Biodiversity in Practice: Building Local Solutions in the Dawson
Project Overview
The Dawson Catchment Coordinating Association (DCCA) will lead the Building Local Solutions in the Dawson Project in Central Queensland. This project will focus on practical, community-driven actions that improve farm productivity, natural resource sustainability and strengthen rural communities.
DCCA has seen a strong need for hyper local, hands-on approaches that respond to the specific challenges faced by each area. The project will train extension staff and landcare groups in skills to measure and manage biodiversity, helping them provide tailored support to local producers.
By building peer-to-peer learning into neighbourhood producer groups, the project will encourage collaboration, increase the uptake of good practices, and deliver real biodiversity benefits across the region—all while supporting broader state and national environmental goals.
Project Goals
- Support landholders with practical training and deliver targeted environmental projects.
- Build skills, provide employment pathways and expand community knowledge of sustainable practices.
- Improve catchment health, supporting sustainable agriculture and enable ecosystem service markets.
- Identify hyper-local biodiversity challenges and opportunities.
- Addresses the critical disconnect between biodiversity knowledge and its practical application in agricultural businesses.
Key Activities
- Work with local Landcare groups and producers to identify biodiversity challenges and opportunities specific to our region’s land types and soils.
- Build producer skills and confidence in biodiversity measurement, monitoring and management through tailored training sessions focusing on practical tools.
- Establish a local demonstration site to trial and monitor how biodiversity actions influence productivity and environmental outcomes over time.
- Foster peer learning through neighbourhood groups which will help producers embed sustainability into daily decision-making for both biodiversity and business outcomes.
- Share the most effective, locally tested, actions graziers can take to improve biodiversity on their own properties at a “10 Practical Actions” Field Day.
Project Updates
Project Milestones
Dawson Catchment Coordinating Association (DCCA) expanded engagement from the original target of five producer enterprises to 15 core producer enterprises, involving 21 landholders. The project increased one-on-one engagement, biodiversity planning, training activities and collaboration with technical specialists. DCCA also secured co-investment and in-kind support from the Commonwealth Bank, State Government, University of Queensland, and State and Federal Government partners.
Field Visits and Evidence Gathering
DCCA has commenced planning and baseline development for long-term biodiversity monitoring and demonstration activities across participating grazing properties in Central Queensland. Additional site selection and planning work has been undertaken with producers and technical experts to support scientifically robust monitoring and demonstration sites. Discussions have also commenced regarding the potential use of LiDAR drone technology to support biodiversity monitoring and demonstrate landscape function and project outcomes.
Knowledge Sharing and Producer Engagement
DCCA delivered a biodiversity awareness field day and webinar attended by 41 producers, industry representatives and technical experts managing more than 200,000 hectares. Participant knowledge increased from an average of 2.9 to 4.3, with 76% indicating they intended to implement changes as a result of the project. Five staff also completed training in emissions tracking and EPBC requirements through three training events delivered with Ruminati, DCCEEW and Landcare Australia. Biodiversity event social media posts reached 23,280 Facebook views, extending awareness across the broader community.
Moving Towards On-Ground Action
Upcoming activities include biodiversity monitoring, baseline assessments, producer engagement activities and demonstration site development on participating grazing properties. A major field day is planned later in the project to showcase demonstration site outcomes and producer learnings. The project continues to build producer capability through practical, locally relevant activities and will provide opportunities to demonstrate biodiversity outcomes and landscape management approaches relevant to grazing systems in the Dawson Catchment.