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The Upper MacDonald sub-catchment covers an area of 847km2 at the very head of the Namoi River starting at the top of the Great Dividing Range (1400mASL). The Cobrabald River and the Ingleba and Smiths Creek are major tributaries of the MacDonald River. The MacDonald River then flows north before discharging into the Mid MacDonald subcatchment at Woolbrook.
Pasture improvement was first attempted in the sub-catchment in the 1850s. Experimentation of pasture species mixes commenced in 1935 with the first aerial application of Superphosphate introduce in 1950.
The Upper MacDonald sub-catchment contains a wide variety of soil types. In broard term the majority of soils are granite sands with basalt caps including stony red clays, Chocolate podzolic soils to Siliceous sands and skeletal soils.
Vegetation types are dominated by several types of open woodland to patches of sub alpine forests forest. Native pastures have been predominately cleared for introduced species. There is a very small area of National Park and State Forests within the sub-catchment.
The steeper lands and slopes are predominately used for fine wool and cattle production and some small areas set aside for biodiversity conservation.
Issues within the sub-catchment include overgrazing, decline of native pasture species, soil acidity, soil erosion, biodiversity conservation and water quality management.
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