathy Dry Forest ecosystems. Herb-rich Foothill Forest and Shrubby Foothill Forest ecosystems dominate on the more fertile outwash slopes. The granitic and sedimentary (with Tertiary colluvial aprons) terrain is dominated by Grassy Woodlands much of which has been cleared. Lower lying valleys and plains are dominated by Valley Grassy Forest and Plains Grassy Woodland ecosystems.

Wimmera (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_wimmera)

The Wimmera bioregion is typified by flat to gently undulating plains in the east, with black and grey cracking clay soils (Vertosols). Plains Woodland, Plains Grassy Woodland, Plains Grassland, Red Gum Wetland and Grassy Woodland are the dominant ecosystems. The western part is typified by ancient stranded beach ridges interspersed with clay plains (where there are a mixture of swamp, lakes, lagoons and lunettes in the south) with cracking clay soils and red texture contrast soils (Vertosols and Sodosols). The vegetation on these less fertile plains is dominated by Heathy Woodland and Shallow Sands Woodland.

21 Volcanic Plains (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_volcanic_plain)

The Victorian Volcanic Plain bioregion is dominated by Cainozoic volcanic deposits. These deposits formed an extensive flat to undulating basaltic plain with stony rises, old lava flows, numerous volcanic cones and old eruption points, and is dotted with shallow lakes both salt and freshwater. The soils are variable ranging from red friable earths and acidic texture contrast soils (Ferrosols and Kurosols) on the higher fertile plain to scoraceous material, and support Plains Grassy Woodland and Plains Grassland ecosystems. Calcareous sodic texture contrast soils grading to yellow acidic earths (Chromosols and Sodosols to Dermosols) are found on the intermediate plain, and grey cracking clays (Vertosols) on the low plains supporting Stony Knoll Shrubland, Plains Grassy Woodland and Plains Grassy Wetland ecosystems. On the stony rises (volcanic outcropping) the stony earths (Dermosols and Tenosols) support Stony Rises Herb-rich Woodland, Basalt Shrubby Woodland and Herb-rich Foothill Forest ecosystems.

Northern Inland Slopes (http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/veg_managemt_northern_inland_slopes)

The Northern Inland Slopes bioregion consists of foothill slopes and minor ranges separated by river valleys that drain northward from the High Country to the Murray River. The slopes have mixed granitic and metamorphic geology, which protrudes through and are surrounded by the Riverine Plain. The Warby Ranges are of granitic and sedimentary origin, Mt Major is of volcanic origin and Terrick Terrick and Pyramid Hill are of granitic origin. The soils are predominantly texture contrast (Chromosols and Sodosols) apart from the Mt Major area (Ferrosols, Calcarosols and Vertosols).

The vegetation is dominated by Grassy Dry Forest, Box Ironbark Forest, Granitic Hills Woodland, Heathy Dry Forest, and Shrubby Dry Forest ecosystems on the less fertile hills; Herb-rich Foothill Forest ecosystems on the more fertile hills and outwashes; and Grassy Woodland, Valley Grassy Forest, Plains Grassy Woodland, Floodplain Riparian Woodland, Riverine Grassy Woodland, Riverine Sedgy Forest and Wetland ecosystems on the fertile plains and watercourses.

Relevant documents and sources of information

Information on the biodiversity of the North Central CMA region can be accessed through a variety of sources. Victorian Resources Online (VRO) provides a good source of general information about flora and also provides access to Biodiversity Action Plans relevant to the region, which contain flora information. VRO can be accessed at http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/vrosite.nsf/pages/vrohome .

Information on EVCs in the North Central CMA region is available from DSE or through the internet at http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrence.nsf/LinkView/43FE7DF24A1447D9CA256EE6007EA8788062D3 58172E420C4A256DEA0012F71C

DSE holds custodianship over the Flora Information System which is a large database of plant observation and location records for Victoria. This information can be accessed by contacting the Land Stewardship and Biodiversity Division of DSE, East Melbourne. CMAs and local landholder groups will also have information about flora species in their area.

The DPI and DSE maintain a number of databases which record sightings of fauna species. This information is collated into the Atlas of Victorian Wildlife, which provides locations (longitude and latitude) and information about species. Information from this database is available through departmental offices or the Land Stewardship and Biodiversity Division of DSE, East Melbourne. BioMap is another product that is provided by the departments and contains information from the Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Atlas of Victorian Wildlife in addition to flora information, base information such as roads and towns, and some imagery.

Relevant GIS data Biodiversity data sets listed in Table 7are currently available and complete. This list is likely to change over time and is not a complete summary of the available spatial data, rather it provides an indication of the type of spatial information available. Datasets that are held by DSE or DPI form part of the Corporate Geospatial Data Library (CGDL). Information about these datasets have been taken from the CGDL metadata, which is available to departmental staff via the internet. Access to this information and datasets can be sought through departmental offices. Other, more specialised information may also be available for different regions.

Table 7 GIS data for biodiversity of the North Central CMA region Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

EVC1750_CMP 1:100 000 BNR-DSE 100 m-1 km EVC distribution in 1750 (modelled)

EVC_BCS100 1:100 000 BNR-DSE 100 m-1 km Bioregional conservation status of EVCs

EVC_CMP100 1:100 000 BNR-DSE 25 m-1 km Extant EVCs

FLORA100 1:100 000 BNR-DSE Site based floristic data

LFW100 1:100 000 BNR-DSE Land for Wildlife property point localities

SVEG100 1:100 000 DSE - SII 100 m-1 km Structural vegetation mapping of Victorian forests based upon Land Conservation Council (LCC) vegetation classification scheme

THFAU100 1:100 000 BNR-DSE Point localities of records of threatened wildlife

TREE100 1:100 000 SII-DSE 10-100 m Presence/absence records of woody vegetation/trees. Derived from Landsat imagery

TREEDEN25 1:25 000 SII-DSE ±15 m Records of dense, moderate, scattered and absent tree cover. Derived from SPOT imagery

4.7 Threatening processes

Theme overview

The North Central CMA has outlined an asset based approach within the Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS) to guide protection of natural resources. The following assets have been identified with medium and longer term targets and implementation actions developed to manage these assets: • biodiversity • climate • community • cultural heritage • dryland • infrastructure • irrigated land • public land • water resources • waterways and wetlands. Biodiversity

The threatening process for the biodiversity asset is principally loss of native vegetation. Less than 13 per cent of pre-1750 native vegetation cover has been retained across the region. Clearing for

23 agriculture, mining and urban development are the major causes of habitat loss and increasingly fragments the remaining parcels of natural vegetation. Fragmentation of native vegetation habitat detracts from biodiversity by resulting in a reduction of size and also loss of connectivity.

Pest plants and animals also threaten the biodiversity as weeds displace native species from their habitat and provide harbour for rabbits and foxes, which then prey on native fauna and pose a significant threat to some populations.

