Soil condition and land management in New South Wales Final results from the 2008-09 monitoring, evaluation and reporting program km Acknowledgements: This report was prepared by Jonathan Gray and Greg Chapman, Ecosystem Management Science Branch, Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH). Many current and former staff from OEH were involved in the development and undertaking of the NSW monitoring, evaluation and reporting soil and land programs, with assistance of staff from NSW Department of Primary Industries and the catchment management authorities. Constructive review comments were provided by Richard Greene (Australian National University). Published by: Office of Environment and Heritage 59–61 Goulburn Street, Sydney PO Box A290, Sydney South NSW 1232 Phone: (02) 9995 5000 (switchboard) Phone: 131 555 (environment information and publications requests) Phone: 1300 361 967 (national parks information and publications requests) Fax: (02) 9995 5999 TTY: (02) 9211 4723 Email: [email protected] Website: www.environment.nsw.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74359 644 9 OEH 2014/0389 September 2014 Preferred citation: OEH (2014). Soil condition and land management in New South Wales: final results from the 2008-09 monitoring, evaluation and reporting program , OEH Technical Report, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Sydney. © Copyright State of NSW and the Office of Environment and Heritage NSW. The Office of Environment and Heritage and the State of NSW are pleased to allow this material to be reproduced in whole or in part for educational and non-commercial use, provided the meaning is unchanged and its source, publisher and authorship are acknowledged. The Office of Environment and Heritage NSW (OEH) has compiled Soil condition and land management in New South Wales: final results from the 2008-09 monitoring, evaluation and reporting program in good faith, exercising all due care and attention. OEH does not accept responsibility for any inaccurate or incomplete information supplied by third parties. No representation is made about the accuracy, completeness or suitability of the information in this publication for any particular purpose. OEH shall not be liable for any damage which may occur to any person or organisation taking action or not on the basis of this publication. This document is subject to revision without notice and it is up to the reader to ensure that the latest version is being used. Readers should seek appropriate advice when applying the information to their specific needs. Soil condition and land management in NSW: Summary There is a need for ongoing monitoring of NSW’s soil and land resources, as was declared by the NSW Natural Resource Commission in 2005 with natural resource management targets relating to (i) soil condition and (ii) land management within capability. These targets were the focus of a monitoring evaluation and reporting (MER) program by the NSW Department of the Environment, Climate Change and Water, now Office of Environment and Heritage, in 2008–09. Results from that MER program were presented at the catchment level in State of the Catchment reports and at the NSW level in the 2009 State of the Environment report. However, at the time of writing of those publications, full results from the MER programs were not available. Since then, however, data collection, laboratory analysis and database entry from the 2008–09 MER program have been completed. In addition, a need for modifications to the methodology and rule sets had become apparent. A reanalysis of the full MER data repository as at 2012 was considered necessary, the results of which are presented in this report. Results for both (i) soil condition and (ii) land management within capability are presented for each soil monitoring unit, catchment management authority and for the state as a whole. Results are also broken down by the eight individual soil condition/hazard indicators: sheet erosion, gully erosion, wind erosion, acidity, organic carbon decline, structure decline, acid sulfate soils and salinity. The overall indices for soil condition and land management within capability across the state, as derived from the updated MER data, both fall in the ‘fair’ range. However, some indicators in particular parts of the state are in an overall poor condition or land management state. For soil condition, 74% of soil monitoring units had ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ ratings for at least one indicator; for land management within capability, 54% of sites had poor or very poor ratings for at least one hazard. The results suggest that on a state-wide basis for soil condition, low organic carbon and sheet erosion are moderate issues of concern, while for land management within capability, acidification, wind erosion, salinity/waterlogging and organic carbon decline are the issues of most concern. Recent data is also presented on (i) land use within capability preliminary mapping, (ii) Australian Bureau of Statistics land management survey data across the state, and (iii) ground cover, sheet erosion and wind erosion modelling. First approximation tables that indicate the range of sustainable land management practices for each capability class of land for each hazard are presented in Appendix 1. final results from the 2008-09 MER program Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Report deliverables ................................................................................................ 1 2 Methods .......................................................................................................................... 2 2.1 Overview of the monitoring, evaluation and reporting program for soil condition ... 2 2.2 Land management within capability ....................................................................... 3 2.3 Update process ...................................................................................................... 5 2.3.1 Soil condition update approach ................................................................... 5 2.3.2 Land management within capability update approach ................................ 5 3 Results ............................................................................................................................ 6 3.1 Results and key findings by CMA ........................................................................... 6 3.1.1 Border Rivers – Gwydir CMA ...................................................................... 6 3.1.2 Central West CMA ...................................................................................... 8 3.1.3 Hawkesbury Nepean CMA ....................................................................... 10 3.1.4 Hunter – Central Rivers CMA ................................................................... 12 3.1.5 Lachlan CMA ............................................................................................ 14 3.1.6 Lower Murray–Darling CMA ..................................................................... 16 3.1.7 Murray CMA ............................................................................................. 18 3.1.8 Murrumbidgee CMA ................................................................................. 20 3.1.9 Namoi CMA .............................................................................................. 22 3.1.10 Northern Rivers CMA ............................................................................... 24 3.1.11 Southern Rivers CMA ............................................................................... 26 3.1.12 Sydney Metro CMA .................................................................................. 28 3.1.13 Western CMA ........................................................................................... 30 3.2 State-wide results and key findings ...................................................................... 32 3.2.1 Soil condition data .................................................................................... 32 3.2.2 Summary of soil condition across NSW, 2008–09 .................................... 34 3.2.3 Land management within capability data .................................................. 35 3.2.4 Summary of land management within capability across NSW, 2008–09 ... 37 4 Complementary data ..................................................................................................... 38 4.1 Land use within capability map ............................................................................ 38 4.2 Australian Bureau of Statistics land management data ........................................ 39 4.3 Groundcover and sheet and wind erosion products ............................................. 39 4.3.1 Time series ground cover products ........................................................... 39 4.3.2 Time series sheet erosion modelling......................................................... 40 4.3.3 Wind erosion and DustWatch products ..................................................... 42 4.4 Modelling of soil properties .................................................................................. 42 5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 44 Appendix 1: Management practices appropriate for each land and soil capability class for each hazard (first approximation) ..................................................................