Soil conservation is one of the ongoing challenges we have on all our reserves, some more than others. There's been much modification of the land over the past 200 years, with new animals roaming across the land, eating things and changing the soil structure and composition. This is the case at Boolcoomatta Reserve.
Our land management program at Boolcoomatta is comprehensive and science based, with excellent flora and fauna monitoring and action happening all the time.
As part of the monitoring program we've been recording the soil health and structure across the entire reserve, undertaken landscape-scale hydrological restoration activities, erosion mitigation and much more to make this landscape as healthy as we can.
Results from our efforts to date show an increase in soil health across the entire property following the removal of sheep, major weed and feral activities, with soil crusts recovering well, and vegetation health and extent increased across all land systems.
We're now fine-tuning our soil conservation work. As part of this we've undertaken initial on-ground surveys with the support of volunteer John Douglas.
This work will be complemented by aerial surveys later this year to better map the entire property.
The report produced by John earlier this year has helped us to better understand the extent of some of our more ugly erosion channels. Many of these are stable, however better mapping and catchment knowledge will be the key to ensure all mitigation strategies are applied to maintain them in this state.
John, like so many of our valued volunteers, has contributed to our ongoing management. He deserves a special 'Thanks', as do all the specialised volunteers that support our work!
Revisiting 2011 erosion mitigation sites, still stable after five years. 
Area where we have applied a trail head wall mitigation. 
Area for more intervention.