SOUTHERN Rangelands revitalisation is the focus of a new pilot program that was launched last month.
The pilot program sees 16 applicants selected from the Murchison, Gascoyne and Goldfields-Nullarbor regions to discuss and plan the rejuvenation of marginalised land on their stations.
The program sees seed money of $550,000 injected into the group supporting the development of individual roadmaps for land revitalisation support for future funding applications and the opportunities for peer learning and workshops for the participants.
"The Southern Rangelands Revitalisation Pilot project provides a hands-on approach to building long-term sustainability and business resilience for stations across the regions," said Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan.
"The successful pastoralists bring a range of proposals to the table, which they will develop over the course of the program with the support of their peers and experts to boost rangeland regeneration and business opportunities.
"This foundation work will ensure pastoral enterprises progress the proposals on the ground, transforming the rangelands landscape and the productive potential of this important part in Western Australia."
Among the successful applicants are Deb and Ashley Dowden, from Challa station, near Mt Magnet.
On half a million acres, the family has been on the property since 1888 and Ms Dowden for the past 30 years.
Currently running about 1000 cattle, they are passionate about maintaining and improving the soil and land where they live and work.
"We have always regarded ourselves as environmentalists, as a property that has been in the same family for all that time, we take the really long term approach to sustainable agriculture," Ms Dowden said.
"It will be great to be able to formalise things and tap into the expertise from other pastoralists from right across the region as well, moving forward together with a plan."
This type of thinking is not far from Ms Dowden's remit, as the chairwoman and founding member of the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, she has been involved in the process for some time.
"When the agriculture department was putting this together, I was involved in quite a few conversations," Ms Dowden said.
"I could see that there were really clever people but spread miles apart and they are all doing very different things and I thought if we could get everybody together and share skills and collaborate on ideas it's just going to fast track our regeneration of the land.
"That's why I was really keen to be involved in this, to have the State government behind what we are doing, you feel as though you can get help when you need it."
The Dowdens' plan involves a Natural Capital Accounting System utilising the latest agtech, such as satellite monitoring to keep track of cattle, and monitor various areas of their land.
Other participants' are looking at including rest-based grazing, developing mobile watering points to reduce grazing pressure, re-establishing landscape water flow to encourage vegetation growth, the use of Internet of Things devices to monitor remote trap yards and irrigating native rangeland grass seedbeds.
"Part of my project is looking at a natural capital accounting system for the rangelands so we can put a dollar value on what nature gives us for free and include them in the balance sheet of our station," Ms Dowden said.
"If you look at all the soil degradation around, if it showed up on your balance book you'd probably be more worried about it.
"The natural capital accounting system, combined with agtech can help us measure the natural capital or help us work with the natural capital."
The Dowdens also have retirement in their sights, and with none of their children wanting to take on the family business, the natural capital accounting system will show new buyers the weak and strong spots of the property.
Something she hopes will have a positive result, especially for someone who might not have the benefit of being a five generation land owner.
"Just to be able to realise that your soil is the basis of your business and your soil is actually worth money, if you put a value on it, then you really appreciate the role that it plays in the business," she said.
The pilot program will see the group of 16 applicants hold regular meetings, share what they are doing and help each other with the various projects.
"With the rough 20 years that we've just gone through, we've been really isolated and we haven't had any opportunities to work together as a really big group and so it's going to be great in terms of the social side as well as learning," Ms Dowden said.
"We range from Gascoyne right through to the Nullarbor which is a huge area and just to be able to have the opportunity to get together with pastoralists so far and wide - to see way over the fence and see what other people are doing a long way away you just get so many ideas.
"We're all on the same level with trying to regenerate, and if we can begin this regenerative process, then there's a chance that in the future we could affect the microclimate of our areas and get that snowballing effect of the improving of the country."
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