Regional Update for the Mid West Drought Resilience Plan

Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 Regional Update for the Mid West Drought Resilience Plan

On 28 April, NACC NRM and the Mid West Development Commission co-hosted a regional meeting to update stake holders on the Drought Vulnerability Assessment. The group also workshopped potential future project ideas for the region under this plan.

After an Acknowledgement of Country by MWDC’s Mike Bowley, NACC’s Dr Amanda Bourne welcomed Fiamma Riviera who will be taking over the role of Senior Planning Conservation Officer.

Amanda gave an overview of the RDRP Program and its relationship to the Future Drought Fund, its governance structure, and the program of work being undertaken for this pilot year.

She went through the Drought Vulnerability Assessment (DVA) Framework, explaining that this summary of commissioned technical reports will help inform the Drought Resilience Plan (DRP) for the Mid West, and provide the evidence for key projects for subsequent funding.

Amanda explained how the DVA aims to assess the risk of the Mid West to drought against its resilience to it. She explained the process of regional stakeholder engagement undertaken to understand the priorities in the Mid West.  These will also inform projects to be included in the Drought Resilience Program.

Stan Mastrantonis of Curtin University presented alternative definitions of drought to those currently used by government, and their spatial and temporal implications.  He concluded that the current definition is often not appropriate and that a seasonal definition of drought should be adopted in the Mid West.  He also highlighted the worrying recent temporal trend of increasing ‘hot drought’.

John Bruce of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) presented the framework used to create a series of maps illustrating southwest WA’s exposure, sensitivity, impact, adaptive capacity and vulnerability/resilience to drought. The series of maps indicate that the Mid West is highly vulnerable to drought. 

Sue Middleton of AgDots presented the priorities which are emerging for the Mid West.  She used water resilience, digital resilience and farm business resilience to illustrate the review methodology, and the transformative ideas under each which have been identified to date.

In small teams, participants were asked to select which projects must be included in the Drought Resilience Plan, and to list any additional ideas they may have.  Teams were then asked to select the top three projects ideas and to discuss how these could be actioned. Each team provided feedback to the wider group for further discussion.  Several common ideas emerged.

Will Bessen of the Tuna Blue Foundation then took everyone through the set of illustration he produced during the workshop to summarise what was presented and discussed.

The next Mid West Regional Update will be held Wednesday 8th June 2 to 4pm at the Geraldton Multipurpose Centre.  Further details will be emailed closer to the date.  Please join us!  

This program is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

Dr Fiamma Riviera – Senior Conservation Planning Officer

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.