20-Sep-2011

For farmers severely impacted by the January floods in the Lockyer cathment, getting their land back into production as soon as possible is at the top of their minds.

Over the past week, SEQ Catchments have been working with one farmer, Mark Voight, who owns a family farm near Clarendon. 45 acres of Mr Voights’ 135 acre farm has been out of production since the floods, which means that he has had to lease agricultural land elsewhere to continue in production.

‘‘The flloods were devastating for us. After the waters went down, we were left with very dangerous steep cliffs on the banks of the creek and we lost 15cm of topsoil off our productive land’’ he said.

Scientists estimate that the topsoil loss together with the severe erosion of the banks of Lockyer Creek at Mr Voight’s property resulted in some 50,000m¬3 of sediment, equivalent to around 750 truck loads of soil, were lost into the creek and eventually the Brisbane River and Brisbane’s water supply.‘‘

Over the past week we have been working together with SEQ Catchments to make our property a lot safer and getting it ready for production. We hope to be planting crops in about a month’s time. We have already seen some big improvements’’

Works have included stabilising the banks, revegetating the riparian area between the banks of the Creek and laser levelling the soil. The initial works have lasted five days and the land is expected to be ready for production in about a month’s time.

With funding from the State and Federal Governments, SEQ Catchments have helped to design and get the project up and running. Chief Operating Officer, Tony Costantini, said that the primary aim of these type of projects is to improved the condition of the Lockyer Creek, re-establish riparian vegetation and make it more resilient to future floods.

‘We were very interested to work with landholders such as Mark, who were very badly damaged by the floods. He has been very committed to improving the resilience of his property, even though he has had to sacrifice some of it. Over the next few years watercourses will continue to get stronger and stronger and this time next year we will see some big improvements’ he said.

‘‘This is the first project of this kind. It has provided us with valuable learnings in how to restore severely degraded watercourses, to work with landowners like Mark Voight and work with experts from southern States and Griffith University to improve South-east Queensland’s resilience to floods. Helping farmers such as Mark is really important for fixing up not only the Lockyer Creek, but also helping to improve water supply and quality for Brisbane, estuaries and Moreton Bay”.

Interestingly, Mark’s property is also a Koala corridor, so there is a lot at stake without these improvements.

SEQ Catchments hope to see more of these types of works carried out with other farmers as funding becomes available.

SEQ Catchments Ltd is an environmental not-for-profit business which works with the community, the corporate sector and all levels of government to enhance environmental sustainability in South East Queensland.

For more information please contact:

Tony Costantini, Chief Operating Officer, 0400 233 622 or tcostantini@seqcatchments.com.au

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Further information: Sibel Korhaliller, Communications Officer, 0488 713 340 or skorhaliller@seqcatchments.com.au