Our tropical, coastal environment, nationally significant wetlands, strong, diverse communities and important agricultural industries make our Local Landscape a special place to be part of.
Our highly diverse natural environments provide important habitat for a huge range of plants and animals, many of them threatened and quite a few found nowhere else.
We have productive agricultural land and appealing towns, all located within this natural landscape. Our community has the skills and the passion to work together to manage and enhance these values.
Our three top priorities
1. Water
We will enhance the quality of our water and the condition of our waterways.
We live in a vast delta. Our coastal waterways and tidal systems provide immense value, for their cultural, social, environmental and economic contributions to our region. Our waterways are particularly important for sustaining our farming communities, our tropical lifestyle and our unique environmental values.
If our waterways are healthy, they contribute to healthier coastal and terrestrial environments, as well as more sustainable industries and communities.
Examples of our priority actions to enhance our waterways include:
• Improve the connectivity and function of aquatic systems to allow fish movement throughout the catchment.
• Conduct a Walking the Landscape process to assess and prioritise locations for onground work, including managing connectivity, water quality and weed pressure.
• Support good land management practices that also benefit waterway health (eg. improving soil health).
“We want to make the waterways a great place to enjoy fishing/boating. We can turn the waterways into a valued community asset that everyone will be proud of.”
“We want to see the community and landholders working together, so waterway restoration is everyone’s responsibility.”
2. Biosecurity
We will control existing biosecurity risks and prevent new incursions, to minimise impacts of invasive species on the natural, cultural and agricultural values of our region.
Weeds and pests have significant financial and environmental impacts in our local landscape. Consistent and coordinated management can ensure these impacts are minimised. Pigs are particularly damaging in our area, requiring sustained management across all land tenures.
We also need to be particularly vigilant about potential new biosecurity incursions. Our location, at the mouth of the Herbert River, means there is an ongoing risk of new pests and weeds coming into our area from further upstream.
Examples of our priority actions include:
• Control feral animals, particularly pigs, across tenures to minimise their impacts.
• Control existing weeds, and prevent new incursions from establishing in the area.
3. Community Values
We will work to ensure our community understands and appreciates the environmental, cultural, economic and recreational values of our natural areas.
We value our communities’ strength, diversity and community pride.
It is these characteristics which can help bring about a positive environmental cultural change. When people see the value and success of good environmental management, a change in attitudes slowly begins.
A ripple effect gradually takes place, with more and more people becoming involved. We have developed some excellent partnerships through our region and beyond, and have access to great information. We can make sure this information is easily available to the broader community to help decision-making and bring about on-ground action.
Examples of our priority actions include:
• Identify key natural assets and their values to help improve management.
• Conduct a communication campaign to raise awareness and support a culture change regarding natural resource management.
Other priorities:
Sustainable Industries
Our community places high value on supporting local industries to remain sustainable, diverse and resilient, particularly with changing climate and market conditions. Land managers have the knowledge, skills and capacity to ensure the region’s agricultural industries remain strong and viable; providing ongoing support and building knowledge will ensure this continues.
Long-term sustainability of our farming lands is also important for our families and communities, and we can help achieve this by carefully managing our natural resources and improving productivity on our cultivated areas. In addition to our sugar cane farms and other agricultural and grazing enterprises, the contribution of tourism to our economy is also growing.
Examples of our priority actions include:
• Support agricultural industries to build diversity and resilience, to be better prepared for future challenges and risks.
• Support coordinated fire management across land uses and tenures for multiple benefits.
• Develop a coordinated farmer network to share and build knowledge and skills.
• Encourage younger people to enter or remain in the agricultural industry.
“Plenty of travellers just drive through/past – so why not give them incentive to stop and stay a while. Diversify the local economy and bring a few more $ to town from travellers who stay.”
Cultural Connections
We have Traditional Owners in our region who have a strong and enduring connection to country, with a desire to be meaningfully involved in natural and cultural resource management.
A commitment to building and maintaining strong partnerships with all NRM stakeholders, including Traditional Owners, can result in sharing of knowledge and skills and better environmental and cultural outcomes.
Examples of our priority actions include:
• Improve partnerships and collaboration for planning and managing the natural and cultural assets of our area.
• Support cross-cultural management of traditional land and sea country.
• Provide targeted training and support to PBCs to build capacity and enable greater participation in managing country.
• Establish a regional organisation to provide coordination, advocacy, advisory and capacity building support to all PBCs.
For more detail on the priority actions identified by the community for our Local Landscape, click on this link.