Caring for our Country

This Caring for Our Country (C4oC) project commenced in Dec 2010 and was completed in June 2013. It provided support, communication and capacity building within the Wilson Inlet Catchment. Activities addressed soil management issues and improved land manager knowledge and skills. On ground activities included planting 494 hectares of herbaceous perennial pastures, as well as planning and implementing soil demonstration sites to show the impact of key practices for soil acidity and soil carbon management across strategically chosen sites in the Wilson Inlet catchment. Two soil health demonstration sites were established. The soil health demonstration site at John and Marg Rodgers' is representative of many properties across the South Coast both in the level of acidification and the soil types chosen. Soil acidity is one of the most common soil degradation issues facing agricultural properties on the South Coast. This demonstration site assessed locally the effect of different rates of lime on soil acidity. It also investigated the impact of different products from seven different lime pits including: WALCO, Denmark Shire, Beaufort River Dolomite, Redgate lime and Lancelin Aglime which have differing neutralizing values and fineness. DAFWA will continue to monitor this site for another two years.
The other demonstration site at Geoff and Bronwyn MatherÕs aimed to investigate the potential for fish hydrolysate to increase plant productivity resulting in increasing soil carbon and being more economical than standard fertiliser treatments. Fish hydrolysate is cold processed (minced, enzymatically digested and liquefied) to preserve proteins for quick turnover by microbes into nutrients by plants.
On ground activities completed include:

• 25 hectares of blackberry control undertaken along the Sleeman Creek and follow up control along the Hay River 
• 494 hectares of deep rooted perennials have been established