1.1 Project background
The Desert Uplands Strategic Land Resource Assessment project (DUSLARA) evolved from concerns expressed by members of the Desert Uplands community that land management is one of the important issues that needs to be addressed to ensure the long-term economic and social sustainability of the region. The Desert Uplands Build-Up and Development Strategy Committee was formed in the mid-1990s and produced a comprehensive position paper in 1996 (DUBDSC 1996) after extensive community consultation. The DUBDSC then developed a strategic plan (DUBDSC 1998) for integrated regional adjustment and community development, which the State and Federal governments supported with a grant of $4 million for the ‘Desert Uplands Community Scheme’. During the period of intensive activity following the allocation of this grant, the DUBDSC realised that their community needed better land resource information than was currently available. The information also needed to be consistent across the whole region and at a level of detail that could be used at the scale of individual properties.
Fortuitously, at this time, the EPA and a combined team from the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) and Commonwealth Scientific Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO) were completing detailed land studies in two areas: the Lake Buchanan/Galilee catchments and the Dalrymple Shire, respectively. The DUBDSC decided that it would like to develop the same level of detailed land resource mapping for the whole Desert Uplands bioregion. They prepared an application, in partnership with the EPA, who would provide the technical input, for Natural Heritage Trust (NHT1) funding. The project was approved, and attracted total funding of $1.5 million, which included monetary and ‘in-kind’ contributions from EPA, DUBDSC, Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), Tropical Savannas CRC and the Shires of Aramac, Barcaldine, Blackall, Belyando, Jericho and Flinders.
The EPA project team (Appendix 1) commenced work, under the supervision of Dr. Mal Lorimer, in March 1999. Three years of intensive fieldwork followed collecting site, soil, and vegetation information from six of the seven shires involved in the study area. A further eighteen months was spent analysing the data, preparing 1:100,000 map sheets and individual property maps, information sheets for land systems, land units and individual sites, writing a regional overview of the climate, geomorphology, soils, vegetation and land use implications, and finally, creating a user-friendly digital database.
The second part of the project involved combining data from the DPI/CSIRO study with land resource information from other studies in the Desert Uplands portion of the Dalrymple Shire, which accounts for approximately 35 percent of the study area, and presenting it in the same format and level of detail as the first part of the study. A preliminary map of land systems and land units was prepared from interpretations of satellite images and aerial photographs, and then modified according to specific site information on the soils and vegetation obtained from previous land resource studies. One field trip to verify land unit descriptions and obtain representative photographs, prior to finalising the text, covered approximately 1,400 kilometres. The additional area within the Dalrymple Shire required a further 18 months, bringing the total period of time for the whole project to six years.
The Desert Uplands Land Resource Database, which includes the complete version of this technical report, is available on CD-ROM from:
The EPA Customer Service Centre.
Ground Floor, 160 Ann Street,
Brisbane. 4000. Queensland.
Ph. (07) 3227 8187 or (07) 3227 8197.
The DUBDSC Office.
PO Box 310,
Barcaldine. 4725. Queensland.
Ph. (07) 4651 1002
E-mail: info@desertuplands.com.au
Dr. Mal. Lorimer
EPA
PO Box 5391
Townsville. 4810. Queensland
Ph. (07) 4722 5264
E-mail: mal.lorimer@epa.qld.gov.au
Last updated: 31 July 2006