Climate

Climate change is a threatening process to the fundamental character of the region, and could alter the nature and distribution of native flora and fauna, water regimes, farming systems and settlement patterns. Much research into the effects of climate change indicates that the earth is warming by 1.4 o to 5.8 oC and is likely to involve greater climatic extremes. These changes are expected to have a major impact on ecosystems, affect the pattern of agriculture and reduce water supplies. Revegetation and changing land use may help to alleviate the amount of carbon entering the atmosphere and help to limit the effects of climate change. Community

An uninformed community may be considered a threat to the natural environment as resources are exploited in an unsustainable manner. It is therefore important to inform individuals and communities alike, and also to provide the tools and capability to manage the resource base in a sustainable manner. Cultural heritage

The North Central CMA region includes important sites and places of indigenous and non-indigenous cultural heritage, however these sites come under threat through inadequate engagement of indigenous groups, damage to registered and unregistered sites. Inappropriate access and recreation and the manipulation of flow regimes can expose Aboriginal burial sites in lake beds and water bodies. Dryland

There are a number of processes within the dryland zone that potentially threaten agricultural production and natural resource management. These threatening processes include salinity, flooding, soil health decline, pest plant and animals, fire, and land management practices. A range of strategies and plans have been developed to alleviate the effects of these processes upon the dryland zone and will be implemented as a part of the action response. Infrastructure

Most infrastructure is concentrated in the urban areas and includes housing, public buildings, industry, roads, railways, public parks and gardens, urban and rural water supply, rural drainage, energy and communications infrastructure. These may be threatened by processes such as salinity, water quality decline, fire, floods and soil erosion. These can have severe and expensive effects upon the region’s infrastructure.

Irrigated land

In a typical year the area of land under irrigation is approximately 10 per cent of the region (depending upon the irrigation water available). The irrigated agricultural zone provides a significant proportion of the region’s economic value from dairying and horticultural enterprises, and supports many townships in the northern part of the North Central CMA region. Threats to irrigated agriculture come from the effects of salinity and rising groundwater tables, drought, soil health and structure decline, water trading, flooding and irrigation management practices. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Public land

The threat to public land condition is mainly from ecological systems’ decline, salinity, pest plants and animals, recreation pressures, changed fire regimes and changed flow regimes. Some of these relate directly to public reserve management, but some of these threats stem from the surrounding land use practices and issues encroaching into public reserves. This requires a whole of community approach to the management of these issues.

Water resources

Nutrient levels are high in surface waters and this region has the highest incidence of blue-green algal blooms in Victoria (NCCMA 2003). Other water quality concerns include salinity, turbidity, bacteria, pathogens, organic pollution, heavy metals and chemical contamination. Water quality decline also has an affect on groundwater resources especially in mineral springs’ areas. Other threats to the water resource is the system of water trading thus reducing the available quantity of water for agriculture, however the demand for water is increasing as tree crops such as olives, vines and more intensive land use in peri urban areas continues to grow. Waterways and wetlands

The waterways, wetlands and floodplains of the North Central CMA region have been degraded by a range of processes including mining, agriculture, irrigation and water supply development. Diversion of water for irrigation and other water supply requirements result in changing flow regimes, and impacts upon the stream bank and waterway condition.

Relevant documents and sources of information

There are a number of relevant frameworks and policies relating to threatening processes at both state and regional level. These include: • Victoria’s Pest Management Framework, which provides guiding principles for pest management, outlines agreements and working partnerships and outlines strategic actions and state and regional level. • Victoria’s Salinity Framework, which was released in 2000 and deals with issues such as the role of different levels of government, skill and capacity building and land use change. • National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality, which is a nation-wide action plan to prevent, stabilise and reverse salinity trends in addition to improving water quality.

CMAs have also produced their own action plans and guidelines for various threatening processes, which are available at the CMAs’ web sites or by contacting the relevant CMA office.

There are a number of books and resources dealing with weed identification and management. DPI has produced a series of information notes on various topics, particularly in relation to dealing with pest plant and animal species. These are available from DPI offices or from http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/dpi/nreninf.nsf/.

Books that may be of use include:

Lamp C, Collett F. (1989) Field Guide to Weeds in Australia , 3 rd ed. Inkata Press.

Parsons JM (1987) Australian Weed Control Handbook , 8 th ed. Inkata Press.

Parsons WT, Cuthbertson EG (2002) Noxious Weeds of Australia , 2 nd ed. CSIRO Publishing.

25 4.8 Other available data types

Sections 4.1 to 4.7 above provided information relating to the availability of GIS datasets for specific themes. Many of these datasets are available within the CGDL and are in polygonal, linear, point or grid format. However with the advent of remotely sensed data there is now a proliferation of generic data that can be used in the analysis of a range of themes. This is base data that has ‘raw’ values based upon electromagnetic reflectance, but require additional interpretation and analysis to attach the data to a meaningful feature. While the base data does not relate to specific themes, these datasets are extremely valuable in the analysis and longer term monitoring of natural resources. These are facilitated primarily by Geological Survey, Victoria and are listed in Table 15.

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) has recently developed a Catchment Analysis Tool (CAT) which is coordinated by PIRVic Rutherglen to provide information based upon a range of input layers. The CAT was developed under the CRC for Dryland Salinity program to provide a method of data integration and enable extrapolation of data across broad areas. The CAT model is able to provide time series assessment of regions. A predicted recharge layer has been developed statewide based upon the input of a number of other data sets listed in Table 8. This has been clipped to the North Central CMA boundary and provides a predicted recharge layer for the North Central CMA region. Although this is based upon some broad input layers there is the potential to improve the recharge product through the provision of finer detailed input datasets.

Table 8 Input layers required to develop the output recharge layer from the CAT model Layer name Comment

Input layers : annrain100 Average annual rainfall anntemp100 Mean annual temperature aspect100 Slope direction - derived from DEM100 climprox100 Proximity of climate stations dem100 Elevations luse100 Land use applied to BRS codes slope100 Degree of slope - derived from DEM100 soil100 Dominant soil type classified to Northcote classes - derived from Lsys250

Output layers:

Recharge Predicted recharge generated from the Catchment Analysis Tool (CAT) model

All input layers have been converted to ASCII format for input to the CAT model. Depending upon the resolution of the original layer they may be converted to either 20 metre or 100 metre resolution for input to the model. CAT has the ability to provide output summary and statistics files directly, but these require specific software extensions to enable these to be read. The ASCII output files from CAT can be imported into GIS applications and converted to Grids or shapefiles.

4.9 Data licensing

The North Central CMA has a data license agreement with the State of Victoria through the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) which allows access to and use of the datasets outlined in the schedule to the agreement for the period from 1 st April 2003 until 31 st March 2008. The relevant datasets are listed at Appendix 2. The licence agreement provides for the distribution of the Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA datasets through a variety of methods. Firstly the Vicmap datasets will be supplied annually via the central Regional Data Net (RDN) program, while the supply of the other listed datasets will need to be negotiated through the local RDN administrator. The supply of Vicmap imagery is provided under Third Party License arrangement due to the SPOT satellite mosaic imagery containing material copyright to the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) which is the French government’s space agency.

Comparison of the datasets listed in Appendix 1 and the datasets covered under license agreement and listed at Appendix 2 indicates many of the datasets that have been processed and ready for transfer are not yet covered under the licensing arrangements. It may be possible to arrange an additional blanket data supply agreement that will provide for all these additional datasets, or to include them all and bring them in line with the existing blanket agreement. This will need to be finalised prior to transfer of these datasets from PIRVic Bendigo.

