Building stronger, more resilient grazing landscapes and healthier native vegetation across South East Queensland has never been more important. We’ve just had word that a great project we’ve been rolling out which focuses on just that has been extended another four years until 2028, which is welcome news for landholders and climate exposed regions.
Find out more about the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Recovery Program.

		Stronger, more resilient landscapes Implementing practices that improve land and vegetation condition, making them more resilient to challenges from land degradation and climate change.
		Adoption of best practices By promoting and supporting sustainable land management to adopt practices that are good for the land and good for business.
		Building a stronger community We’re building a community of landholders who are working together to manage their resources better and create a more resilient region.

This means we can continue our vital work tackling key threats to land and vegetation health, including declining pasture condition, soil erosion, invasive weeds, and inappropriate fire and grazing management practices.

After the success of the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Recovery Program (NRRP) initiative in taking on these big issues over the last couple of years, we are excited to announce that the Queensland Government has committed a further $2 million in funding which will enable us to extend the great work being delivered under the program until 2028.

New funds mean we can keep strengthening SEQ grazing landscapes and supporting landholders for the long haul.

A great program for SEQ graziers

Grazing land makes up around 55% of SEQ, and it’s mostly managed by small to medium-sized rural holdings. With the challenges of changing land ownership, droughts, floods, and a changing climate, it’s more important than ever to have strong, sustainable practices in place. This project is designed to empower landholders to tackle these challenges head-on, providing the support needed to manage land sustainably and ensure it stays productive for the long term.

Supporting landholders with practical solutions

The project is designed with one goal in mind: to provide landholders with practical information, tools and support they need to manage their land better. We’re doing this through a mix of hands-on training, field days, and targeted incentives that encourage on-ground action to improve the health of our natural assets and boost the resilience of our landscapes.

Here’s what’s happening on the ground:

• Workshops, field days, and property visits: We’re getting out there with landholders, sharing the latest knowledge and skills to help them adopt best management practices. These events are all about making sure landholders have what they need to improve soil health and pasture condition and enhance native vegetation on their properties.
• On-ground works: We’re backing landholders with practical support to implement real changes on their properties. This includes everything from establishing fencing & watering points to allow planned grazing and spelling, to controlling invasive weeds and implementing fire management plans, and we’ve already seen big improvements across thousands of hectares.
• Sustainable practices: We’re helping landholders to develop their own Property Management Plans that consider the key climate, environmental, biosecurity, production and personal risks to their businesses and identify management strategies and practices that work and underpin long-term sustainability.

Results so far and what’s next

Since the project kicked off, we’ve made some solid progress. In the first phase (2021-2023), we worked with over 180 landholders, delivering training and support that is already making a difference in key grazing areas like the upper Brisbane and Logan catchments. Now, with the additional funding secured, we’re able to ramp up our efforts for the next phase (2024-2028), during which we are aiming to work with over 300 landholders.

Here’s a snapshot of what’s been achieved and what’s on the horizon:

Stronger, more resilient landscapes: Implementing practices that are making their land more resilient to challenges like erosion and poor soil health. So far, participating landholders have undertaken works to improve grazing management practices over 2,020ha, along with threat mitigation to protect and enhance 610ha of native vegetation.
Widespread adoption of best practices: By promoting and supporting sustainable land management, we’re seeing more and more landholders adopt practices that are good for the land and good for business. Survey responses indicate that 98% of landholders reflected that their involvement has assisted them in managing land condition and native vegetation, with 63 % of landholders adopting practices and implementing on-ground works to improve land condition over a further 11, 090ha and native vegetation over a further 5,838ha.
Building a stronger community: This project is about more than just land; it’s about people. We’re building a community of landholders who are sharing their knowledge and experience and working together to manage their resources better and create a more resilient region. Responses to a recent survey indicate that over 60% of participating landholders have benefitted from sharing information and networking with other landholders through group activities in the first phase of the project.

As extreme weather events and climate impacts become more frequent, building resilience in our natural assets, landscapes and communities is critical.

By improving the capacity of SEQ landholders, this project is helping ensure that our grazing lands can withstand whatever comes their way while keeping the land healthy and productive for generations to come.

This project is funded by the Queensland Government’s Natural Resources Recovery Program (NRRP).