7-jun-2013 - anderson - murray cma soils data

Soils Data in the Murray

CMA:

what we’ve got,

what we’re doing with it

and is it accessible?

Felicity Anderson

Soils Officer.

Our main uses for soils data…

-Landholders

-Project/program planning: targeting

action

-General state of the catchment to

know what we’re dealing with

-Monitoring

-Media

-Research projects

What have we been doing?

•DAFF/CSIRO Soil Carbon Research Project

•GRDC Harnessing the biological potential of cropping soils project – 200 sites

- Soil biological indicators in the western irrigation areas project

•Soil benchmarking

•Healthy Soils Healthy Landscapes

•Land management within capability surveys and soilwatch testing

Data Dates collected Number

of sites

Healthy Soils Healthy

Landscapes

?? ??

Soil Benchmarking 2007-2008 107

Soil Carbon Research Project 2011 - 2012 200

Irrigated Agriculture Soil

Biology project

2011 50

Soil Watch 2011 - 2013 30

Land Management Within

Capability

2012-2013 20

Groundcover Monitoring 2010 - 2013 223

Dustwatch 2007 - 2013 260

Soil Benchmarking project

Soil Carbon Research Project

http://www.soilquality.org.au/

DustWatch

Issues…

• We have a lot of data stored internally

•Hard to use, big bulky spreadsheets

•Landholders are given one off “results” but no ongoing access to data

• Not easily accessed by other organisations doing similar work in the region

• mis-use of data once in the public domain

Solutions…

• Make data available externally / increase access – available to landholders and other organisations:

- more publically available websites like soilquality.org.au, or more data stored on soilquality.org.au

- Soil benchmarking data to be added to the soilquality website

• Collaboration on soils projects to ensure greater use of the data.

•Be very clear and specific about what the data presented can/cannot do