Collaborative Area Management: the progress and the method behind the establishment of the cluster fencing project

Abstract

The Collaborative Area Management (CAM) project is a cost-efficient, pest exclusion and total grazing pressure management model developed by South West NRM, with funding support provided by the Australian and Queensland Governments. The project involves groups of landholders constructing and maintaining a high-integrity exclusion fence surrounding their ‘cluster’ of properties. Through a collaborative approach that presents strong economies of scale, projects can be implemented with significantly less private and public investment than fences built to this standard surrounding individual properties.
Following fence construction, land managers continue to work collaboratively to manage invasive pest animals inside the cluster, specifically wild dogs. Outcomes of this project include the reduction in the environmental and economic impacts of pest animals and an improvement in livestock production and profitability.
Historically, wild dogs were eradicated from Australia’s sheep production regions using poison baits, trapping, shooting and fencing. More recently, wild dog management has focused on laying poison bait, principally through coordinated 1080 baiting programs. Unrepaired netting fences, inadequate participation in, and variable efficacy of ‘coordinated’ baiting programs, and the ability of wild dogs to disperse long distances has allowed this pest species to recolonise these regions. Improved fence materials and designs, favourable economic conditions for sheep production, government incentives and formal agreements designed to ensure the maintenance of fences have renewed interest in exclusion fencing. This paper highlights the progress cluster fence groups are making towards reducing pests and increasing productivity.