Mid-Lachlan Landcare, on behalf of the Department of Department of Climate Change Energy Environment and Water, is conducting snapshot salinity water testing along tributaries that flow into the Lachlan & Belubula Rivers. Our lead for that project, Andrew Wooldridge spoke on this topic to Jasmine Wells on the Seeds for Success podcast by Central West Local Land Services.

To find out more about salinity indicators in a farming landscape and what to do about them follow this link to the podcast. The podcast runs for around 33 minutes and is fully transcribed for those who prefer to read rather than listen.

Mid Lachlan Landcare’s salinity project covers many (currently 50 plus) sites spread over a 700km loop, centred around Cowra. Testing has been conducted regularly since June 2022 and we are building up a data set that reflects the variation in salinity across our local streams over time.

The testing that’s done in this project builds on data collected by agencies in past and compliments full time monitoring stations.

Project Purpose.

The more we understand our local ecosystems, the better equipt we can be to respond to changes.

• Helping us understand extreme events.
• Gaining a better understanding of our landscapes chemical variability.
• Better understanding what is the salt doing to our creeks and ecosystem.
• To continue to build understanding of where the salt is coming from – which part of the landscape is generating salt.

David Wrenford is our man-on-the-ground for this project, carrying out the regular salinity testing around the catchment and collaiting our data.

Get Involved

This project is aimed at supporting natural resource managers, farmers, conservationists and salinity managers. We welcome interested parties to get in touch with us:

Salinity Resources

Here’s a link to the website ‘ESpade‘ which is mentioned during the chat. This NSW Government website is free to access and contains a wealth of information including soil hydrology, underlying geology and chemistry.

Looking for information on salinity indicator plants? You can download a PDF that covers the basics for NSW here.

Mid Lachlan Landcare is also able to offer field trips for students and community groups interested in learning more about salinity in their landscape. Contact our office for more information.