5. Land resource assessment methodology

5.1 Objectives

The primary purpose of a comprehensive land resource assessment (LRA) is to develop a consistent CMA region-wide soil and landform layer. This then becomes the basis for future land capability assessments, land hazard assessment and decision making processes to address the principles outlined in the RCS. The products developed from this land resource assessment can be integrated across a range of natural resource condition programs, as the soil-landform data becomes the baseline for establishing targets for recharge, soil health, water quality and erosion as well as assessing the risk of degradation. It also provides highly valued soil and land resource information for the provision of planning proposals as well as providing an avenue to a far broader and holistic view of biodiversity through increased understanding of the relationship that soils have in the natural environment.

The soil and landform information would also be useful to inform many of the modelling applications that abound and will become more relied upon into the future. It would be a principal dataset in many of those models assessing natural resource conditions and the models would therefore benefit from increased accuracy, detail and scale of resolution to ensure a more reliable output from the model.

The Regional Catchment Strategy (RCS) outlines resource condition targets (RCT) DL9 to DL13 which have been developed to address the issues of rising watertable depths, dryland salinity, mobilisation of salts from the region and agricultural production. Management action target (MAT) DL12 highlights the need to review the region’s soil health issues, conduct a land resource assessment and prepare plans that will incorporate soil health requirements, leading to the preparation of a North Central CMA region soil health plan.

While the major focus of soil health is identified under the dryland asset, improved understanding of soils and a comprehensive soil knowledge base underpins and informs asset management across a whole range of areas. Within the RCS other management action targets (MATs) that will benefit from improved soils knowledge are as follows:

Dryland Package 1: Managing the impacts of dryland salinity

DL1 – complete targeted salinity projects in upper Bet Bet, Redbank, Carrapooee and Reedy and Paradise Creek priority areas by 2008, and Timor West, Bulabul, Natte Yallock, Pental Hills, Glenloth and Marnoo targeted priority areas by 2012 by building community capacity for natural resource

27 management and implementing recommended management practice for multiple environmental benefit (NCCMA 2003, p. 59).

DL4 – undertake research to develop farming systems that suit floodplain environments and natural resource issues and report by 2008 (NCCMA 2003, p. 59).

Dryland Package 3: Responding to the challenge of rural residential development

DL9 – development of a ‘Rural Strategy’ that will include an audit of rural lands, a land capability and productivity analysis and the identification of lands to be included within Farming Zone, Rural Activity Zone, Rural Conservation Zone, Rural Living Zone and Low Density Residential and the setting of appropriate resource condition targets (RCTs). (NCCMA 2003, p. 60)

Dryland Package 5: Improved dryland management practice

DL12 – review of regional soil health issues which will incorporate a land resource assessment for the North Central CMA region (NCCMA 2003, p. 60).

DL13 – adopting Environmental Management Systems (EMS) for sustainable land use options and management practices (NCCMA 2003, p. 60).

Water Resources Package 1: Water quality

WR1 – preparing nutrient management strategies and nutrient action plans for catchments within the North Central CMA region (NCCMA 2003, p. 84).

WR3 – application of recycled water from waste water treatment plants on suitable soils (NCCMA 2003, p. 84).

WR4 – development of planning conditions to ensure all high priority domestic water supply catchments and domestic water aquifer intake areas are included and protected in local planning schemes (NCCMA 2003, p. 84).

Water Resources Package 3: Water salinity

WR10 – develop appropriate water quality targets for salinity and nutrients (NCCMA 2003, p.85).

Waterways and Wetlands Package 1: Protecting and improving riparian wetland habitat

WW5 – identify environmentally sensitive waterways, wetlands and floodplain areas and assist in developing planning controls (NCCMA 2003, p. 92).

5.2 Land resource assessment survey

Historically, land resource assessment (LRA) has been undertaken by way of comprehensive field survey, supported with aerial photography and geological information. While this provides detailed knowledge of an area by the surveyor, and a product of high reliability, this methodology is now considered too inefficient in terms of time and cost. Field survey is now undertaken in a more targeted and strategic manner to ensure as broad a suite of landforms are surveyed as possible. With the advent of advanced technological processes such as remotely sensed data, radiometrics, orthophotography and digital elevation models, there is a greater capacity to model and extrapolate information across broad regions. However the extrapolated data still requires verification back to an underlying dataset to provide the appropriate level of calibration. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

A soil-landform unit is a complex entity, detailing not only a comprehensive range of soil properties down the horizon to understand subsoil processes and limitations, but is also expression of the relief and landscape features at the surface. As such, it is a critical factor in the assessment of permeability (recharge), erosion, salinity, land hazard and potential performance.

In terms of soil and landform information currently available, the land systems of the Campaspe River catchment (Lorimer & Schoknecht 1987), land systems of the Loddon River catchment (Schoknecht 1988) and land systems of the Avoca River catchment (Lorimer & Rowan 1982) provide the broadest and most complete coverage across the region (Figure 3). The LSYS250 original dataset, included in the CGDL datasets in Table 14 has been based upon these land systems surveys and incorporates a series of interacting land units/components as a singular land system. The LSYS250 layer has been standardised with broad soils data, climate, broad vegetation and recharge potential attributes. However, in respect to the North Central CMA region, LSYS250 is at too coarse a resolution to identify finer landform features that are critical components to assess salinity discharge, recharge and wind erosion.

The North Central CMA region is therefore very fortunate to have finer scale surveys (Figure 4) that were undertaken as part of the agricultural irrigation settlement and also the local government planning initiative. The former shires of Strathfieldsaye, Huntly, Marong and Kyneton have all had detailed surveys undertaken at scales ranging from 1:25 000 to 1:50 000 (Table 5), and this provides an excellent base upon which to develop a fine scaled soil and land resource layer. These datasets have recently been compiled into a consistent and standardised layer across the City of Greater Bendigo for their Domestic Waste Water Management Plan.

As highlighted, there is excellent coverage across the northern irrigation region and the Calder corridor, however there is a distinct lack of finer scaled survey in the middle and western part of the region. The lack of detailed soils information will impact upon any future modelling and scenario work developed.

5.3 Standardise data attributes

While the studies listed in Table 5 are available in GIS format and outline soil unit boundaries, they do not have a consistent suite of attribute information associated with them. The attributes provide the physical parameters and the chemical details associated with the soil unit and are currently held in the hard copy reports prepared in conjunction with the original study. Table 9 lists the data attributes identified as the key attribute information for each polygonal unit. To apply this to the GIS soil unit data it has been necessary to undertake an exhaustive process to convert the soil attribute information contained in all the historical studies into a digital form. The data was entered into an Excel spreadsheet format enabling it to be joined to the respective GIS spatial layer of soil units.

Taking this a step further the aim is to amalgamate all the disparate datasets into a single, seamless layer. This requires a process of attribute standardisation to provide consistency in data structure format. To achieve this there is some level of interpretation of data required.

