Andy Taylor, Senior Natural Resource Management Advisor from Braidwood LLS, led the group on a stroll through patches of remnant eucalypt woodland to observe local bird life. Spotted alongside the familiar wood ducks, rosellas, and wrens, were three sightings of the male Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang – pictured). This vulnerable little bird is the flagship species for LLS’s Save Our Scarlet Robin Program, which has helped fund fences and native plants to protect and revegetate over 500 hectares in the region, with the aim of increasing habitat connectivity for a range of threatened woodland birds.

The sightings at Sunday’s field day show promising signs for the Scarlet Robin, with many pairs reported by Bombay Landcare members along the river corridor this winter. Sadly, much of its preferred habitat – dry eucalypt woodlands, usually with shrubs and an open, grassy understorey – were damaged in the Black Summer bushfires. However, at the site visited on Sunday, post-fire plantings to improve the density of mid-storey shrubs are doing well, and will grow to provide cover for small birds from predators like currawongs, as well as forage and nesting habitat.

Andy outlined that, while the Save Our Scarlet Robin Program transitions to the next phase of monitoring established sites, landowners can continue to seek advice from LLS on their own protection and revegetation projects to promote habitat for woodland birds. He also highlighted the importance of citizen science, where landholders can record sightings of threatened birds on apps like eBird and Birdata. This data can help researchers evaluate population movements and, in the long term, potentially identify whether programs like the Scarlet Robin project are supporting a resurgence of threatened species.

After the bird walk, researchers from ANU’s Sustainable Farms took to the stage, leading Landcarers past two dam sites, one grazed and the other excluded from livestock. Richard Beggs, a Research and Extension Officer who’s done extensive monitoring on birds and dams in the Murray-Riverina region, as well as a PhD on native noisy miners in box-gum grassy woodland, pointed out valuable information on ways to improve the quality of dams for agricultural use, but also enhance them as an ecological resource to support biodiversity.

Michelle Young, Sustainable Farms Director, was also there to show the group some of the great resources the project has developed, including handy planting guides on what-to-plant-where around your dams. As an example, leaving old growth trees in the vicinity of the dam is highly beneficial (albeit not on, or right beside the dam wall as it can compromise its integrity). These trees offer an intricate habitat, decades advanced, and can help shade the water and prevent excessive evaporation during a hot summer. Similarly, having a healthy range of terrestrial and aquatic plants growing in and around the dam can help filter the water, improving its quality and the wellbeing and weight gain of the animals drinking it.

Given the vast majority of land use in Australia (>50%) is taken up by various agricultural pursuits, a powerful take home from Richard was the significant role farmland can play in striving for a balanced, productive, biodiverse, and resilient landscape. Enhancing your natural assets, even a simple farm dam, is a positive step forward.

Upper Shoalhaven Landcare would like to thank Andy Taylor, Richard Beggs, and  Michelle Young for sharing their expertise and joining the Bombay Landcare group for the day. We also wish to acknowledge Local Land Services for funding the event, and Vanessa Bunn, from Vanilla Catering, for saving the day by turning up with hot sausage rolls and soup in the gusty conditions on Sunday.

– Corben Hart and Erin Brinkley from Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council

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Dr Ben Scheele, researcher at Sustainable Farms, said: “Our team has been investigating how farm dam management can be enhanced – in particular, through livestock exclusion and vegetating around dams – to improve water quality for livestock consumption, provide habitat for wildlife and provide more reliable water during droughts.

“The discovery that the same management practices that improve water quality and help wildlife also decrease greenhouse gas emissions is exciting, and highlights the co-benefits associated with adapting sustainable management practices on farms,” Dr Scheele said.

In 2018 an unexpected discovery by Deakin’s Blue Carbon Lab team found that farm dams emit significantly more greenhouse gases than lakes, reservoirs, and many natural freshwater systems. Since then, Dr Martino Malerba from the Blue Carbon Lab has focused on investigating how these emissions – and thus the overall carbon footprint of farms – can be reduced through very simple management actions.

“Our research spanned four hundred kilometres across south-eastern Australia,” said Dr Malerba. “We compared thirty-three unfenced farms with thirty-one fenced farm dams – sites that are part of the Sustainable Farms research program – and found the fenced dams produced fifty-six per cent less methane than unfenced.

“This is a huge difference and clearly shows that very simple management actions can drastically improve the dam water quality as well as decrease methane emissions, contributing to more productive and sustainable farming.”

Researchers from Deakin’s Blue Carbon Lab and The Australian National University’s Sustainable Farms collaborated in the study.

Fenced farm dams recorded thirty-two per cent less dissolved nitrogen, thirty-nine per cent less dissolved phosphorus, twenty-two per cent more dissolved oxygen, and produced fifty-six per cent less diffusive methane emissions than unfenced dams.

Surprisingly, this study also found that farm dams with high dissolved oxygen can stop emitting methane and instead start absorbing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. This means improving the condition of farm dams could mean that instead of emitting greenhouse gases, they could instead become sinks – drawing down greenhouse gases and helping to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“These findings really should provide policymakers with the evidence needed to support dam enhancement,” said Dr Malerba. “With the frequency of empty farm dams increasing two-to-five-fold since 1965, farmers are really doing it tough.

“We are working with the Clean Energy Regulator so that managing farm dams for avoided emissions could allow farmers to access financial incentives through carbon credits from the Emission Reduction Fund.”

Media contact

Suzannah Macbeth – 02 6125 9288

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