EARTH322

This paper integrates an understanding of land/soil and water processes that occur at paddock to catchment to national scales. A focus is on management practices that optimise resource use for productive purposes with attention to avoidance or minimisation of environmental effects. Topics include soil degradation, soil fertility, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, coupled to the hydrological setting within which land-use practices lie. Hydrological concepts build on an understanding of catchment-scale processes, analysis of hydrological regimes, and the estimation of water balance components including evaporation and drainage. Topics in the paper are set within the context of resource management law and the National Policy Statement for fresh water management.