The north Australian program - catchment management, water quality and nutrient flows and the northern Australian beef industry - scoping study to identify appropriate catchments

Summary

Following a review of current information on the effects of grazing management in grazed lands of Northern Australia on water and nutrient cycles and the downstream fluxes of water, sediment and nutrients (Hook, 1997), NAP3 commissioned the present scoping study to:

collate and review existing information on research projects studying water quality and nutrient flow issues as related to grazing management in Northern Australia and identify priority issues in need of new or further research within the context of the recommendations provided by Hook's review;
assess the relative potential vulnerability of grazed catchments across Northern Australia and evaluate perceived risks to water quality and nutrient flows as related to soil types, current stocking pressures/grazing management practices and other land uses;
provide NAP3 with recommendations on potential focus catchments for research into grazing effects on catchment response and optimum implementation through a major multiagency research group.
On the basis of the review of ongoing research and monitoring and in view of the current work on off-site impacts and the limitations on funding, we recommend that future work on catchment management, water quality and nutrient flows as related to the northern beef industry be primarily focussed on:

impacts of grazing management on sediment generation and nutrient loss at scales ranging from hillslope to catchment,
quantification of key determinants of sediment,nutrient and overland flow processes at paddock, catchment and landform scales and their modeling to enable extrapolation to other catchments in Northem Australia.