29

Table 9 The data attributes identified as the key polygon attribute information

Attribute name Attribute description

Code Unique identifier of spatial unit

Geol_Age The geological age of the underpinning geology

Lithology Parent material from which soil is derived

LF_Pattern Describes the broad landform of a regional area

LF_Element Describes the localised landform of a spatial unit area

LF_Morph Classifies various components of terrain profiles within landform elements

Slope_PC Percentage slope of land element

Aspect Compass direction of slope

Elev Elevation (in metres)

Disturb Site disturbance

Lowest_Dep Depth of sample site observation

Condit Condition of surface soil when dry

ASC_Order Australian Soil Classification hierarchical classification at highest level

ASC_SubOrd ASC Sub Order provide the second level of hierarchical classification

ASC_Great ASC Great Groups provide the third level of hierarchical classification

ASC_Subgroup ASC Sub Groups provide the fourth level of hierarchical classification

ASC_Family ASC Family criteria incorporates detailed soil depth and texture information

Factual_Ke Classification of soils into ‘Factual Key’ system

Depth_Range Highlights the starting and finishing depth of soil observation

Text_Top Texture of the topsoil

Text_Sub Texture of the subsoil pH (Field) pH measurement taken in the field with ph indicator pH (Water) pH laboratory measurement

Permeab Permeability of soil

Ksat Hydraulic conductivity measures the potential of the soil to transmit water

OC Organic carbon

EC Electrical conductivity

TSS Total suspended solids

NaCl Sodium chloride

Dispersion Measures the ability of soil to hold together when saturated

ExH Exchangeable hydrogen

ExAl Exchangeable aluminium

ExCa Exchangeable calcium

ExMg Exchangeable magnesium

ExK Exchangeable potassium xNa Exchangeable sodium

CEC Cation exchange capacity

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 10 lists the studies within the North Central CMA region that have soil data points in the Victorian Soil Information System. The table identifies the number of soil sites from each survey across the top row. The figures down the column indicate a percentage figure of the number of soil points containing the particular attribute. Zero percentage indicates nil data for those attributes while 100 per cent indicates full data attributes.

Table 10 Percentage figures of total number of soil sites for each attribute (total number of sites =714) Original study CAMP LCHUN LCKYN LCMAR LCNW LCSTR NCSP EWS KBW NSFP (No. of soil sites (476) (7) (13) (18) (25) (13) (57) (90) (4) (11) in study ) LF_PATTERN 100 100 100 100 100 100 11 29 100 0 LF_ELEM 99 100 100 100 100 100 95 74 100 45 LF_MORPH 99 100 100 100 100 100 100 77 100 0 SLOPE_PC 97 100 100 100 100 100 48 100 100 100 ASPECT 60 45 100 42 80 67 18 11 0 55 ELEV 99 100 100 100 100 100 0 20 100 0 DISTURB 100 100 92 100 96 100 98 0 100 72 LOWEST_DEP 80 100 100 88 92 100 0 0 100 0 CONDIT 0 100 100 100 76 100 97 85 100 90 ASC_ORDER_ 0 100 100 100 100 92 65 10 100 0 ASC_SUBORD 0 100 100 100 100 92 65 10 100 0 ASC_GREAT_ 0 100 100 100 96 92 65 10 100 0 ASC_SUBGRO 0 100 100 85 92 92 65 10 100 0 ASC_FAMILY 0 100 100 100 96 92 12 10 100 100 FACTUAL_KE 91 100 100 100 100 100 55 100 100 100 DEPTH_RANGE 95 100 100 100 98 100 100 100 100 100 TEXT_TOP 95 91 82 92 84 23 95 99 93 99 TEXT_SUB 95 91 82 92 84 23 95 99 93 99 pH (Field) 67 94 85 91 84 79 0 74 100 0 pH (Water) 99 90 82 90 33 40 89 98 47 91 Permeab 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ksat 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 OC 1 92 82 90 31 60 20 11 0 87 EC 1 62 34 90 35 24 74 99 48 90 TSS 0 91 81 0 0 54 0 0 53 0 NaCl 1 16 7 63 6 6 18 73 50 77 Dispersion 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ExH 0 72 0 86 31 56 2 18 12 0 ExAl 0 25 34 37 23 27 5 0 0 0 ExCa 0 90 80 76 32 60 89 28 50 23 ExMg 0 90 80 76 32 60 89 28 50 23 ExK 0 90 80 76 32 60 89 28 50 23 ExNa 0 90 82 75 25 60 80 28 50 20 CEC 0 90 82 90 33 40 0 0 0 23 Key to surveys: CAMP - A Study of the Land in the Campaspe River Catchment LCHUN - A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Huntly District LCKYN - A Land Capability Study of the former Shire of Kyneton LCMAR - A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Marong District LCNW - A Land Capability Study of the former Shire of Newham & Woodend LCSTR - A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye District EWS - Soils of the Eastern Wimmera NCSP - North Central Soil Pits KBW - Kerang Boort Wetlands Study NSFP - National Soil Fertility Program Remotely sensed data

Whilst remotely sensed data collection techniques have been developed and have progressed to detect certain parameters, the readings from remotely sensed scanners are also heavily affected by

31 atmospheric conditions and can alter from day to day, or from hour to hour due to atmospheric interference. Therefore constant calibration is required to ensure consistency of readings. One obvious method of calibration is to relate signature responses back to specific features that have been well described and classified, such as surface vegetation or the soil and landform base. Radiometrics have become well advanced in the application of soil and mineral detection and classification, and in particular the potassium band (K +) is used for delineating soil patterns and boundary definitions. However, once again the radiometric values are meaningless by themselves unless calibrated back to specific soil or landform features.

Geophysical mapping

PIRVic has a capacity to undertake paddock-scale survey of remotely sensed data. A quad bike has been set up with capacity for radiometrics detection (Gamma Ray Spectrometry of uranium, thorium and potassium), electromagnetics for soil salinity measurement (EM31 or EM38) and ground penetrating radar (GPR).

Whilst these sensors are not calibrated to identify particular soil types, they provide excellent discrimination between different soil types based upon specific soil properties. Although paddock- scale information has not been incorporated into the regional land and soil surveys, it is worth noting the capability of this technique for soil mapping.

Suitability for models

The soil-landform information developed at 1:100 000 scale is able to be integrated with the land use mapping carried out by PIRVic at paddock-scale to compare the inherent properties of the soil against the land use and management practices being undertaken to provide a range of predictive outputs including likelihood to soil degradation.

Modelling has become a major focus of analysing and processing data across all sectors of society. There are models that have spatial dimensions, temporal dimensions or simply provide assistance in decision making. With respect to natural resource and land management aspects, two of the modelling applications within PIRVic that can be supported through the provision of soil and landform data are the Land Use Impact Model (LUIM) and the Catchment Analysis Tool (CAT). These both operate in a spatial dimension and rely on the input of natural resource datasets to underpin the output.

The CAT integrates a range of input datasets to produce an output as described in Section 4.8 and Table 8 for the development of a groundwater recharge GIS layer. This is a very useful tool but is constrained by the scale and accuracy of the input datasets. Many of these datasets have been derived from Australia-wide concepts of soil characteristics and may have little specific relevance to the soils of the North Central CMA region. Potentially it has the ability to narrow down from the broad focus it currently has to a more local perspective, however this will depend entirely upon ensuring that input data is of a finer scale and detail.

