Landers Creek
Contents |
Subcatchments
Smaller Catchments within the Landers Creek Catchment include:
Topography
Vegetation
Riparian Habitat
The following information is summarized from the ACTFR report: Assessing the condition of riparian vegetation in the Burdekin catchment using satellitte imagery and field surveys by Leo Lymburner and John Dowe. 2006. This report can be accessed from the report section below.
This catchment has undergone a decrease in condition from relatively good (B) to relatively poor (C+), this change is the result of increased gullying/scalding within the catchment.
Landers Creek Riparian Habitat
Wetlands
The following information is summarized from the ACTFR report: Assessing the condition of Wetlands in the Burdekin catchment using existing GIS and field knowledge for CCI by Mirjam Maughan, Damien Burrows, Barry Butler, Leo Lymburner and George Lukacs. 2006. This report can be accessed from the report section below.
This creek is poorly known ecologically. The creeks are generally dry sandy channels with limited habitat availability although irrigation tailwater in the lowermost reach of Landers Creek increases streamflow there and has greatly increased the amount of instream vegetation present. Condition is not well known though thought to be similar to adjoining sub-divisions, with only minor departure from natural.
Landers Creek wetland condition summary...
Water
SedNet Modelling of Water Quality
The following statistics are summarized from the CSIRO report: Improved SedNet Modelling of Grazng Lands in the Burdekin Catchment by Kinsey-Henderson, A., Sherman, B. and Bartley, R. 2007. This report can be accessed from the report section below.
Model results for the Landers Creek subcatchment are summarized as follows:
- Subcatchment modelled area 954 sq. km.
- Source contributions: Hillslope = 79%; Gully = 17%; Streambank = 4%
- Area of subcatchment with <50% ground cover: 56 sq. km or 6% of subcatchment
- Streambank sediment supply: 2,350 kg/ha/yr
- Total suspended sediment (flow weighted) supply: 62.9 kt/yr
- Total suspended sediment supply (flow weighted; normalized to area): 660kg/ha/yr
- Total suspended sediment end-of-subcatchment (flow weighted) yield: 61 kt/yr
- Event Mean Concentration (EMC - flow weighted): 516 mg/L
- Mean Annual Flow: 118,500ML
Hillslope erosion is believed to be the major source of sediment and particulate nutrients influencing water quality within the Landers Creek subcatchment (79% of total sediment lost). Loss of sediment from gullies constitutes 17% of total suspended sediment. Flow is relatively low at Landers Creek with moderate to high concentrations of suspended sediments accumulating in the water due to low levels of rainfall in the area.
Water Quality Monitoring
The monitoring sites in the Landers Creek:
- Eight Mile Creek site is located upstream of the Dalbeg Road and has been sampled by the BDTNRM Volunteers program for 1 year. The catchment area for this monitoring site is 84 sq km, of which 85.3% is used for grazing and 14.7% for cropping.
- Expedition Pass Creek site is located on Dalbeg Road and has been sampled by the BDTNRM Volunteers program for 1 year. The catchment area for this monitoring site is 299 sq km, of which 94.3% is used for grazing and 5.7% for cropping.
- Landers Creek site is located on Dalbeg Road and has been sampled by BDTNRM Volunteers program for 2 years. The catchment area for this monitoring site is 766 sq km, of which 91.9% is used for grazing and 4.1% for cropping.
Suspended sediment concentrations have been relatively low (mean concentrations range from 60 to 181 mg/L) compared to other catchments within the Burdekin rangelands. These concentrations appear to be lower than predicted by the SedNet model, although additional monitoring is required to validate this conclusion.
Relevant information of Water Quality Monitoring in the Lower Burdekin River Basin can be found by following these links:
- Water Quality Monitoring
- Water Quality Monitoring results
- Event-based community water quality monitoring in the Burdekin Dry Tropics Region: 2002-2007. Volume 1
- Event-based community water quality monitoring in the Burdekin Dry Tropics Region: 2002-2007. Volume 2
Environmental Uses and Values
The following summary of environmental uses and values is based on information extracted from the following reports: Social, Economic, Cultural and Environmental Values of Streams and Wetlands in the Burdekin Dry Tropics Region by Greiner, R and Hall, N. 2006 and Burdekin Basin Draft Water Resource Plan by Queensland Dept. of Natural Resources, Mines and Water, 2006, The Greiner and Hall 2006 report may be accessed from the report section below.
