AgForce members say reformed federal environmental laws offer a chance to recognise the positive outcomes for Australia's landscapes and the heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, by acknowledging the importance of ground cover and how different tree species function in an ecosystem.
Queensland's leading food and fibre producers say amendments to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act provide the opportunity to move away from a simplistic 'tree-centric focus' and instead champion effective and sustainable land management principles.
Fifth-generation land managers, Ian and Kate McCamley, run the equivalent of 10,000 head of adult cattle across 25,500 hectares of owned and leased country at Rolleston in Central Queensland.
They have spent the past four decades working with nature to balance agricultural production and biodiversity outcomes, and based on this experience, Mr McCamley believes trees are not a blanket solution to protecting the environment and conserving biodiversity.
"Many Australians who don't actively manage land appear to have developed a tree-centric focus," he said.
"While this might feel honourable to them, perversely this 'trees no matter what' mindset is not only damaging the environment, including the Great Barrier Reef, it's damaging the Australian economy.
"Decision makers need to recognise and understand that the dense, invasive regrowth of many Australian species like brigalow and mulga suppresses understorey growth, increases bare ground, accelerates erosion and reduces habitat function."
Rather than protecting these species at all costs, Mr McCamley would like the legislation to support farmers to maintain and promote ground cover in grazing systems.
"The key to protecting our environment and enhancing biodiversity is having healthy, deep-rooted, abundant ground cover to hydrate and protect our soils," Mr McCamley said.
"I think of ground cover as Mother Nature's skin. Skin is the most important organ of the human body, and its function is to protect the body through temperature regulation, sensation, immune defence, and prevention of fluid loss.
"Ground cover functions in a similar way for the Earth, and it should be the litmus test to judge all land management actions by."
Maintaining abundant, deep-rooted ground cover is widely recognised as the most important factor in reducing sediment runoff and protecting water quality and is a key pillar of the current Queensland reef regulations.
Mr McCamley said if a farm management action maintains or, preferably, enhances ground cover, it should be encouraged. If an action depletes ground cover, it should be discouraged in the 'strongest possible way'.
"A good example of the former is leaving a big, old Kurrajong tree in the paddock; it's deep-rooted, provides great shade for livestock and wildlife, and often the grass around it is better than away from it, showcasing the symbiotic relationship between the tree, the ground cover species and the soil microbes," he said.
"An example of the latter is leaving invasive, shallow-rooted woody regrowth to grow unchecked.
"The result is severely depleted ground cover, erosion of precious topsoil, loss of soil carbon, and environmental dehydration from reduced water infiltration, with the resulting dryness supressing life both above and below the soil's surface."
Getting the vegetation policy settings right
These negative effects could be mitigated under the changes to the EPBC legislation, so long as the vegetation policy settings recognise the ecological importance of ground cover, allow adaptive management of woody thickening and incorporate local ecological knowledge alongside scientific assessment.
Producers are concerned about the time and cost of self-assessments, and in some cases the need to seek formal approval from federal officials to manage invasive trees over 15 years old, even when those trees deliver poorer outcomes for the environment and biodiversity.
Mr McCamley said the requirements to continue the same land management is an unnecessary burden on producers, making it difficult for them to continue to routinely manage the land for the best environmental health.
"The 15-year stipulation does not align with ecological processes in grazing landscapes, nor the efficient and effective management strategies employed by graziers," he said.
"In most cases, shallow-rooted regrowth hasn't reached the stage of needing to be retreated within 15 years.
"Often, after an effective previous land management activity, it takes 20 to 30 years until the invading regrowth has reached a point that it's causing significant environmental damage."
The legislation also indirectly incentivises early, unnecessary and expensive management of regrowth to beat triggering the 15-year rule, or long-term inaction that allows an invasive monoculture to completely take over and cause extreme environmental decline.
Producers the key to environmental improvement
Rather than enforcing static rules that do not account for the dynamic and everchanging environment producers operate in each and every day, those who feed and clothe our nation are hoping they can be part of a purposeful conversation that protects the environment for future generations.
"I do not believe that anyone can make competent land management recommendations without taking advice from those that have had significant, long-term and successful hands-on experience and investment," Mr McCamley said.
"I know that our environmental management is sound and in harmony with Mother Nature; we watch, we listen, we learn, we adapt and we ride a continuum of improvement.
"All the levers we pull to ensure we are economically sustainable are the same levers that need to be pulled to maximise environmental sustainability and optimise biodiversity.
"We hope the Government recognises that farmers dedicate their lives to protecting the environment and they use the opportunity presented by the EPBC Act reforms to get vegetation policy settings right, for the prosperity of our environment, our rural communities and our national economy."
Discover more about the EPBC campaign here.
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