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Kachana News

December 2007 News

Kachana News, December 2007

 

First:
We wish you and your loved ones the peace that comes with the message of Christmas.
May you take time to reflect upon the deeper meaning of life and may 2008 be kind to you.

 

Now some samples of 2007 Kachana News…

People

We sorely miss Bobby who is now full time Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Apprentice. He is based in Kununurra and has just completed his first year.
This year’s full-time team was reduced to four of us. Now with Rebecca ready to travel the world after successfully completing 12 years of Home-Schooling, Upper Level Management  will be reduced to three… Fortunately Middle Level Management is able to pick up the slack and as always we welcome our eco-volunteers.
Quite a few dear friends and family passed away this year. May they rest in peace.
We were also blessed with new acquaintances and visits from family and friends.

 

A highlight for me was my Africa study tour in February 2007
Africa Report by Chris Henggeler

Rhino

 

Wet season 2006/2007 brought us about 670mm of rain…

When living in the bush in a camp much-exposed to the elements, we do watch the weather. We also observe our influences on climate.

Rainfall 0607

The distribution was great and the season was kind to us; the winter-rain a bonus.

 

When an aircraft is your primary form of access to civilization you watch other trends as well…

 Oil Forecast


Can anybody guess what the “demand- curve” is doing?


Shift of focus
Our adjusted focus is on building “islands of productivity” in a “sea of desertifying landscapes”.
Some may already know this, but others may not have heard; After watching about six year’s worth of work go up in flames in 2005 we have finally conceded that we bit off more than we could chew. If we wish to survive financially we need to put up with watching a net decline of environmental health over much of Kachana (and surrounding areas); that is until it’s commercially justifiable to protect all of Kachana against the arson that we seem to be subjected to every three years on average.
This is sad, but it is reality.
On an optimistic note: it is quite possible that Carbon Trading (although much of it may be happening for the wrong reasons) may offer us a way to justify improving country that is of no current commercial value…
Photos say more than words: If you have not seen the PPP on using herding animals to capture atmospheric CO2 here it is:
English On line:       Left mouse-click for “Next”
http://www.kachana.com/07TL_SCCPPP_En_files/fullscreen.htm

German On line:        Left mouse-click for “Next”
http://www.kachana.com/07TL_SCCPPP_De_files/fullscreen.htm

If this does not work for you (and I have heard that people in the USA cannot access it) please try this link:
http://www.soilcarbon.com.au/case_studies/index.html   
We welcome more translations!  Italian? French? Portuguese? Spanish? Swahili?

Visit Kachana
2007 once again brought with it helpers and supporters; THANK YOU!!! to those of you who came. (Others will simply have to come and read the visitors book to find out who…)

Sadly Lee and Dean of Kimberley Specialists no longer run their tours on Kachana and “Sandor’s Camp” on the banks of Clean-Skin Creek is waiting to be tidied up and dismantled before nature takes over. Lee and Dean have spent the last few years mobilizing a volunteer-group to fight the battle against the notorious Cane-Toad. We wish them well and we miss their passion and dedication. – Hope you can keep the Toads away until we are ready for them!
While we aim to keep Kachana off the beaten track we can still recommend it as a holiday destination at certain times of the year for those who love life in the bush… Bookings need to be well in advance because we limit numbers: Visit Kachana

 

Landscape Management Workshops
Yet another “Change of Plan” (but the Holisticgoal remains):
Workshops have been postponed indefinitely until public interest grows or we find financial support or sponsors for these events. After five great workshops we know what is possible, but there is insufficient justification for our Guest Speakers and Kachana Pastoral Company to financially prop up these events indefinitely.
We still run private workshops when the demand is there.
Meanwhile some of the seeds sown at our Kachana Workshops are bearing fruit:

  1. Thank you Andrew for the publication of an updated version of your previous paper on waterways.

(Please email us if you wish to be sent an updated copy: 552KB)

  1. Thank you Clair, Mike and Sarah for hosting me and inviting me to present on “Carbon” at Mattaranka in the Northern Territory
  2. Continued effort is being put into devising community-building projects which could involve our neighbours in putting into place more effective custodianship of our natural resources… some great “win win win” possibilities…

 

Cells (a short way of saying “islands of productivity”).
With Google Earth you can now home in on some of our work…

  1. The Mt Sebastian Cell: You can download a Google Earth Placemark  (To download Google Earth please click here.)
  2. The Watershed Cell: Latitude: 16deg. 31min. Longitude: 127deg. 47min. This is situated approximately 12 kilometers south of Mt Sebastian Cell, also in the same valley.

N.B. Unless the name of the photographer is on the “list” below, photos have not been approved by Kachana Pastoral Company and may therefore not be an accurate reflection of what is really down there.
(“List” of photographers authorized by Kachana Pastoral Company: Philipp Nauer. If you wish to be added to the list, you’ll need to get in touch with us first. Sounds silly, but there is already misleading information/photos being tabled in conjunction with Kachana and what we are doing.)
The Alligator Creek Project
Due to our amended focus we have changed tactics on this one. The project continues but will be grown out from the watershed-cell mentioned above. Once we have stabilized Lone Pine Creek and Bingham Creek we will tackle the upper catchment of Alligator Creek. Of course when we find sponsors who wish to adopt this project, things will be sped up.
Watch this space for “Biodiversity Credits” and “Water Credits”… a tangible way to balance your personal biological foot-print.

 

Fire

An undesirable precedent was set in late July this year: Somebody (either on foot or with a helicopter) lit a fire on Kachana which created damage in the southern end of Stock-Route Valley and the adjoining part of the Chamberlain Valley. It is the yellow patch on the map:http://www.firenorth.org.au/nafi/app/init.jsp
Position: 127d 46m   16d 34m

Climate Change
It is making news head-lines, people go to Bali to talk about it and some even get prizes…
Our civilization has had well over 40 years of warning…

Viewed from an environmentally literate perspective the issue is simple (but much more dangerous than most wish to believe):
We now face “destabilised climatic systems” on a global scale.

The key to building new climatic stability lies in how we manage “the top half millimeter of soil”…. (Remember the effects of well-managed herds ?)  

More on this topic in our Grassroots Inputs section of our web-site:
Is "Global Warming" the real issue - December 2007

 

Genetic Manipulation

The hope within the local Kimberley community to see “Ord Stage Two” developed has re-ignited debate about genetically engineering… fortunately science on this front is evolving too and one may pray that responsibility, good ethics and uncommon good sense may eventually prevail…
http://newbricks.blogspot.com/2007/07/power-of-delusion-over-genetic.html
Klebsiella planticola
www.gmcontaminationregister.org

 

Recommended reading

The Long Emergency : Surviving the End of Oil ...

Gardeners of Eden : Rediscovering Our ...

Arithmetic Presentation -Complete :Arithmetic, Population, and Energy.
Dr. Albert Bartlett

Before you go Christmas-shopping you may wish to invest a few minutes to view the “Story of Stuff”: www.storyofstuff.com/ 

Sometimes I wonder about living in “interesting times”… there certainly never is a dull moment and always plenty waiting to be done. A special thanks to our team (bush &town) and to all our loyal supporters!

Happy Christmas and a rewarding 2008!

Chris and the crew from the “Heart of the Kimberley”

 

PS
For photos and other project updates please visit our web-site or ask specific questions per email.