Minimising costs of environmental service provision: water-yield, salt-load and biodiversity targets with new tree planting in Simmons Creek Catchment, NSW, a dryland farming/grazing area

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Minimising costs of environmental service
provision water-yield, salt-load and
biodiversity targets with new tree planting in
Simmons Creek Catchment, NSW, a dryland
farming/grazing area Tom Nordblom 1,3, Iain
Hume1,3, Hamish Cresswell2, Mark Glover2, Robyn
Hean1, John Finlayson1 and Enli Wang2 1 NSW Dept
of Primary Industries, 2 CSIRO Land and
Water, Canberra 3 EH Graham Centre for
Agricultural Innovation (Charles Sturt University
NSW DPI)
AARES 2007
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Minimising costs of environmental service
provision water-yield, salt-load and
biodiversity targets with new tree planting in
Simmons Creek Catchment Objective Assess
technical and economic prospects to reduce the
10,000 ton/yr salt load reaching Billabong
Creek from 17,000 ha Simmons Creek by
establishing forest habitat areas Data Soil
and groundwater -- CSIRO Land Water. Land
use -- satellite imagery, land managers.
Economics -- DPI budgets, land managers
Survey Crop rotation budgets and
cross-tabulation of land use and soil types
Analysis Data combined for a two-stage,
sub-catchment and catchment-level word modelling
approach to the initial question Where to
plant trees (displacing current land uses) to
meet salt-load targets for the catchment at least
cost?
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Simmons Creek 171 km2
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Henty
171 km2
Wagga 74 km
Simmons Creek
Culcairn
Billabong Creek
Albury 51 km
Walbundrie
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Low Input Traditional rotation
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High-Input rotation, well-drained
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High-Input rotation, subject to water-logging
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1
4
3
5
6
11
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8
10
12
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ER PS
PP DS BF
ER PS
PP DS BF
Current land uses continued
Shifts to forest habitat
Con-straints
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Current land uses on two soil types (erosional
rises, ER, and parna slopes, PS) continued
Shifts to forest plantations on ER and PS soils
Constraints
ER PS
ER
PS
0 0


The model documented in Nordblom, T., Hume, I.,
Bathgate, A. Reynolds, M. 2006. Mathematical
optimisation of drainage and economic land-use
for target water and salt yields. Australian
Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics,
50 (3) 381- 402.
is adapted here to solve the question Where
to plant trees (displacing current land uses) to
meet specific salt-load targets for the catchment
at least cost?
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ER Erosional Rises
Upper sub-catchments of Simmons Creek
( 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
PS Parna Slopes
DS Depressions Swamps
PP Parna Plains
Fresh groundwater
Exits catchment
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ER Erosional Rises
Upper sub-catchments of Simmons Creek
( 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)
PS Parna Slopes
DS Depressions Swamps
PP Parna Plains
Fresh groundwater
Exits catchment
Lower sub-catchments of Simmons Creek
(6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 )
Fresh surface water
ER
PS
BF Billabong Floodplain
BC Billabong Creek
DS
PP
High-salinity groundwater
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Current level
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Current levels
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Current levels
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Current levels
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Current level
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• Conclusions
• This analysis was made possible with
  bio-physical info from CSIRO co-authorsand
  current farm info from experienced locals. It can
  be done elsewhere.
• Calculations of optimal locations of new
  forest habitat areas are based on minimising
  costs. This begs the question of how a program
  may be organised to achieve such plans. Results
  provide a predictor of relative bids received in
  a sub-catchment / state-specific tender process.
• In addition to stock-excluded forest habitat
  areas, consideration of agro-forestry and/or
  carbon sequestration plantations may be
  warranted. Likewise, intensification of crop /
  livestock systems such as with summer-active
  forage crops.

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• Conclusions
• This analysis was made possible with
  bio-physical info from CSIRO co-authorsand
  current farm info from experienced locals. It can
  be done elsewhere.
• Calculations of optimal locations of new
  forest habitat areas are based on minimising
  costs. This begs the question of how a program
  may be organised to achieve such plans. Results
  provide a predictor of relative bids received in
  a sub-catchment / state-specific tender process.
• In addition to stock-excluded forest habitat
  areas, consideration of agro-forestry and/or
  carbon sequestration plantations may be
  warranted. Likewise, intensification of crop /
  livestock systems such as with summer-active
  forage crops.

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• Conclusions
• This analysis was made possible with
  bio-physical info from CSIRO co-authorsand
  current farm info from experienced locals. It can
  be done elsewhere.
• Calculations of optimal locations of new
  forest habitat areas are based on minimising
  costs. This begs the question of how a program
  may be organised to achieve such plans. Results
  provide a predictor of relative bids received in
  a sub-catchment / state-specific tender process.
• In addition to stock-excluded forest habitat
  areas, consideration of agro-forestry and/or
  carbon sequestration plantations may be
  warranted. Likewise, intensification of crop /
  livestock systems such as with summer-active
  forage crops.

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• Study of downstream demand for water is also
  warranted to open the way for quantifying the
  full costs of land use change.
• It is then possible to quantitatively explore
  options for linking down-stream demand with
  upstream supply of water, water quality and
  forest habitat areas
• linking through new market designs
• making government incentive programs more
  efficient with strategic targeting (and
  limiting) of re-vegetation

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• Study of downstream demand for water is also
  warranted to open the way for quantifying the
  full costs of land use change.
• It is then possible to quantitatively explore
  options for linking down-stream demand with
  upstream supply of water, water quality and
  forest habitat areas
• linking through new market designs
• making government incentive programs more
  efficient with strategic targeting (and
  limiting) of re-vegetation

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• Study of downstream demand for water is also
  warranted to open the way for quantifying the
  full costs of land use change.
• It is then possible to quantitatively explore
  options for linking down-stream demand with
  upstream supply of water, water quality and
  forest habitat areas
• linking through new market designs
• making government incentive programs more
  efficient with strategic targeting (and
  limiting) of re-vegetation

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