PROCEEDINGS OF THE AUSTRALIAN RANGELAND SOCIETY BIENNIAL CONFERENCE Official publication of The Australian Rangeland Society Copyright and Photocopying © The Australian Rangeland Society 2014. All rights reserved. For non-personal use, no part of this item may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the Australian Rangeland Society and of the author (or the organisation they work or have worked for). Permission of the Australian Rangeland Society for photocopying of articles for non-personal use may be obtained from the Secretary who can be contacted at the email address, [email protected] For personal use, temporary copies necessary to browse this site on screen may be made and a single copy of an article may be downloaded or printed for research or personal use, but no changes are to be made to any of the material. This copyright notice is not to be removed from the front of the article. All efforts have been made by the Australian Rangeland Society to contact the authors. If you believe your copyright has been breached please notify us immediately and we will remove the offending material from our website. Form of Reference The reference for this article should be in this general form; Author family name, initials (year). Title. In: Proceedings of the nth Australian Rangeland Society Biennial Conference. Pages. (Australian Rangeland Society: Australia). For example: Anderson, L., van Klinken, R. D., and Shepherd, D. (2008). Aerially surveying Mesquite (Prosopis spp.) in the Pilbara. In: ‘A Climate of Change in the Rangelands. Proceedings of the 15th Australian Rangeland Society Biennial Conference’. (Ed. D. Orr) 4 pages. (Australian Rangeland Society: Australia). Disclaimer The Australian Rangeland Society and Editors cannot be held responsible for errors or any consequences arising from the use of information obtained in this article or in the Proceedings of the Australian Rangeland Society Biennial Conferences. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Rangeland Society and Editors, neither does the publication of advertisements constitute any endorsement by the Australian Rangeland Society and Editors of the products advertised. The Australian Rangeland Society 8th Biennial Conference `CLEAN COUNTRY, CLEAN PRODUCT, CLEAR PROFIT' Best practice for practical rangeland management in Australia June 21 - 23, 1994 Katherine, Northern Territory WORKING PAPERS These proceedings are proudly sponsored and printed by ¡Asprint Producers of a wide range of quality single and full colour printing including: Brochures, Annual Reports, Newsletters, Stationery and Posters. Asprint also offers a state -of- the -art Design Studio offering creative COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN and original freehand artwork ,vr Phc «ographs were kindly provided by Bill van Aken and Graham Chapman of CSIRO. ßANGE(,qy0 p,N 4z:''' Q- WORKING PAPERS 8th BIENNIAL CONFERENCE CLEAN COUNTRY, CLEAN PRODUCT, CLEAR PROFIT Best practice for practical rangeland management in Australia. 21 -23 JUNE 1994 KATHERINE NORTHERN TERRITORY For limited distribution only. Not a publication for use in bibliographies. None of the material contained in these working papers may be abstracted or cited as a reference without permission of the author(s) concerned.In such cases the reference should be cited as personal communication. ISSN 0158 -3859 1 SPONSORS The Organising Committee for the Eighth Australian Rangeland Society Conference acknowledges the generous sponsorship provided by the following organisations: MEAT RESEARCH CORPORATION (travel grant for Prof. Larry White) ANSETT AUSTRALIA COMMONWEALTH DEVELOPMENT BANK BULL'S TRANSPORT PTY LTD (transport of Working Papers from Alice Springs to Katherine) ORGANISING COMMITTEE Mr Tom Stockwell (NT DPIF) - Chairman Mr Neil MacDonald (NT DPIF) - Finance /Registration Mr Blair Wood (CCNT) - Advertising & Sponsorship Mr Reg Andison (NT DPIF) - Venue, Equipment & Posters Mr Wolf Sievers (CCNT) - Accommodation Mrs Sally Sullivan (CCNT) - Posters, Transport & Tours Mr Rohan Sullivan (NT DPIF) - Tours Mr John Pitt (NT DPIF) - Social & Catering Dr Bill Low (W.A. Low Ecological Services) - Publication Committee Dr Margaret Friedel (CSIRO) - Publication Committee Mr Gary Bastin (CSIRO) - Publication Committee Ms Mandy Bowman (CCNT) - Publication Committee Ms Chris Edgoose (CCNT) - Publication Committee Mr Russell Grant (CCNT) - Publication Committee ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Numerous people contributed to the organisation of this conference. The Organising Committee particularly wishes to thank the following for their efforts; John Thompson (administrative assistance), Kate Gowland and Peggy Semaru (publicity, brochures and newsletters), Jane Jackson and