Crows Nest State School won the Westpac Landcare Education Award for its environmental science program for Year 6 and 7 students.

Crows Nest Shire Council took out the Leighton Holdings Local Government Landcare Partnership Award for its work embracing sustainable natural resource management principles across all aspects of its operations.

Iin a fitting tribute to more than 20 years of work for the Landcare movement, Robert Wallace was runner-up for the Queensland Individual Landcarer Award.
 

Healthy Land - Our Livelihood - Our Future

Crows Nest Shire Council has embraced sustainable natural resource management principles and practices across all aspects of their operation. This is underpinned by a comprehensive survey of the Shire’s natural resources which has provided information to guide planning and development within the Shire. Additionally, this information is used to ensure that Council work activities are undertaken in a sustainable manner. NRM is now considered to be core Council business.

Crows Nest Shire’s actions are guided by a NRM Strategy that comprises six key themes:
    Weeds & feral animals
    Nature conservation
    Water quality & quantity
    Rural land use & management
    Tourism, recreation, scenic amenity & cultural heritage
    Air quality, energy efficiency, renewable energy & waste management

Crows Nest Shire lies along the Great Dividing Range to the north of Toowoomba city, approximately 100km from the South East Queensland coast. It covers an area of 1700 km2 and lies within the upper catchments of the Brisbane River and the Murray-Darling Basin. The shire has a population of approximately 14,000 and is growing by approximately 5% per year. Although most of the land within the Shire is devoted to rural pursuits, over three-quarters of the population now live in an urban environment.

Agricultural production is the dominant landuse in Crows Nest Shire, in particular cattle grazing and horticulture. There has been a rapid increase in the number of peri-urban landholders in the Shire. Many of these landholders have a limited understanding of landcare and natural resource management. Council has focused on partnering with Landcare and Catchment management organisations to develop and deliver programs to meet the needs of this group of landholders. One practical example of this has been property management planning in the northern portion of the Shire. Council has worked closely with the Emu Creek Landcare Group to provide resource information and GIS spatial data sets to facilitate the development of property management plans.

A major 'natural' feature of the Shire are the three water storage lakes (Cooby, Perseverance and Cressbrook) that supply Toowoomba City and surrounding areas with water. Crows Nest Shire has worked closely with Toowoomba City and local Landcare Groups to develop programs to maintain, monitor and enhance these catchments. Programs implemented include installation of a series of rising stage samplers to monitor water quality, utilization of an Environmental Management Support System that models nutrient and sediment movement within identified sub catchments, providing input into a ‘State of the Catchment Report’ scoping study and development codes for Council’s IPA planning scheme to protect catchments and waterways.

Council has initiated a number of innovative projects to address NRM issues within the Shire. Two major projects that have been recently completed are:

1.    Ecosystem services. This project developed a simple, practical Ecosystem Service Incentives model and identified mechanisms that can be used to achieve improved water quality outcomes and recognise good land management practices. It was developed in conjunction with key stakeholders and trialled in the Cooby Dam catchment area (a water supply area for the city of Toowoomba). This model provides a non-regulatory option that natural resource managers can utilise as part of their strategy to help achieve water and land management targets. Following completion of this project, Condamine Alliance is in the process of investing $0.4 million into the Cooby Catchment via an ‘Eco-tender’.

2.    Roadside Conservation Assessment. Many of the road reserves within Crows Nest Shire contain important fragments of remnant vegetation. These fragments provide important habitat for a range of flora and fauna species. A simple GIS based mapping process was used which enabled the efficient identification and mapping of conservation values of road reserves within Crows Nest Shire. A number of parameters were measured which enabled each remnant to be assigned an overall protection level. Areas with high conservation values and require a high level of protection have been identified. This project has enabled a level of protection to be afforded to road reserves based on their conservation values. It also provided the basis for identifying and prioritising reserves for potential rehabilitation works. Information gained from this project is used to guide Council’s management of roadsides. Additionally, this information has also been freely provided to public utilities to assist them in the management of their infrastructure whilst taking into account the inherent conservation values of the road reserves.

Council has embraced partnerships as a means of leveraging natural resource management outcomes. Close and ongoing partnerships have been formed with umbrella Landcare organisations such as the Toowoomba Landcare Group (TLG) and North East Downs Landcare (NED). This relationship contributes to the development and implementation of innovative projects that provide onground benefits to landholders and are of strategic significance to Council.

Close working relationships have been developed with our neighbour Rosalie Shire. Joint projects such as integrated weed control programs addressing weeds of national significance have been developed. Information on projects is regularly shared covering areas such as pest management, nature conservation, works practices and management of road reserves.

Council’s NRM teams’ skills and abilities are recognized within Council and are regularly called on to provide input on town planning matters and civil construction projects. Reviews of environmental factors and the preparation of environmental management plans are undertaken for major road works and sub-divisional projects.

The catchments for the water supply for Toowoomba City and surrounding areas (supplying 120,000 people) are largely contained within the Shire. These catchments are a driver for actions to monitor, maintain and improve onground conditions. An extensive monitoring network has been established to monitor instream water quality. This information is providing baseline data for determining water quality trends and also for calibrating the Environmental Management Support System (EMSS) that is being used to model sediment and nutrient movement within catchments. Crows Nest Shire is experiencing rapid development and landuse change. There has been a significant adoption of landcare principles and practises in Council’s new town planning scheme. Areas within the planning scheme specifically addressed are biodiversity and nature conservation, good agricultural land, natural hazards (e.g. Bushfire, flooding and landslip), protection of riparian zones and water supply catchments.