Economic and environmental analysis of fodder harvesting practices associated with Mulga (Acacia aneura) and fire management practices in the mulga lands of south western Queensland. Final Report to Australian Government, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

Abstract

The project was funded by the Australian Government, Department of the Environment,Water, Heritage and the Arts, and was bounded within the 18.1 million hectares of Queensland’s mulga lands. The time frame of the project was 18 months. Consequently,long term real-time approaches to data collection were not possible. A natural experiment model was adopted investigating a representative range of recent and historical practices using ‘time since action’ as a temporal surrogate. An initial stage of the project identified and detailed the current and historical range and extent of management practices associated with mulga fodder harvesting in the region. Local landholders were recruited and participated in group interviews to draw on experiential localknowledge. Outcomes of group interviews were used to develop a clear understanding of fodder harvesting practices in the region and classify the range of practices into a manageable number of scenarios for further site specific investigation. The financial costs and returns associated with different methods of fodder harvesting were modelled and compared to alternative management strategies that landholders may employ if fodder harvesting was not an option. The strategies compared were harvesting, agistment of stock elsewhere, and selling (and re-purchasing) stock. The economic modelling was based on six case properties that were derived from survey data provided by landholders.