Riparian Area Protection
Koordarrie Station
Lead: Kristie de Pledge
Region: West Pilbara
Hectares: 121,000
Environment: Red brown cracking clays + red sands. Coastal plains, sand dunes, sand plains, tidal creeks, and clay pans.
Challenge Identified: Overgrazing of riparian areas, limiting future carrying capacity and causing degradation locally, and further through the ecosystem.
Status: Ongoing via further funding and assistance from Landcare Australia and Gascoyne Pilbara Rangelands Initiative.
Approach
The riparian area, or billabong, in question is one waterhole in a chain of ponds that begins on Minderoo Station and ends at the coast. It’s defined as coastal plains, cracking grey soils, tussock grasslands with species such as Mitchell Grass, Roebourne Plains Grass, and Silky Brown Top Grass. The surrounding areas move into red-brown cracking clays and red sands. The region receives 270mm of rainfall per year on average, but has not recorded a rainfall event exceeding 50mm between 2017 and 2025. This is, without doubt, a long-term project, but one that is necessary given the volatility of seasonal rainfall.
Koordarrie recognised that the billabong area, comprising 0.5km x 1km, which they chose to focus their research project on, would continue to degrade if their management strategy didn’t shift. With increased volatility in rainfall, a rain-ready ecosystem that can bounce back on small rainfall events becomes vital. They looked at every angle when assessing the site and identified the following goals that could be measured over time. Each of these goals is a component of the overall goal: a healthier ecosystem, which is the foundation of a thriving station and pastoral enterprise.
- Decrease soil erosion
- Increase nutrient uptake in plants, and then animals
- Increase composting capacity, in turn improving soil biology
- Increase the amount of shade and shelter from vegetation
- Increase the water retention capacity of these coastal plains
- Increase carrying capacity in terms of animal load
- Maintain and increase the biodiversity of flora and fauna in the area
- Decrease future capital expenditure requirements where remediation is concerned
- Decrease in de-stocking as a result of overgrazed landscapes
- Increase beef quality via nutrient-dense vegetation fuelling healthy animals
Previous attempts to help this billabong included installing dams near the billabong to provide alternative watering points. Unfortunately, the cattle continued to preferentially water off the billabong.
From this project, there are big dreams of translating the data into a blueprint for managing these areas in the future. The benefits will flow downstream to the rest of the ecosystem, and the systems-based knowledge will trickle through the pastoral industry, informing restoration choices for years to come.
As this is such a long-term project, stay tuned for updates over the years. Hopefully, that will include a growing network of sites undergoing similar work.
Survey and identify the zone required for fencing in regard to the best way forward for the ecosystem.
Install the fencing required with key gateways mitigating soil erosion paths when cattle are moved in and out.
Upon observation of the cattle behaviour midway through the project, install water points to lure the cattle away from hanging on the fence.
Install monitoring sites and GPS locations for soil sampling.
Take tissue tests from existing vegetation to establish a baseline for monitoring nutrient uptake over the coming years.
Utilise technology and human observation to collect data. Farmbot rain gauges, GCG monitoring tool, photographs, and aerial imagery.
Rest the area for at least 12 months post fencing.
Use cattle as a pasture-grazing and fertiliser-boosting mechanism when rainfall and climate allow. The strategy behind grazing intervals is observation-based, not timeline-based. If the billabong can’t support a graze, it will not be grazed.
Monitor, assess, graze when applicable, and repeat.
Key Insights
1
Expert grader operators installing water-slowing groundworks have exceeded our expectations, even after small rainfall events.
2
The ideas have always been in the back of our minds. PEN has helped us refine and implement them, with continued support ensuring the challenges we encounter don’t become stop points in the process.
3
PIP focuses on investing in the people who live and breathe the Pilbara. Working with an initiative that values us and not just where we are and what we do has been incredibly powerful.
4
Small rainfalls have shown the landscape wants to respond, now we just have to be patient and humble.
Impact & Results
This project is about observation, learning, connection, adaption, and above all else patience and humility.
Rainfall has not been kind, and as such, there are not a lot of results to provide at this point.
What was discovered:
- The cattle grazing the surrounding areas needed further encouragement to utilise other water points. The billabong is obviously a key area in their grazing mindset. Training, plus water points, plus lick lures will slowly shift this.
- When rain does fall, even in small amounts, the country does respond.
