Dalrymple Landcare Committee Inc is an umbrella group to seventeen sub-catchment groups with a membership of 320 grazing and rural properties, which equates to approximately 62% of landholders from the Dalrymple Shire, north Queensland. Formed in 1988, the Dalrymple Landcare Committee Inc has been the funding proponent for over 40 successful landcare projects with various funding bodies. Involvement within the community is wide and ranges from large scale commercial beef operations through to rural block holders, schools and community groups across the Dalrymple Shire.

At present, the Dalrymple Landcare Committee Inc is focusing on a three year project funded through a devolved grant process under the National Landcare Programme. The SPIRAL (Strategic Partnership Incentives in Revitalising Active Landcare in the Burdekin Rangelands) project is funded through the National Landcare Programme. The project is overseen and implemented by the Burdekin Dry Tropics Natural Resource Management in Townsville, a steering committee of local representatives and a full time project officer based in Charters Towers. The three year project (2005-2008) is currently mid way through its second year (2006/2007), with the third year of funding (2007/2008) recently being approved by the Federal Minister Hon.Peter McGauran MP (Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry).

The SPIRAL project was established with the primary aim of actively enhancing the role Landcare throughout the Dalrymple Shire. The largest proponent of the project is aimed at funding on ground works, with 16 projects successfully completed in 2005/06 ($123 915 NLP funds) and a further 20 projects expected to be completed in 2006/07($218 000 NLP funds approx ). Focus of the on ground works is to improve and advance land management practices and includes various proponents of: sub divisional & riparian fencing, off stream watering points, weed management, erosion control, improvement to land condition through ripping and seeding and to encourage landcare group activity through meetings, demonstration days and site visits, which are often held on properties where works have been completed.

One of the key objectives of year one (2005/06) for the SPIRAL project was to ascertain how views towards grazing land management had changed as a result of ten years of landcare involvement on commercial beef properties in the shire. The survey was a huge undertaking with 220 landowners sent the survey. Final results and summaries are currently being compiled by Alistar Gordon, Angela Reid DPI&F Townsville and Bob Shepherd DPI&F Charters Towers.

In the first two years, rural block holder involvement in the project was higher than in previous projects with 14 out of 25 applicants (56%) in 2005/06 and 10 out of 21 applicants (48%) in 2006/07 being rural block holders. Participation in subsidized training has also been a focus of the SPIRAL project with the first GPS/GIS subsidised training course held in 2005/06 with 8 graziers participating. Subsidised involvement in training courses and workshops has also included the MLA Edge Network: Grazing Land Management and MLA: Nutrition Edge and Resource Consulting Services: Grazing for Profit training courses with a total of nineteen participants subsidised to date.

In 2006, the first Dalrymple Landcare Committee Inc Good Land Management Awards for notable land management were held recognising achievements in positive land management through both self-funded and grant based works. In total six awards were presented at a ceremony held in Charters Towers. In 2007 it is believed that further work will be done to promote the positive work that is being undertaken and achievements in the shire recognised through the Good Land Management Awards .

Work is continuing in 2007 to develop and publish a series of short narrated video clips and slideshows which profile the on ground works that have been occurring in region. The audiovisual clips are created using the Placeworks 8 software which is being developed by Feral Arts in Brisbane. At present two stories are available for viewing – “ Casabella ” focuses on woody weed control and gully erosion control in the northern goldfields country. The Second clip – “ Mileston ” draws on the outcomes of many years of work to control woody weeds, sub-divisional fencing, installation of watering points and innovative erosion control using large contour banks. It is hoped that in early 2007 several more stories will be put together and made available for viewing on the Placeworks website (www.placestories.com).

The National Landcare Programme funding made available for the SPIRAL project continues to grow and has significantly improved the way in which producers approach land condition management and monitoring. With such an extensive range of enterprises operating within the Dalrymple Shire, the diverse variety of comprehensive and innovative projects happening on the ground have made the SPIRAL project a success in bringing the importance of the many facets of Landcare which encourage good land management practices to the attention of landholders in the Dalrymple Shire.