What's new in February 2013?

Pictorial conceptual modelling 

Pictorial conceptual models—also referred to as conceptual diagrams or models—synthesise and communicate how the plants, animals, water, soils and other parts and processes of the wetlands work and to present this information in a visual and simplified way.

The models are powerful tools as they offer a way of visualising complex environmental processes that can easily be used and understood by a variety of audiences with varying levels of knowledge.

Pictures worth a thousand words: A guide to pictorial conceptual modelling provides scientists, government agencies, extension officers and natural resource management groups and organisations with a step-by-step approach to developing and applying pictorial conceptual models and shows how they can be used to achieve better management outcomes.

Wetland management plan guidelines and template

The Guidelines and template for preparing a wetland management plan explains the concepts and rationale for wetland management planning and outlines a step-by-step process for preparing a wetland management plan. A template allows landholders and other wetland managers to easily insert information for their particular wetland area.

These guidelines have been produced for use by landholders engaged in grazing and dryland cropping in two inland river basins of Queensland, the Queensland Murray-Darling and the Bulloo, but most of the material is also applicable much more widely across other regions of Queensland and Australia generally.

The guidelines could be used:

• as a module that can fit into, or complement, existing property or sub-catchment management plans and may assist in the development of a land management agreement under the State Rural Leasehold Land Strategy.
• by technical and extension officers of the regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies that support landholders in natural resource management in these river basins. The contents are also applicable to other organisations and government agencies engaged in NRM work.

‘Walking the landscape’

‘Walking the landscape’ offers a holistic approach to understanding and managing the environment. It is a framework that integrates existing data with expert and local knowledge through hands-on workshops to create a common understanding among multidisciplinary teams.

It incorporates the available knowledge on landscape flora, fauna, water, soils and ecosystem processes and uses the information to develop conceptual models which link to a map.

These models then help answer questions like how the landscape contributes to flood behaviour or why groundwater dependent ecosystems occur in certain locations.

The primary aim of the method is to improve evidence-based decision making for the sustainable management and restoration of ecological systems.

The method and its fundamental concepts and principles are available in the document Walking the landscape: A whole-of-system framework for understanding and mapping environmental processes and values.

Updates, improvements and links

WetlandMaps

Two new layers have recently been added to WetlandMaps:

• Statewide land use layer—the most current map of land use for Queensland, comprising mapping from 1999, 2006 and 2009. The Queensland Land Use Mapping Program (QLUMP) is undertaken by staff of the Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts and the Department of Natural Resources and Mines and is part of the Australian Collaborative Land Use Mapping Program (ACLUMP). 
• Queensland Floodplain Assessment Overlay—represents floodplain areas within drainage sub-basins in Queensland. It has been developed by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines for use by local governments to show potential flood hazard areas. It represents an estimate of areas potentially at threat of inundation by flooding. The data has been developed through a process of drainage sub-basin analysis utilising data sources including 10 metre contours, historical flood records, vegetation and soils mapping and satellite imagery. This data represents an initial assessment and will be subject to refinement by respective local government authorities.

New and improved WetlandInfo

This will be the last release of tools and resources on the current version of WetlandInfo. We have been working hard in the background to redevelop and improve the website and have incorporated many of the great suggestions we have received from our users to make the website more user—friendly. So watch this space - your new and improved WetlandInfo is coming soon!

WetlandInfo feedback and improvements

Send us useful wetland information and links to add to WetlandInfo. Do you have a wetland question you just can't answer? Email us

Last updated: 22 March 2013