No easy answers to salt problem

On 14 February, WISALTS held their field day at the WISALTS Trial Site on the Denbarker property of James Erskine, with more than 50 local farmers attending. President of WISALTS, Lex Hardie, said he was struck by the degradation of farms by salt encroachment when driving along Albany Highway, from Williams to Mount Barker. Harry Whittington said that before land was cleared, trees used large quantities of water, establishing a layer of strong humus by the annual fall of leaves. This kept the soil open, allowing water to penetrate so that even during heavy rainfall there was no waterlogging. He also explained the methods and procedures of the interceptor bank system to the group, who watched the demonstration by two bulldozers of how to create banks on the property. It is anticipated that another field day will be held probably next September so that results can be seen. This article contains two images: Harry Whittington explaining the interceptor banks system; and a bulldozer in action creating the banks. PLEASE NOTE: We are unable to provide a public view of this newspaper article as the copyright is held by the publisher of the Albany Advertiser. If you would like to obtain a copy of this newspaper article for research purposes, please ‘request a copy'. This article is part of the WISALTS (Whittington Interceptor Sustainable Agriculture Land Treatment Society Incorporated) Collection