Definition of Environmental Values in the Queensland Water Quality Guidelines
Aquatic Ecosystems:
The aquatic ecosystem values of Landers Creek subcatchment are poorly known but, while considered to be Slightly to Moderately Disturbed (SMD) as a consequence of the surrounding land use for cattle grazing, the biological communities are thought to remain in a healthy condition and ecosystem integrity is likely to be largely retained. No High Ecological Value (HEV) waters have been identified in the subcatchment.
Landers Creek subcatchment draft HEV waters
Irrigation:
Use of Landers Creek for irrigation.
Stock Watering:
Water supply for production of healthy livestock.
Cultural and Spirtual:
Custodial use of water resources by Birri traditional owners.
Landuse
Principle land uses within the Landers Creek subcatchment as a proportion of total area:
- Grazing: 92.5%
- Irrigated sugar: 4.5%
- Conservation & minimal use:2.8%
- Water: Limited water activity use identified.
- Urban & semi urban: Limited urban & semi urban water activity use identified.
Grazing Land
Land Condition
Definition of ABCD land condition framework
No data available for land condition in the Landers Creek sub-catchment.
Ground Cover
No data available for Ground Cover in the Landers Creek sub-catchment.
Resource Condition Summary
Landers Creek is quite a small subcatchment where the major land use is grazing on natural pastures. Almost 5% of the land area is used for irrigated sugar production and a further 3% is remnant native vegetation with minimal use. Riparian habitat in the subcatchment has declined over the last 30 years due to clearing of vegetation along headwater streams. The catchment was in fair (B) condition in the 1970s, but by 2004 its condition had declined to poor (C). Landers Creek is a largely sandy and dry seasonal creek system with limited habitat availability. Irrigation tailwater in the lowermost reach of Landers Creek has increased streamflow there and greatly increased the amount of instream vegetation present. However, very little is known about the ecology and condition of aquatic habitats in the subcatchment.
Hillslope erosion is identified by models as the major source of sediment and particulate nutrients affecting water quality from within the Landers Creek subcatchment, while gully erosion is also predicted to contribute substantially to the total sediment load. The rate of soil erosion is predicted to be moderate, yet well below the Basin average, while the total soil loss from the subcatchment to waterways is comparatively very low. There are no rapid assesment data for land condition and ground cover available for the subcatchment. However, analysis of ground cover from satelite imagery (reference) show that the mean ground cover across the subcatchment declined from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2003, and had recovered to 93% in 2006.
Water quality in the Landers Creek subcatchment is predicted by models to be moderatly impacted by suspended sediment during wet season event flows. However, water quality monitoring data from the subcatchment recorded quite low concentrations of sediment; substantially lower than model predictions.
Draft Environmental Values
The aquatic ecosystem values of the Landers Creek subcatchment are poorly known but, while considered to be Slightly to Moderately Disturbed (SMD) as a consequence of the surrounding land use for cattle grazing, the biological communities are thought to remain in a healthy condition and ecosystem integrity is likely to be largely retained. No High Ecological Value (HEV) waters have been identified in the subcatchment. Little is known about the human use Environmental Values of water in the subcatchment, which are thought to be limited to use for stock watering, irrigation and the cultural and spiritual values of the Birri traditional owners.
Maps
Landers Creek
Landers Creek Landuse (focus on Landers Creek)
Landers Creek Wetlands
Landers Creek Geology
Please feel free to download the maps in the following formats:
- Landers Creek Map as *.pdf (requires Acrobat Reader)
- Landers Creek Landuse Map as *.pdf (requires Acrobat Reader)
- Landers Creek Geology Map as *.pdf (requires Acrobat Reader)
- Catchment Layer as *.kmz (requires Google Earth)
Photos
- LandersCreek1.jpg
- LandersCreek2.jpg
- LandersCreek3.jpg
Reports
- Assessing the condition of Riparian Vegetation in the Burdekin catchment for CCI (2.8 Mb)
- Assessing the condition of Wetlands in the Burdekin catchment for CCI (10 Mb)
- Water Quality Issues in the Burdekin Region (3.8Mb)
- Monitoring of sediments and nutrients in the Burdekin Dry Tropics region: 2005-06 wet season (4.3 Mb)
- Event based Water Quality Monitoring in the Burdekin Dry Tropics Region: 2004/05 wet season (3.1 Mb)
- A report into the water quality condition of the Burdekin River and surrounds based on the AIMS end-of-catchment sampling program (13.2 Mb)
- Limnological assessment and benchmarking of key sentinel wetlands in the Burdekin catchment
- Improved SedNet Modelling of Grazing Land in the Burdekin Catchment(812Kb)
- Economic, Cultural and Environmental values of streams and wetlands in the Burdekin Dry Tropics region. (23.5Mb)
- Draft High Ecological Value waters assessment for BDT WQIP
