Successful pastoralists will be funded to attend relevant training courses and provided access to professional expertise. They will be supported to engage regularly as a group to draw on the experience and knowledge of other participants, work together on common issues, assess and provide feedback on solutions – equipping them with the knowledge and skills to piece things together themselves.
Project activities will be driven by participating pastoralists and supported by DPIRD. The collective learnings of the group will then be shared with the wider industry.
This pilot project will focus on a whole-system-approach to address both resource base protection and livestock profitability including:
- the regeneration of palatable, productive, perennial vegetation
- landscape function and hydration restoration
- total grazing pressure control
- livestock profitability.
The pilot will be delivered in two phases.
Phase One
The initial 12-month phase will focus on investigating solutions and planning including:
- funded attendance of pastoralists for up to seven relevant training courses
- supported access to relevant professional expertise and coaching
- facilitated support and activities provided for the group to fine-tune solutions for each station - drawing on the knowledge and experience of pastoralists
- developing land management and improvement strategies supported with data
- developing a tailored revitalisation roadmap for each station that outlines areas to attract future co-investment.
Phase Two
The second phase, pending funding approval, will support a selection of ten pilot pastoralists from Phase One to implement their on-ground station priorities that demonstrate different approaches and systems.
Drawing upon the best available research and technologies, pastoralists involved in the second phase will test strategies and options, best suited to their circumstances, to improve degraded landscapes and lift the productivity of their enterprises.
Expressions of Interest
Applications for the Southern Rangelands Revitalisation project closed on 29 October 2021.
Successful applicants
Successful recipients were announced on 23 Feburary 2022.
| Murchison | Edah Murchison House Hillview Gabyon Challa Station Kirkalocka Melangata Wooleen |
| Goldfields | Menangina Prenti Downs Sturt Meadows Edjudina |
| Nullarbor | Mundrabilla |
| Gascoyne | Jimba Jimba Dairy Creek Carey Downs |
Revitalisation need and potential
At a DPIRD-led industry workshop in June 2021 which brought together 40 representatives with an interest in revitalisation, working out what was needed to support revitalisation of the southern rangelands was at the forefront of discussions.
Knowledge was shared about the importance of revitalising the southern rangelands. Attending pastoralists expressed their desire of a viable, profitable, and thriving livestock industry. They also highlighted the importance of the region becoming economically and biologically sustainable through improving landscape and balancing profit and productivity with revitalisation.
Participants also spent some time workshopping the pathway to achieve a profitable and sustainable system and process of revitalisation.