The Land Use Impact Model (LUIM) is a versatile spatial approach to the assessment of land use, land use practices and their impacts on natural and built assets. It is a probabilistic tool to map the likelihood of soil degradation processes under a range of management conditions. The LUIM does not identify actual occurrences of soil degradation but assists with the identification of areas most likely (or most probably) at risk from degradation. The areas identified for likelihood to soil degradation processes will need to be qualified by some form of validation process. In this case it will be a combination of field based assessment, aerial photo interpretation, and consultation with landholders and local departmental staff. PIRVic researchers have demonstrated the capacity of LUIM in past projects that have: Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

• supported statewide catchment condition reporting • developed decision support for irrigation practices and wetland protection (Kerang) • integrated spatial representation of policy and strategic documents with an analysis of land use impacts on biodiversity (Goulburn Broken) • guided the development of the Corangamite Region Soil Health Strategy.

The LUIM process uses best available information ranging from hard data to informed opinion and integrates these data into a model with spatial outputs illustrating specific risks (risk = the likelihood X the consequence of the occurrence of a hazard) and is represented in Figure 5.

Susceptibility Management Sensitivity Value

Likelihood Consequence

Risk

Figure 5 Schematic representation of components of risk posed by any hazard

Evaluation of datasets for modelling applications needs to be undertaken on a case by case basis. The usefulness of data for particular models will depend on the intended output products of the project, the scale of input data, the reliability and detail of input datasets, and the data collection methods, among others. It is useful to consider the pre-processing requirements of data for many of the modelling applications. Issues such as data rectification, data registration and data consistency need to be addressed. Pre-processing is very important and time spent on this part of a project can save a lot of time further into the project.

As a guide Table 11 lists some of the existing data sets that will be referred to and utilised in the development of a land resource assessment project for the North Central CMA region. An evaluation of each of these data sets is also provided as comments in Table 11.

33

Table 11 Evaluation of datasets for land resource assessment (LRA) program

Dataset Comments soils (soil survey sites) This highlights soil survey point sites. The existing sites that are available from the Soil Site Database are sparse across the North Central CMA region, however we know there are many sites yet to be input. These would provide greater density, especially in focus areas to enhance the LRA. Historical soil sites also provide a benchmark against which to temporally monitor changes in soil parameters under different land management and changing climatic conditions. lsys250 (land systems) Provides land systems with some basic soil attribution across the North Central CMA region at a broad 1:250 000 scale. This will be used as a base layer but needs to be refined with more detailed information. luse100 (land use) This layer outlines land use and land management information. While it provides good detail it is a snapshot in time and may not indicate the full range of land uses and management practices that take effect. However it is a valuable layer to guide management action target setting. geol250 (geology) Regionwide coverage of broad geological units. The geology layer will be used as a base data layer in broad landsystem definitions. geol100 (geology) Geol100 mapping covers approximately half the region, and will be very useful in developing a more detailed soil and landform data layer where they are currently lacking in detail, e.g. Central and western part of the CMA region. soilsal25 (salinity Salinity discharge layers exist in the corporate geospatial library in linear, point and polygonal discharge) formats. Salinity discharge layers provide an indication of soil salinity levels and are useful to improve and verify groundwater modelling, however the currency of discharge information is based upon a project by project basis. Recent updates to this layer have occurred for the Urban Salinity program and also the Upper Mid Loddon Salinity mapping project. bores100 (groundwater This is a key dataset that enables groundwater to be monitored for a range of purposes. All bores) information gathered by groundwater monitoring is base line data that assesses resource conditions and future management options. Bores located in the dryland area will observe regional trends in water levels and observe the impact implementation works have on the hydrological budget. Future improvements would be to review the distribution of groundwater bores to identify if additional bores are required in focus areas. ramsar100, wetland1788, These layers identify where wetlands in general occur and also where Ramsaram wetlands of wetland1994 (wetlands) significance occur. These features provide an important guide to where salinity and groundwater aspects require greater consideration. tree100 (tree cover) This layer highlights areas of vegetated cover and provides good coverage of regional vegetation. When integrated with structural vegetation (SVEG) and ecological vegetation classes (EVCs) it highlights areas of importance for vegetation retention.

DEM25 (digital elevation DEM25 has been produced from 1:25 000 scale topographical data and has 20 m grid cells. Provides model) very good resolution for landscape modelling particularly in the dissected uplands areas of the region. However due to the broad flatness of the plains its use is limited in this area. radiometrics This is part of the statewide radiometrics mapping program undertaken by MPV. PIRVic, DPI has taken the image data and converted to a grid based format for use in ArcView and ArcGis. The grid has been produced with 50 m grid cells and provides a good coverage for finer delineation of soil boundaries. recharge This is the extrapolated layer generated from the CAT model. The reliability of this layer is dependant upon the datasets that are input to the model to generate this output. Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

6 Discussion

In order to develop appropriate targets, risk assessment and land capability products across the North Central CMA region, and to further inform many of the natural resource modelling applications now available, in particular the CAT model and LUIM model, collection of the following data is recommended: • A consistent soil-landform unit layer at 1:100 000 scale and with common soil attributes for the entire North Central CMA region. Currently there is soil and landform data at finer scale (i.e. 1:25 000 to 1:50 000 scales) covering much of the riverine plains and along the Calder corridor. These studies could feasibly be integrated and detailed units aggregated to a consistent and reliable 1:100 000 scale layer. Furthermore the Campaspe Catchment study (Lorimer & Schoknecht 1987), Loddon Catchment study (Schoknecht 1988) and East Wimmera study (Badawy 1984) would provide the basis of soil-landform units at 1:100 000 scale. These data layers could then be refined using Geol100, the DEM, incorporation of radiometrics, and the overlay of broad climatic information. Where data gaps currently exist, mainly in the Avoca and Avon Richardson catchments, focus zones could be defined for additional soil survey that would inform the development of soil-landform mapping in these areas. • Additional soil site surveys are required.. Currently there are 714 soil sites from the North Central CMA region stored within the VSSD. There are approximately 45,000 soil auger sites collected as a part of the DoA surveys stored within DPI’s archive system. To input these to the VSSD will require a major time and resource effort. This would be a key recommendation as these sites would be crucial benchmarks to determine the effects of 40 to 50 years of irrigation land management upon these soils. • Landholders within the North Central CMA have recently undertaken to make their soil test results available, however these will need to comply with the standards set out in the Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook (McDonald et al. 1990).

The soil information gathered and the soil-landform units generated in this way would then become the underpinning data for a range of land capability assessment techniques and processes. It is recommended that the following assessments are undertaken: • soil degradation; susceptibility to erosion (wind, gully and tunnel, sheet and rill), potential for recharge to groundwater, soil structure decline, acidification, organic carbon decline and mass movement • action targets; assisting in setting target levels, critical assets identified • land management; based upon soil properties, landform characteristics and potential land use • agricultural productivity; based upon soil properties and landform characteristics • land quality benchmarking; establish key soil sites for temporal monitoring of the effects of land management and climate change.

It is important to consider the requirements for LRA across the broader dryland zone. Extensive cropping and grazing practices in the North Central CMA region have increased the topsoil exposure, impacted upon soil structure and caused increased acidification. These factors lead to the soil becoming more susceptible to gully and tunnel erosion as well as wind erosion, while also changing the dynamics of water uptake by natural vegetation. Understanding of the soil, both the topsoil and subsoil, is important to understanding the dynamics of soil erosion and groundwater recharge and discharge.

