Local Trial to Show the Value of Managing Saline Land

_This project is complete. Click on the following link to view the respective document [SGSL Producer Network Projects (New South Wales)](http://landwaterwool.gov.au/index.php?q=node/289)_.

Making a profit while dealing with on-farm salinity is the subject of a research project that is exploring whether money can be made while unproductive land is restored to health in the Liverpool Plains region.

Alleys of trees and pasture will be established and monitored across about 30 hectares of land on Stephen and Wendy Millar's Spring Ridge, NSW, property 'Chevy Chase' with the aim of rejuvenating about 5 ha of salinity-affected land within the block.

SGSL is behind 29 project sites across New South Wales’ wool-producing regions that are exploring new ways to make productive use of salinity-affected ground while stemming or reversing the effects of salt incursion.

Project leader, Luke Beange from NSW Agriculture, said the property would provide a learning site for other producers affected by salinity.

“In particular, if it halted the advance of the 'Chevy Chase' salt scald or wiped it out, the trial would give hope to other producers wanting to forestall saline outbreaks without taking affected land out of production,” he said.

Stephen Millar hopes that as a result of the project, what is now a marginal 30 ha of land will in a few years be delivering multiple forms of income, and the five ha (and growing) salt-scald will have vanished.

'I never used to be worried about salinity, but watching this scald grow over the past three years has got me very concerned,' Mr Millar said. 'We're very keen to see this trial work.'

The Millars and their neighbours, members of the Coomoo Coomoo Landcare Group, have already planted about 60,000 trees in the area to ward off salinity.

The group is integrating three project trials on managing salinity, remnant vegetation and producing economically viable timber, which will provide unique, on-going insight for growers.

'The trials of tree and pasture species for alternative productive uses will have the effect of providing wider economic choices in salinity management when using trees or shrubs,” Stephen said.

Pasture, like the marine and saltwater couch varieties to be planted at 'Chevy Chase' on ground already bared by salinity, will provide grazing for the Millars' 4000 Merinos.

“These experimental marine and saltwater couch grass and other salt tolerant pasture plantings may hold the key to putting a profitable ground cover on thousands of hectares of currently bare, eroding ground,” Luke said.

NSW Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) research officer, Bill Semple, said the two species would be vegetatively planted (that is, established from cutting rather than seed) on half the five hectares of scalded ground, while the Millars' standard pasture mix - largely Rhodes and digit grass and clovers - would be planted on the other half to provide a comparison.

'Both the salt-tolerant couch species have been fairly successful in smaller trials, but they haven't been widely used yet,' Bill said. 'They appear to provide a solution to the problem we have in establishing any sort of growth on bare salt scalds, which provide a pretty harsh environment.'

He said a grazier near Rockhampton in Queensland who has used marine couch over a wide area of salt-affected land has found that cattle can maintain condition on the grass, if not fatten, providing the grass is sensitively grazed. Both marine couch (Sporobolus virginicus) and saltwater couch (Paspalum vaginatum) are native species.

Above the 5 ha salt scald, 25-metre wide tree alleys will be interspersed with 75-metre wide pasture strips using the Millars' standard production pasture mix, with the addition of tall wheat grass and any other useful species that come to light.

Evaluation of trees for potential foliage/flower production is still underway. Merino wethers will be used to assess the productive pasture potential of the pasture.

Luke Beange said that money was only one reason for any successes on 'Chevy Chase' being more widely adopted.

'A lot of people who are doing this sort of groundbreaking work are not just focused on production,' he said. 'They tend to get involved in natural resource management for its ecological value as well as for any profit involved.'

First published April 2004. For more information go to the Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands Sub-program.