4651.0 - Land Management: Eurobodalla Shire NSW, 2003-04  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 04/11/2005   
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MEDIA RELEASE

November 4, 2005
Embargoed 11:30am (AEST)
116/2005

Eurobodalla landowners spend $3.6 million on natural resource management: ABS

Rural landholders in the Eurobodalla Shire of NSW spent $3.6 million on natural resource management activities during 2003-04, according to a new report released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Of this, $1.3 million was spent on weed and pest related issues, $0.9 million on water related issues, $0.8 million on salinity, erosion and acidity management and $0.6 million on native vegetation management.

Of the 2,327 rural landholders in the Shire, nearly one in two cited water quality, water availability or water weeds as concerns (47% or 1,084 landholders). The majority of rural landholders had water tanks (1,672 or 72%).

Land and soil issues affected nearly one in three Eurobodalla rural landholders (29% or 665 landholders) during this period.

The quality of native vegetation was an issue for 371 landholders (16%). Around 80 landholders cleared a total of 156 hectares of native vegetation during 2003-2004.

While weeds were scattered over 19% [13,673 hectares (ha)] of the survey area, they were only dense or dominant over 3% (2,428 ha).

Dr Michael Vardon, the Director of the survey, said the results of the survey provided an important insight into land management in the Eurobodalla Shire.

"The method used to run the survey is a brand new approach to the collection of land management information and could revolutionise the way such surveys are run in the future," he said.

"The approach uses land ownership information and digital land boundaries to determine who should be surveyed. When these are combined it is possible to tailor surveys to provide information on particular topic or areas of special interest, such as the coastal zone".

Further information is in Land Management Eurobodalla Shire NSW 2003-2004 (cat. no. 4651.0).