In terms of undertaking an LRA to fill in soil information gaps, which occur predominantly in the dryland region of the Avoca and Avon Richardson catchments, it is proposed to focus upon specific

35 target areas and concentrate soil transects within those areas. The target areas would be chosen to encompass the range and variability of soil-landforms across those areas and detailed spatial units would then be extrapolated across the broader region.

The soil information collected would aid the research of crop water use and management practice requirements to reduce accessions to groundwater. Understanding the soil dynamics and often subtle variations is vital to obtaining a better understanding of the water movement through the soil profile. A similar understanding of the soils, in this case the topsoil, could lead to better crop management and a reduction in the loss of topsoil.

Any extrapolation technique would rely heavily on integrating the available DEM, the broad geology, climatic information and utilising radiometrics. Table 12 outlines a step by step approach to undertaking the land resource assessment and provides an overview of expected benefits to the CMA and indicative costs associated with undertaking these tasks. The costs are broad and before undertaking tasks and projects, it is recommended that detailed and specific cost analysis be prepared.

Table 12 Tasks and benefits associated with LRA for North Central CMA region. Task Description Benefits to CMA

Collate existing soil and Provides a compilation of soil and land resource data This will provide easier access to the soil land resource datasets and land resource data

Standardise data Many existing soil and land resource datasets have been Integration of historical datasets will form attributes undertaken at different times, with a different focus and to a single, standardised layer covering differing standards. Consequently they are not easily appended approximately 65-70% of the North or integrated. Central CMA region Identify spatial gaps Spatial gaps can be readily identified from a map base. There is Knowing where the spatial gaps exist will approximately 30-35% of region lacking survey at sufficient assist with future mapping program scale of resolution primarily in the Avoca and Avon Richardson catchments Identify data gaps Many datasets have different levels of attribute information, Knowing where the data gaps exist will with some being more comprehensive than others. Attribute identify where additional data needs are structures have been standardised across datasets and this makes them readily identifiable where attributes are missing. The Loddon catchment has data that is lacking in attribute detail

Land Resource Focus areas will be selected based upon representativeness, More accurate assessment of risk and Assessment (LRA) of diversity, pressures for development etc. in consultation with productivity in areas most likely to be focus areas such as the North Central CMA planners and land managers. Units affected by development pressures. irrigation zone and developed based upon relationships with geology, dryland zone radiometrics, landform, DEMs, orthophotography, existing landsystems, soil sites etc.

Soil-landform unit across Develop soil-landform attribute information to be incorporated Provides more detailed and consistent broader region with existing soil-landform units to form single regional soil- knowledge base across the North Central landform unit layer CMA region Capability assessment Using the soil-landform units developed above, determine Guide to promote development of new capability assessment for selected enterprises enterprises

Hazard susceptibility Using the soil-landform units developed above, assessments of Aid research of crop water use and potential for wind erosion and recharge potential can then be provide understanding of extent of modelled potential degradation hazards.

Soil health assessment Integrate soil-landform information with additional datasets Improved understanding of potential e.g. hydrogeological data and management factors to severity will help to promote more determine a risk assessment sustainable land use and management practices Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

7 Recommendations

In terms of the future directions for provision of soil and landform data for the financial year of 2007/08 there are three possible scenarios as follows: • Scenario 1: Undertake surveys where data gaps in detail occur, e.g. focus sites and field survey. • Scenario 2: Compile existing data into single uniform layer, and either live with data inconsistencies, or run modelling (LUIM). • Scenario 3: Input existing soil sites to the database.

Given the need to expedite the development of a consistent layer across the North Central CMA region it is recommended that Scenario 2 be adopted for the financial year 2007/08. Although there are still data gaps that will require additional information in the future, the compilation of a standardised soil and landform layer based upon the existing datasets provides the basis for soil information across much of the region.

37 References

Badawy, N. (1984) Soils of the Eastern Wimmera, Victoria. Research Project Series No. 189. Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Baxter, N.M., Boyle, G. & Jones, E. (1994) A Land Capability Study of the Shire of Romsey. Technical Report No. 13, Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Baxter, N.M. & Boyle, G. (1996) A Land Capability Study of the Former Shire of Kyneton. Technical Report No. 28. Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Bluml, M.R., Boyle, G. & Jones, E. (1995) A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye District. Technical Report No. 20, Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Bluml, M.R., Boyle, G. & Jones, E. (1995) A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Huntly District. Technical Report No. 21, Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Bluml, M.R., Baxter, N.M., Boyle, G. & Jones, E. (1996) A Land Capability Study of the Shire of Mitchell. Technical Report No. 35, Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Bluml, M.R., Baxter, N., Williamson, J. & Morris, M. (1998 ) A Report on Residential Land Capability and Agricultural Suitability in the Shire of Campaspe. Technical Report No. 51. Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Bryant, E. & Lorimer, M. (1993) A Land Capability Study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Marong District. Technical Report No. 7. Centre for Land Protection Research, Victoria

Butler, B.E. (1956) Parna and Aeolian clay. Aust. J. Sci., Ed. 18, pp. 145-151.

CSIRO (2004) Environmental Sustainability Issues Analysis for Victoria, CSIRO, Canberra.

Isbell, R.F. (1996) The Australian Soil Classification. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria.

Lawrence, C.R. (1975) Geology, Hydrodynamics and Hydrochemistry of the Southern Murray Basin. Geol. Svy. Vic. Memoir 30, Vol. 1 Report Vol. 2, pp 359.

Lorimer, M.S. & Rowan, J.N. (1982) A Study of the Land in the Catchment of the Avoca River. Technical Report Series No. TC-15, Soil Conservation Authority, Victoria

Lorimer, M.S. & Schoknecht, N.R. (1987) A Study of the Land in the Campaspe River Catchment. Technical Report Series No. 18. Department of Conservation, Forests and Lands, Victoria

Macumber, P.G. (1991) Interactions between Groundwater Systems and Surface Systems in Northern Victoria. Department of Conservation and Environment, Victoria

McDonald, R.C., Isbell, R.F., Speight, J.G., Walker, J. & Hopkins, M.S., (1990) Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook. Inkata Press Pty Ltd, Victoria

NCCMA (2003) Regional Catchment Strategy. North Central Catchment Management Authority, Victoria

NCCMA (2005) Geospatial Data Catalogue (3 rd Edition), North Central Catchment Management Authority, Victoria

Northcote, K.H. (1984) A Factual Key for the Recognition of Australian Soils. Rellim Technical Publications, Adelaide, South Australia Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

NRE (1997) Victoria’s Biodiversity – Our Living Wealth, -Sustaining Our Living Wealth, and –Directions in Management . Department of Natural Resources and Environment. East Melbourne. Available at: http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/plntanml/biodiversity/index.htm

Rowan, J. (1990) Landsystems of Victoria . DCE, Victoria & Land Conservation Council

Rowan, J, & Downes, R. (1963) A Study of the Land in North Western Victoria. Soil Conservation Authority, Victoria

