Gully Erosion Assessment and Control Guide released

March 2018

South East Local Land Services has produced a booklet designed to help land managers understand the basics of gully erosion and provide management and minimisation options.

The Gully Erosion Assessment and Control Guide will assist users in identifying actively eroding gullies and the severity of the erosion. It provides management options to address existing erosion and to minimise future erosion problems.

Soil and stream bank erosion have a major influence on river health in the South East, with eroding riverbanks and gullies contributing significant sediment into catchments, but we also see cases where land managers lose areas of productive land.

This is a worry for individual enterprises, but also for the overall productivity of the region.

Erosion is a natural process, where the movement of material via the activity of wind and/or water shapes the landscape over time.

Gully erosion, one of the most visual forms of erosion, is the result of soil removal creating permanent channels with a depth of greater than 30 centimetres.

Through a range of strategic programs and initiatives, South East Local Land Services has focused on improving river health, particularly through improvement in riparian habitat and ground cover management.

Rehabilitating areas that are contributing sediment and nutrients is of particular value where there are downstream areas of high conservation value.

The free guide is available from the Yass, Boorowa, Goulburn and Braidwood South East Local Land Services offices and was produced through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.