Michael Jenkins "We started looking at the landscape with new eyes" Some of Michael and Liz's bluegums

Looking over the fence at Michael and Liz Jenkins' Denbarker property it's clear this is not your average farming property. The most obvious difference being the belts of trees planted in nearly every paddock.

Michael and Liz have run their property in the Upper Denmark catchment for near on 40 years.

Producing beef cattle for the domestic and export market, they run a hybrid Shorthorn herd of 300 breeders. Being cattle producers, a key focus of their farming activities is improving their pastures. Michael and his father bought the property in 1966 after emigrating from England. Since this time Michael has taken over the property and now farms in partnership with his son, Simon. The property is 880 ha in area, with 23% of this remnant vegetation and 25% plantation, primarily bluegums.

In his time on the land Michael has noticed many changes. Salinity and waterlogging top the list of natural resource challenges they have had to face. Michael recalls that the area has always been wet and even waterlogged in winter, but never really noticed any inhibition of pasture growth. Then gradually over time, Michael and Liz started to notice small areas where pasture wasn't growing. Pasture on these areas then deteriorated further until they were bare ground and continued to expand. Michael and Liz started to do some investigating, "Salinity was unheard of - in the late 1980s we did some research into the area with Ruhi Ferdowsian from the Department of Agriculture and the reality of rising ground water tables and salinity was brought home to us."

This realisation was a turning point for Michael and Liz " We started looking at the landscape with new eyes," Michael said. "Ruhi was able to show us the potential extent of salinity and prepared a farm plan that would control salinity and waterlogging".

Guided by the farm plan, trees were the initial focus of the Jenkins' landcare efforts. With a new sense of purpose, they fenced remnant vegetation and planted large areas to trees in an effort to control ground water and salinity.

Michael experimented with a few species, and found bluegums to be the most successful. Inspired by early success in growing trees, Michael and Liz got serious about bluegums, planting nine hectares as part of a CALM trial. This early planting proved to be the tip of the iceberg as many more hectares followed. Recently Michael and Liz harvested their first stand of blue gums 26 hectares in total. " The trees have been a huge success," says Michael " they certainly gross more per hectare than cattle."

With trees helping to address the rising groundwater, managing waterlogging was the next logical step. Using 'W' drains Michael's aim is to remove surface water. By using a mounted laser level Michael has been able to alleviate the problem of 'ponding', increasing productivity. Surface water management will continue to be a focus for Michael and Liz in the future.

With rising water tables being managed by bluegums and waterlogging controlled with surface water drains, Michael and Liz have now shifted their focus to the establishment of high water use pastures. "I wouldn't like to plant any more trees otherwise we won't have any land left for cattle, but we certainly have to address the higher water use pasture issue and that is probably the main thrust of future activities" says Michael.

Michael's interest in caring for the land lead him to join the Wilson Inlet Catchment Committee, the Wilson Inlet Management Authority, the PGA and to become a member of the Kent Denmark Recovery Catchment Team.

He is a strong believer in the community and government partnership approach to the salinity problem. Michael regards the amount of on-ground works implemented to be the Recovery Catchment Program's greatest achievement. Michael says, "I think it is a formula that has really worked, as a farmer that's the ultimate, what we want is on-ground works targeted at areas where they will have the greatest benefits".