Leaving a Legacy for soil conservation

Posted 15 July 2019.

The ability to capture a snapshot of the broad range of soil management and rehabilitation activities that have occurred across the region is considered one of the highlights of the Landscape Legacies project, which finished on 30 June.

The SAAL region was able to deliver a number of workshops on geomorphology through the project which is supported by the SA Arid Lands NRM Board through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. Held in Leigh Creek, Marree and Kingoonya, the workshops provided an opportunity for participants to learn from geomorphologist Dr Gresley Wakelin-King who shared her understanding of arid zone landscapes and characteristics, described water movement, flow and energy, explained how different landscapes respond to water and the effect of water on different landscapes.

In the final workshop at Kingoonya, participants took part in a site visit which gave them an opportunity to observe changes in the land type and look for signs of water movement. There were indicators of a 40mm rainfall event in November 2018 which were evident as deposited sediment, scouring around vegetation and tree trunks and litter dams, which could also help to spread and slow the flow of water.

At all workshops participants had the opportunity to discuss fit-to-landscape works and look at tools that could help with property mapping for landscape processes to inform planning rehabilitation works. Using imagery from Google Earth and digital elevation model (DEM) - a digital representation of the terrain for an area - participants were able to determine water movement and identify key features of a site.

A case study from the soil management and rehabilitation activities will be shared in the next printed edition of the ATO.

While the project itself is complete, it is hoped that further opportunities will be available to assist property managers in understanding geomorphology and undertaking soil management and rehabilitation activities.

The case studies can be found here