In September 2012 I completed a Community Profile Analysis to assist the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (CMA) develop an upgraded Catchment Action Plan and to provide reference information for other Sydney Metropolitan CMA activities.
The Sydney Metropolitan CMA was required to apply ‘systems thinking’ in upgrading its Catchment Action Plan (CAP). Systems thinking has emerged as a new approach to natural resource management, and frames landscapes as complex dynamic systems with interacting social and ecological parts. To inform systems thinking, the CMA has needed a better understanding of the current socio-economic status of its community and their attitudes towards the environment. The Community Profile Analysis was prepared using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census data and other socio-economic statistics and references. Read the rest of this entry »
The Biodiversity Recovery Plan for Gatton and Laidley Shires, South-East Queensland 2003-2008 takes a multi-species recovery planning approach, addressing the conservation and recovery of all known significant species and ecological communities within the defined local government areas of Gatton and Laidley Shires in South East Queensland. Read the rest of this entry »
I prepared a Land and Environmental Management Plan (LEMP) for the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (S.S.A.A.) Lockyer Branch Inc. to support their development application for a Shooting Range in Gatton Shire. Read the rest of this entry »
I prepared the Living in the Lockyer Property Management Planning Kit as an accompanying resource to the Lockyer Catchment Centre guidebook Living in the Lockyer – A Landholders Guide to Land, Water, Wildlife and Vegetation Management in the Lockyer Catchment and Surrounds. I designed the Property Management Planning Kit as a resource for landholders who were not rural producers, for example hobby farmers, rural residential landholders or landholders who owned bush blocks. The existing Queensland Government ‘Futureprofit’ program was already available for rural producers, but there had been no complementary program for other landholders. Read the rest of this entry »
The Land Use Planning Handbook for the Lockyer Catchment, which I prepared in 2001, describes the ‘land systems’ planning approach used in NRM planning in the Lockyer Catchment of South East Queensland. The Lockyer Catchment was divided into six land systems, each representing a group of areas with a distinct characteristic pattern of landform, soils and vegetation. For each land system, recommendations were made about sustainable land uses and land management practices to be encouraged, and also undesirable uses and practices to be discouraged. Read the rest of this entry »
I led a three-person team in coordinating the Sustainable Management of the Helidon Hills project in 1998-99. From its inception, the project sought to be different. The Helidon Hills represents a microcosm of the issues currently facing NRM planners all over Australia and internationally. These relate to the management of change across a broad front including industry development, conservation, natural resource management, community access to resources, cultural heritage, infrastructure development and tourism potential. The impact of any of these changes in the Helidon Hills area had the potential to significantly disrupt the rich heritage that is woven into the fabric of community and family life in the area, not to mention the threat to livelihood. Read the rest of this entry »