Sargeant, I.J. (1962) Preliminary Report on Soils of the Swan Hill Irrigation Area (parts of the Parishes of Tyntynder and Castle Donnington). Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Sargeant, I.J., Newell, J.W. & Walbran, W.I. (1979) Soils and Land Use in the Torrumbarry Irrigation District, Victoria. Project Series No. 49. Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Schoknecht, N.R. (1988) Land Inventory of the Loddon River Catchment – a Reconnaisance Survey. Department of Conservation, Forests and Land, Victoria

Singleton, R. & Lorimer, M. (1992) A Land Capability Study of the Shire of Newham and Woodend. Department of Conservation and Environment, Victoria

Skene, J.K.M. & Harford, L.B. (1964) Soils and Land Use in the Rochester and Echuca Districts, Victoria. Technical Bulletin No. 17. Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Skene, J.K.M, (1971) Soils and Land Use in the Mid Loddon Valley, Victoria. Technical Bulletin No.22. Department of Agriculture, Victoria

Tickell, S.J. & Humphrys, W.G. (1987 ) Groundwater Resources and Associated Problems of the Victorian Part of the Riverine Plain. Geol. Svy. Vic. Report 84, Department of Industry, Technology and Resources, Victoria

39 Appendix 1: Data categories available for the North Central CMA

The tables listed at Appendix 1 (Table 13 to Table 16) provide a catalogue of existing datasets available to the North Central CMA. The tables have been separated subject to their data source or data format. Table 13 lists the historical soil and land resource datasets that are held by PIRVic Bendigo. Processing of the data has included clipping to the North Central CMA boundary and projecting to GDA94 Datum, MGA Zone 55. These will be subject to a data supply agreement before they become accessible for the North Central CMA.

Table 13 Land resource and land management data sets held by PIRVic Bendigo. Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

SWHILL_CP 1:32 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils o n the Swan Hill Irrigation Area (parts of the Parishes of Tyntynder and Castle Donnington)

ROCHEST 1:32 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Rochester and Echuca districts

LOD-MID 1:25 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Mid Loddon Valley

KERANG 1:32 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 Soils and land use in the Torrumbarry Irrigation District

HUNT25_MU 1:25 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Huntly District

STRATH25_MU 1:25 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye District

MAR25_MU 1:25 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 (urban fringe) A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Marong District

MAR50_MU 1:50 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:50 000 in rural areas A land capability study of the City of Greater Bendigo, Marong District

KYTON25_MU 1:25 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:25 000 (urban fringe) A land capability study of the former Shire of Kyneton

KYTON100_MU 1:100 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:100 000 in rural areas A land capability study of the former Shire of Kyneton

MITCH100 1:100 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:100 000 in rural areas A land capability study of the Shire of Mitchell

LODCATCH 1:100 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:100 000 (detailed soil Land inventory of the Loddon River catchment information is limited)

CAMP_MU 1:40 000 & Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:40 000 (urban fringe) and A report on the residential land capability and agricultural land suitability in the Shire of Campaspe 1:100 000 1:100 000 (rural)

CAMPLS 1:100 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:100 000 A study of the land in the Campaspe River catchment

AVOCLS 1:250 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:250 000 A study of the land in the catchment of the Avoca River Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 13 Land resource and land management datasets held by PIRVic Bendigo ( continued) Dataset name Scale Custodian Accuracy Description

ROM50_MU 1:50 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:50 000 A land capability study of the former Shire of Romsey

WOOD50_MU 1:50 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Accurate to 1:50 000 (urban fringe) A land capability study of the former Shire of Newham and Woodend

GMU250 1:100 000 – Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI 100 m to 1 km Hierarchical framework of geomorphic units. 1:500 000

LANDUSE100 1:100 000 Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI 25–100 m Land use in the North Central CMA (currently under development).

SOIL_PTS 1:1 to Primary Industries Victoria (PIRVic), DPI Various Soil reconnaissance sites in the Victorian Statewide Soils Database (VSSD)

1:100 000

41 Table 14: Datasets of linear, polygonal or point feature types that are available through the Corporate GeoSpatial Data Library (CGDL). A number of these datasets have already been made available to North Central CMA (refer to Appendix 2 for those covered under licensing conditions). Original Dataset Input Master Custodian Description Scale Library BASIN100 1:100 000 LZ Landscape Systems, DPI Major River Basins of Victoria

BORES100 1:100 000 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Groundwater bores indicating seasonal fluctuations in groundwater levels and long term trends. There are 314 DSE bores in the database of which 68 have some form of lithological data. LSYS250 1:250 000 L500 Landscape Systems, DPI Broad climatic data extracted from LSYS250 and based upon

CMA100 1:100 000 L500 Landscape Systems, DPI Mallee Catchment Management Authority boundary

SOILSAL25_LP 1:25 000 L25 Landscape Systems, DPI Dryland salinity discharge layer (line and point features)

EVC_CMP100 1:100 000 L100 Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Ecological Vegetation Classes composite (includes 1:25 000 scale EVCs)

EVC1750_CMP 1:100 000 L100 Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Ecological Vegetation Classes at 1750

FLORA100 1:100 000 L100FF Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Site based floristic data

HYDRO100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Linear hydrological features

HYDROP100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Water bodies

LANDUSE250 1:250 000 L500 Landscape Systems, DPI Broad agricultural land use categories that was initially used to support the State of the Environment Report (1992)

LANDUSE100 1:100 000 L100 landscape Systems, DPI draft version currently available - still under development and collection of data (refer PIRVIC Tatura)

LFW100 1:100 000 LZ Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Land For Wildlife property point localities

LGA100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Local Government municipality boundaries

LSYS250 1:250 000 L500 Landscape Systems, DPI Land systems of Victoria providing a statewide coverage of land types. This is drawn from a broad base of underlying land resource projects undertaken at different scales. PLMLSPT 1:100 000 LZ Crown Land Management Point data of current legal status of public land < 4 ha

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 14: Datasets of linear, polygonal or point feature types that are available through the Corporate GeoSpatial Data Library (CGDL). A number of these datasets have already been made available to North Central CMA (refer to Appendix 2 for those covered under licensing conditions) continued Original Dataset Input Master Custodian Description Scale Library PMM100PT 1:100 000 LZ Crown Land Management Point data of current management of public land < 4 ha

PLMMT100PLY 1:100 000 L100 Crown Land Management Public land primary management status excluding overlays

PLMP100PT 1:100 000 LZ Crown Land Management Point data of primary management status of public land < 4 ha

RAMSAR100 1:100 000 LZ Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Ramsar Wetland areas

ROAD100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Roads

SOIL_PTS Landscape Systems, DPI 379 soil reconnaissance sites in Soil Database (level of detail unknown)

SVEG100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Structural Vegetation mapping of Victorian forests based upon Land Conservation Council (LCC) vegetation classification scheme. THFAU100 1:100 000 L100FF Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Point localities of records of threatened wildlife

TREE100 1:100 000 L100 Spatial Information Infrastructure, DSE Tree cover mapped down to minimum of 1 ha. as derived from Landsat Tm satellite imagery

VBIOREG100 1:100 000 L500 Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Victorian biogeographic regions (bioregions)

WATER100 1:100 000 LZ Forest Resource Inventory Section Water areas (more recent update of HYDROP100)

WETLAND_1788 1:100 000 L100 Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Wetlands extent prior to European settlement

WETLAND_1994 1:100 000 L100 Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE Current wetlands environment and extent

