Regeneration of plant community

Rehabilitation Program for Plants and Soils
The Process – Rehabilitation is a multi‐level process which requires a detailed site assessment, establishment of short term, medium term and longer term plan for re‐establishment of a healthy soil and plant community. In the past, many organisations have attempted to improve site health by considering one of the three key parameters in isolation of the other interlocking parameters.
In many situations, grazed ecosystems may be degraded by the ongoing unmanaged grazing of individual plants (continuous grazing) whereby plants are constantly exposed to livestock and/or native marsupials. In the continuous graze situation plants are constantly exposed to mouths that re‐bite regenerating plants before they are ready and gradually degrade a plant community, one plant at a time. This system often causes spot or patch degradation leading to larger scale
degradation of paddocks and catchments in following years.
Regeneration is often deemed necessary when plant and soil communities are seriously degraded or when a specific mining or industrial process has removed soil and plant communities and rendered the ecosystem inoperable. The following summary outlines the process required for successful rehabilitation. (This is a pasture plant establishment model and does not include rehydration of the landscape)

• 1. Site Assessments
  • Soils health
  Mineral (available vs total nutrients, Base sats, CEC)
  Biology (Fungi vs Bacteria, VAM, Saprophytes, Rhyzobia etc)
  Structural (physical issues compaction, organic matter)
  Site issues (Ca: Mg ratio)
  • Plant community
  Ground cover
  Species (native vs introduced)
  Populations
  Impediments
  • Plant health
  SAP testing (blood test)
  Tissue Test (structural issues)

• 2. Rehabilitation methodology
  • Assess key soil parameters (from site assessment)
  Balancing soils minerals (from base saturations and micro‐nutrients)
  Replacing or feeding biology as necessary
  • Assess key plant species (Community)
  Pasture/ grass species,
  Legumes – nitrogen production
  Native understorey tree species.
  Native top storey tree species
  • Match nutritional and microbial inoculants and food sources to required sites
  Solid fertilisers
  Liquid fertilisers
  Microbial inoculants
  Microbial food sources
  • Assess level of support
  strategic – long term needs – what’s missing (macro‐nutrients)
  Nutrient replacement – annual basis (being used each year)
  Short term requirements – immediate action needed to maximise growth

• 3. Primary phase ‐ Implementation

• Ground Cover and primary nutrition
  Organic Matter/ trash (carbon source) – foliar application of decomposing microbes.

• Compost (balanced nutrition)
  Major nutritional balancing (ie calcium)
  Incorporation with mulching process (if necessary)

• Planting of key species (plants and required nutrition – one pass)
  Grass, legume mix to be planted using Pasture Kropper technology
  Liquid and starter solid nutrition injected with seed
  Soil inoculants injected with seed (Rhyzobia/ VAM) as compost extracts

• Planting of top storey species
  Strategic planting 12 months after establishment to improve micro‐climatic effect
  

• 4. Management of established site
  • Site should be fenced and watered to enable intensive rotational grazing to be established
  – this can be carried out while pasture is establishing.
  Minimum of 10 paddocks per mob of livestock
  High quality watering system
  Highly skilled grass managers
  • Initial resting phase
  A period of at least 3 – 4 months is required with no impact to allow the plants to establish
  root systems and photosynthetic area
  Light , short duration 1 – 3 day graze periods are considered ideal
  • Grazing Management Program
  Rotational grazing is essential for success (long term)
  Requires highly skilled managers
  Requires a grazing plan
  
  5. Site Monitoring / evaluation
  • Soils health
  Mineral
  Biology
  Structural (physical)
  Site issues
  • Plant community
  Ground cover – (decomposition)
  Species
  Populations
  Impediments
  • Plant health
  SAP testing (blood test)
  Tissue Test (structural issues)

• 6. Secondary phase action/ implementation
  • Livestock as a tool to manage each site
  • Foliar applications of nutrients to improve nutrient cycling
  • Broad casting solid nutrients if necessary.
  • Ensuring consistently 80 – 90% ground cover
  • Plants are healthy and increasing in basal diameter
  This phase includes application of nutrients and microbial amendments as deemed necessary from sap
  sampling
  
  7. Monitoring/ evaluation – testing program (2 – 3 yearly)
  • Soils health
  Mineral
  Biology
  Structural (physical)
  Site issues
  • Plant community
  Ground cover – (decomposition)
  Species
  Populations
  Impediments
  • Plant health
  SAP testing (blood test) (annually to correct short term deficiencies)
  Tissue Test (structural issues)
  This process is an ongoing model which will be re‐assessed annually to top up key micro‐nutrients and plan
  longer term nutrient management. SAP testing is the ideal process to assess ongoing needs.
  For more information about this program contact
  Grazing BestPrac ‐ Mick Alexander on 0438 395 255

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