Yvonne Glasson (answering enquiries and administrative help), John Glasby (Principal of Katherine High School) and staff of the NT Rural College. Members of the Organising Committee also wish to acknowledge the support provided by their respective employers: the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory, Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries and CSIRO. The Publication Committee, who organised the program and produced the Working Papers, thanks Janine Kinloch for her invaluable assistance in many areas. The committee also thanks Vanessa Chewings and Garth Tier for assistance with computing and E -mail matters. The skill, commitment and efficiency of Charlie Lawrence (Asprint) in type setting these Working Papers is gratefully acknowledged. We thank Leah Betterman, Clare Flattum and Teresa Shanahan at CSIRO for general administrative assistancenot least, the many telephone enquiries they fielded and diverted to Publication Committee members. 3 PROGRAM Tuesday 21st June Page 8.30 am Welcome - Tom Stockwell Official Opening SESSION 1: RANGELANDS INTO THE 90's Chairperson: John Morrissey 9.00 am Keynote Paper Wim Burggraaf (Heytesbury Pastoral Group, Perth) 9.30 am Marketing the Biota and Landscapes of Western 9 Australia's Rangelands Jim Armstrong & Ian Abbott (CALM, Perth) 9.45 am Development of the National Strategy for Rangeland 13 Management and Action Plan Daryl King & Lyndsey Jolley (DEST, Canberra) 10.00 am Morning Tea SESSION 2: PRODUCTION /INDUSTRY ISSUES Chairperson: Ron Hacker 10.30 am The Live Export Cattle Trade: Longer Term 18 Implications for the North QLD Cattle Industry Bill Holmes (QDPI, Townsville) & Mick Sullivan (QDPI, Mt. Isa) 10.48 am Likely Survivors in the Wool Industry in the 22 Australian Rangelands Bob Wynne (CaLM, Condobolin) 11.06 am Mabo, Implications for Land Management Neville Jones (Office of Aboriginal Development, Darwin) 11.24 am Drought Management: A personal view 28 Guy Fitzhardinge (Thring Pastoral Company, Mandurama NSW) 11.42 am The Impact of Taxation in Solving Land Management Problems 34 S. Davenport & R. Douglas (NSW Agriculture, Orange) 12.00 noonLunch 1.30 p.m. BRIEF PRESENTATIONS WITH POSTERS Concurrent presentations of brief paper/ posters grouped by theme 3.00 p.m Afternoon Tea 3.30 p.m. WORKSHOPS Workshop session addressing Society/ rangeland issues 5.15 p.m. SOCIETY BUSINESS Chairperson: Alec Holm (ARS President) 7.00 p.m. Conference Dinner 5 Wednesday 22nd June 8.30 a.m. OPEN FORUM Chairperson: Margaret Friedel Speakers: 8.36 a.m. Apparent Suppression of Western Myall (Acacia papyrocarpa 40 Benth.) Cohorts Prior to the Arrival of Sheep in the Arid Rangelands of Southern Australia Carolyn Ireland & Martin Andrew (University of Adelaide - Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy) 8.48 a.m. Relationship Between Stocking Intensity and the Soil 44 Seed Bank of a Semi -arid Rangeland Sheldon Navie & R.W. Rogers (University of Queensland, Brisbane) 9.00 a.m. Aspects of Post -fire Regeneration in Soft Spinifes 47 (Triodia pungens) Communities near Newman, Western Australia Andrew Craig (WADA, Kununurra) 9.12 a.m. Indicators for Range Assessment 51 Peter Jessop, Martin Andrew (University of Adelaide - Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy) & Brendan Lay (DENR, Adelaide) 9.24 a.m. Landscape Evolution on the Barkly Tableland 54 Chris Edgoose & Kay Winstanley (CCNT, Alice Springs) 9.36 a.m. The Case for Multiple Use Reserves in Woody Weed Country 58 Dave Robson (CaLM, Bourke) 9.48 a.m. Costing the Effects of Stocking Decisions in an 62 Uncertain Environment Grant Hatch, Neil Tainton & G. Or tmann (University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg South Africa) 10.00 am Morning Tea 10.30 a.m. BRIEF PRESENTATIONS WITH POSTERS Concurrent presentations of brief paper/ posters grouped by theme 12.15 p.m. Depart on Mid - Conference Tour Thursday 23rd June SESSION 3: EXTENSION, EDUCATION & INTEGRATION Chairperson: Barney Foran 8.30 a.m. Keynote Paper - Total Ranch Management: Strategic 66 Management of Range Ecosystems Larry White (Texas Agricultural Extension Service, College Station, Texas USA) 9.00 a.m. Local Best Practice, Participatory Problem Solving 70 and Benchmarking to Improve Rangeland Management Richard Clark (QDPI, Rockhampton) & Piet Filet (QDPI, Emerald) 9.15 a.m. Arid Zone Resource Planning in the Corporate World 76 Greg Campbell (S. Kidman & Co, Adelaide) 9.30 a.m. A Practical Approach to Self Assessment as Part of a 80 National Resource Monitoring Strategy John Fargher, (AACM International, Adelaide), Andrew Nicolson (Middleback Station, via Whyalla) & Matthew Pick (AACM International, Adelaide) 9.45 a.m. A Rangelands Perspective in School Education 85 Rob Richards (CaLM, Hay) & Matthew