Restoring the water cycle on the Monaro, with Charlie Maslin

Soils For Life

Over the years we’ve heard from many farmers about creeks and rivers that are severely eroded, and landscapes that have lost their ability to absorb and store water. In big rain events water runs off and is gone in a matter of days or even hours. We’ve become accustomed to this, but what did those landscapes look and function like 100 years ago, or 200 years ago? Can farmers restore creeks and landscapes to their full potential, holding on to water for longer and utilising better?

This episode is a collaborative effort with our friends at Mulloon Institute as part of their Communities of Practice Project. In it, we chat with Charlie Maslin, an amazing land steward raising cattle and sheep on the Monaro in New South Wales.

Charlie took us on his journey of landscape repair, which began with a change in grazing practices to improve ground cover, and then moved on to focus on repairing his degraded waterways to rehydrate the landscape and support a thriving and productive agro-ecosystem.

We first visited Charlie’s farm in 2021 and the land was alive with water, grass, frogs, birds, insects and platypuses playing in the waterways. The effects of his steady, thoughtful changes to his management approach were crystal clear, and we’re delighted to share his story in this episode. Enjoy.

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This episode was hosted by Eli Court and produced by the Grow Love Project. The Communities of Practice Project is jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, Mulloon Institute and Soils for Life.

Head to the Soils for Life website to find out more about our work, and if you like what you hear don’t forget to rate and review our podcast. Every review helps to make our podcast easier for others to find.

If you have feedback, or suggestions of people or topics we should cover, you can reach us at [email protected], we love hearing from you. Thanks for listening.

You can read our case study on Charlie Maslin’s farm soilsforlife.org.au/gunningrah-shifting-mindset-from-animals-to-the-land/

Find out more about the ‘Communities of Practice Project soilsforlife.org.au/landscape-rehydration/