WETLANDDIR 1:25 000 LZ Biodiversity & Natural Resources, DSE A Directory of Important Victorian Wetlands

43 Table 15 Datasets of linear, polygonal or point feature types that relate to geology, mineral or groundwater resource and exploration. They describe exploration and tenement licence layers administered by Geological Survey of Victoria. These are all in GDA94 MGA format. Original dataset Input scale Master Custodian Description library

Geological Significant Features 1:1 L250GMPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of geologically significant features

Groundwater Boreholes – CLPR / PIRVic 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Boreholes of groundwater levels. These are monitored over time by DPI to assess any groundwater trends

Groundwater Boreholes - All 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Compilation of all groundwater boreholes. These are monitored over time by a range of various agencies to assess any groundwater trends

Mineral Gold Boreholes 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of exploratory drill holes for Mineral Gold

Coal Boreholes 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of exploratory drill holes for Coal

Geological Boreholes 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of exploratory drill holes for Geological assessment

Minerals – Base Metal Boreholes 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of exploratory drill holes for base metal assessment

Minerals – Heavy Mineral Sands Boreholes 1:1 GeoScience Victoria, DPI Point sites of exploratory drill holes for heavy mineral sands assessment

Geology – Pre Permian (1:1.0 Mill) 1:1 000 000 MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Polygonal features of Pre Permian geology

Structural Zones MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Polygonal features of geological structure zones

Geothermal Zones 1:1 000 000 MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Polygonal features of Geothermal Zones

DEM 1:25 000 MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Gridded format of Digital Elevation Model across Victoria. This has been derived from 1:25 000 scale topographic data.

Airborne Magnetics MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Imagery across Victoria displaying magnetic data

Radiometrics 1:25 000 MPV GeoScience Victoria, DPI Image data of Potassium, Uranium and Thorium across Victoria.

Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Table 16 Gridded data Grid name Cell size and extent Value range Description

NCDEM55 20m; 12935 rows x 10074 columns 57 –1002 m Digital elevation model (DEM) developed by PIRVic, Bendigo based upon 1:25 000 scale topographic contours

BETBET55 20m; 977 rows x 762 columns 248–634 m Digital elevation model (DEM) of the upper Bet Bet catchment area

BETBET_L55 20m, 1784 rows x 1740 columns 198–707 m Digital elevation model (DEM) of the broader Bet Bet catchment area.

GRD10MV-55MGA 10m; 4879 rows x 4096 columns 70 –100 m Digital elevation model (DEM) of Murray River floodplain environs

K_NC55 50m; 5077 rows x 3094 columns -0.2–4.1 Radiometrics - Potassium of the eastern half of the NCCMA

K_NC54 50m; 5119 rows x 3969 columns -0.2–3.8 Radiometrics - Potassium of the western half of the NCCMA

TH_NC55 50m; 5077 rows x 3094 columns -2.3–60.7 Radiometrics - Thorium of the eastern half of the NCCMA

TH_NC54 50m; 5119 rows x 3969 columns -2.3–61.2 Radiometrics - Thorium of the western half of the NCCMA

TC_NC55 50m; 5077 rows x 3094 columns -411–4700 Radiometrics – Total Count of the eastern half of the NCCMA

TC_NC54 50m; 5119 rows x 3969 columns -391–4685 Radiometrics – Total Count of the western half of the NCCMA

45 Appendix 2: Datasets covered by existing license agreement

Table 17 Data layers covered under existing license agreement between the North Central CMA and State of Victoria (administered through Department of Sustainability and Environment [DSE]) Dataset name Scale Custodian Previous data Description layers

Spatial Information & Infrastructure (SII)

VICMAP ADDRESS 1:25 000 DSE - SII N/A point locations of address details

VICMAP PROPERTY 1:25 000 DSE - SII Parcel polygonal coverage of land parcels and property boundaries

VICMAP TRANSPORT 1:25 000 DSE - SII Road25, Aero25, Rail25, Infra25

VICMAP ADMIN 1:25 000 DSE - SII Vm_LGA, Elec low, Elec up, Parish500

VICMAP ELEVATION 1:25 000 DSE - SII Cont25, DEM25, includes Digital Elevation Model (DEM)- 20 m grid Morph25 resolution

VICMAP HYDRO 1:25 000 DSE - SII Hydro25, Hydrop25

VICMAP IMAGERY- 1:25 000 DSE - SII TM10000, SPOT2501 includes Landsat Mosaic & SPOT Mosaic Satellite

VICMAP REFERENCE 1:25 000 DSE - SII N/A

VICMAP FEATURES 1:25 000 DSE - SII Admin25, Misc25

VICMAP VEGETATION 1:25 000 DSE - SII Veg25

VICMAP CROWN LAND 1:25 000 DSE - SII Crown TENURE

VICMAP PLANNING 1:25 000 DSE - SII new

LCSMAP.A$_GRID 1:25 000 DSE - SII new index layer for A4 1:30 000 maps

Vicmap Shared 1:25 000 DSE - SII Shore25 Vicmap Shared

Land Stewardship & Biodiversity (via Crown Land Management)

PLMMT100 1:100 000 DSE - CLM Public land describing current legal status

Land Stewardship & Biodiversity (via Land & Catchments)

BASIN100 1:100 000 DSE - LCM AWRC Major River Basins of Victoria CMA100 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Catchment Management Authority boundaries LSYS250 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Landsystems PWSC100 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Proclaimed Water Supply Catchments SMP250 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Salinity Management Plan Boundaries SOILSAL25_LP 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Soil salinity discharge linear and point sites SOILSAL25_P 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Soil salinity discharge areas TREEDN25 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Tree Cover Density TREE25 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Tree Cover GRID TREE100 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Tree Cover Review of Natural Resource Data Sets for North Central CMA

Dataset name Scale Custodian Previous data Description layers

LANDUSE250 1:100 000 DSE - LCM Agricultural land use

Water Sector

GWBores100 1:100 000 (will replace BORES100)

SW_Monitor 1:100 000 (will replace BORES100)

Minerals & Petroleum Division (DPI)

MIN DPI - GSV Mining Licences

Land Stewardship & Biodiversity (via Biodiversity & Natural Resources) EVC_BCS100 1:100 000 DSE - BNR Bioregional conservation status. EVCS within a Bioregion have been given a conservation status based on comparisons with assumed pre 1750 EVC coverage. Includes EVC numbers, bioregion codes and bioregional conservation status.

EVC1750_CMP 1:100 000 DES - BNR Ecological Vegetation Classes in 1750 at 1;100,000 EVC_CMP100 1:25 000 & DSE - BNR Ecological Vegetation Classes at 1:100,000 - 1:100 000 Composite (includes 1:25,000 data)

THFLOR100 1:100 000 DES - BNR Site based floristic point data. THFAU100 1:100 000 DSE - BNR Point localities of records of threatened wildlife THFAU500 1:500 000 DES - BNR Threatened wildlife species listings within each 1km grid across Victoria THFLOR500 1:500 000 DSE - BNR Threatened plant species listings within each 1km grid across Victoria

LFW100 1:100 000 DES - BNR Land for wildlife property point locations WETLANDS94 1:100 000 DSE - BNR Current wetland environments and extents

VBIOREG100 1:100 000 DES - BNR Victorian Bioregions

47