Issue: Landuse and management in Tumut Shire, Australia

Issue: Landuse and management in Tumut Shire

Assessment

There are no data to suggest that landuse in Tumut Shire has changed during the 1997–2000 reporting period, and the small decline in population size tends to confirm that urban development, at least, has changed little. However, a trend of increasing levels of waste could potentially be a pressure on landuse in future years, if the total quantities concerned were not so small.

The Visy Pulp and Paper mill will commence production from approximately June 2001. To secure availability of wood fibre over the coming years, Visy have entered into agreements with NSW State Forests to facilitate an increase in plantations to the order of 30 000 hectares within a 100 kilometre road travel distance of Tumut. This increase in plantations would probably occur in the Shires of Tumut, Tumbarumba, Holbrook and Gundagai.

There is some anecdotal evidence that the area devoted to softwood timber production has increased as lands previously used for grazing have had plantations established. There are, however, no data to confirm the areas involved. NSW State Government policy now precludes the conversion of native forest to pine plantation.

Implications

Landuse and management is a direct responsibility of local Councils and of specific State or Federal Government Departments, and comprehensive data about actual landuse is essential to understand the impacts of different types of landuse on land and water quality. Sharing of data between and among Local Government agencies, and State and Federal agencies will be essential to develop a comprehensive understanding of changes in regional landuses, and in their impacts.

Background

Using and managing land sustainably is fundamental to maintaining an acceptable quality of life. However, past landuses and land management practices and competition for land as the population grows have resulted in a legacy of lands that now have some landuse limitations due to development or varying levels of degradation.

Resolving conflicts over landuse is likely to become more of an issue as population growth increases demand for land for housing in otherwise high productivity farmlands, water supply catchments, lands of high conservation value, or previously contaminated lands (e.g. disused sheep-dip sites). Additional issues over the disposal of solid and liquid waste, and possible resulting contamination problems, might also become a concern.

The concept of best management practice is not new, but the actual practices that constitute best management change as our knowledge improves. We do know, now, for example, that managing vegetation cover well is an important step in caring for our land as well as native species and ecosystems, whether that cover is native forests, woodlands or agricultural crops and pastures.

Indicators used to assess this issue