Hillslope Erosion Project

The Hillslope Erosion Project aims to build awareness of hillslope erosion and to increase adoption of best practise mitigation techniques to minimise future soil erosion.

Fodder Crop Germination Jetsonville trial site

Fodder germination at the current trial site at Jetsonville, Tas.

Focus

The Hillslope Erosion Project will focus on areas in northern Tasmania with intensive cropping enterprises and high susceptibility to hillslope erosion such as Deloraine and Scottsdale. Trial sites will be established over the duration of the project period to investigate the cost-benefit ratio of different hillslope erosion mitigation techniques.

“Any cover is better than no cover at all. You need to think of these techniques as a form of insurance, because it’s worth your time and the cost involved to protect your most valuable asset.”

Dr Bill Cotching

Hillslope Erosion Measure

Bamboo pegs measure the deposition or erosion of soil.

Hillslope erosion simulation

Heavy rainfall was simulated at the end-of-trial field day in Weetah.

Value

Tasmania's most productive vegetable growing areas have long suffered from significant hillslope erosion due to high rainfall, sloping paddocks, and crops that require bare seed beds.

Satellite images show red/brown flumes of soil being washed out to sea from intensive vegetable production areas following intense rainfall, resulting in the loss of some of Tasmania's most nutrient-rich soils.

Delivery

Soil erosion mitigation techniques will be communicated and promoted through:

  • field trials implementing a selected range of erosion mitigation methods (i.e. cover cropping, deep ripping, ripper-mulching) with methods to monitor effectiveness;
  • data, image and sample collection to determine economic impacts;
  • review of historic studies and trials on hillslope erosion in Tasmania’s vegetable industry;
  • field days to demonstrate and showcase hillslope erosion interventions, present results and economic data; and
  • workshops and mentoring to enable further awareness and practice change adoption.
Measuring hillslope erosion

Monitoring pegs are spaced throughout the site, to calculate an average per hectare.

Partners

This project is supported by NRM North, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Partners

This project is supported by NRM North, through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.