Retired farmers’ perception regarding the riparian forests in the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon catchment

Abstract

In Far North Queensland, Australia, riparian (streamside) forests are of great importance in preserving good water quality in the waterways that drain into the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon. This paper presents the findings of an open‐ended semi‐structured face‐to‐face interview with 11 retired farmers about their ideas, opinions, beliefs, and their experience with riparian forest, and with government agencies. It included an intervention in the form of an information fact sheet on the biophysical functions and environmental importance of riparian forests. The interviewees' general attitudes, appraised from evaluative statements were mainly positive but most of them, 73% (n=8) did not believe or accept the scientific information, and 55% (n=6) felt the Great Barrier Reef was not influenced by farmers’ actions. All expressed mistrust in the government and only considered financial support helpful. Landcare agencies were known to very few of the retired farmers.