ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING: Risk Assessment in the Face of Controversy: Tree Clearing and Salinization in North Queensland

/ Several lines of evidence were followed to assess the risk of salinization after tree clearing in the upper Burdekin River basin in north Queensland. Conceptual, biophysical process-based approaches (pedological interpretation, event tree analysis, one-dimensional water balance modeling, and Boolean spatial analysis) were compared to empirical methods and field evidence. The convergence of all lines of conceptual reasoning to the conclusion that there exists a risk of salinization in north Queensland, consistent with field evidence of naturally occurring waterlogging and salinity, strengthens the argument against tree clearing.