The extensive tropical grasslands of north Queensland are grazed by beef cattle and provide a significant proportion of the water flowing into the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) lagoon. Soil sediments and nutrients eroding from the grazing lands of the Burdekin and Fitzroy catchments in north-east Queensland contribute to reduced water quality in the GBR lagoon. Degraded and eroded D-condition bare areas and eroding gullies in grazing lands provide a disproportionate amount of soil and nutrient losses from predominantly native pasture grasslands used for cattle grazing. Rehabilitating these degraded areas will help improve water quality flowing onto the reef. Rehabilitation methods were evaluated on 3 soil types on a degraded creek frontage in the Burdekin River catchment of north Queensland over the 2011/12 summer. These bare patches occur widely across the 2 catchments and consistently degraded sites have been identified by 24 years of satellite imagery. The objectives of this study were to identify mechanical methods and management practices for regenerating pasture on these bare patches. This will assist landholders in returning unproductive land to useful grazing pastures and will provide benefits to the wider community by improving quality of water from grazing lands that enters the GBR lagoon.