First up I want to wish all of our members and friends the best possible Festive Season – Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I suspect most of us are happy to put 2020 behind us, and it can be easy to dwell on the difficulties, frustrations and negatives within a challenging year. However, during 2020 we have seen many changes with the potential to leave lasting benefits across Australia’s rangelands.
Landsat satellite vegetation cover data for more than 150 grazing trial paddocks across Northern Australia was used to assess ground cover and woody (trees and shrubs) cover trends through time over the last 30 years.
Following on from the previous article, the mechanisms contributing to woody cover changes were examined more closely at Kidman Springs in the Victoria River District and the implications for pastoral land use were discussed.
An International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists looks like it may actually happen and now is your chance to become involved by joining a Regional International Year Support Group.
The latest Special Issue of The Rangeland Journal is now available. It includes 15 papers based on presentations and other events from the September 2019 ARS Canberra Conference.
2021 Membership subscriptions notices will be sent out soon. While subscription rates have not increased again this year there have been changes to the subscription categories.
All issues of the Range Management Newsletter, including the current issue, will now be available on-line to all readers
In July 2019, The Royal Society of Queensland, NRM Regions Queensland and AgForce hosted a two-day forum to consider the worsening drought in Queensland, concerns about pastoralists’ wellbeing, and degradation of the rangelands.
Have you always wanted to attend the Society for Range Management Annual Meeting but travel costs or time prevented you? If so, you will happy to read that next year’s meeting is going virtual.
John Taylor, a past President of the ARS and former director of Rangelands Australia, has been appointed on to the Society of Range Management’s Board of Directors and also Chair of the North Australia Beef Research Council.
Did you know that ARS members who publish in The Rangelands Journal receive a substantial discount if they wish to make their article open access?
In this digital age there seems to be an ever-increasing number of outlets to get news and information about what is happening in the rangelands. Here are some interesting articles you may have missed in recent months.
There have been a number of recent updates to the ARS website.
This final Range Management Newsletter for 2020 marks the start of a new direction for the ARS with this issue being published as an open access document with no members-only embargo period. This means you are free (actually encouraged!) to share articles with your colleagues and friends.