Landcare groups and producers undertaking on-ground works funded through the National Heritage Trust 1 funding were required to assess the effectiveness of their works in attaining the desired natural resource outcomes. Participatory action research projects involving ten case study sites were initiated to obtain detailed assessments of changes in land condition, productivity and sustainability of on-ground works. Technical support and delivery of training on monitoring techniques was provided to assist producers and landcare groups meet their monitoring obligations. During these projects it became apparent that, irrespective of the requirements of the funding source, assessing the effectiveness of works was a low priority by landholders and there was reluctance to undertake monitoring programs per se.. To gain an insight into the barriers to monitoring structured interviews of landholders from the case study sites and landcare officers of the region were undertaken. The surveys found there was little ownership of monitoring responsibilities and the reluctance to monitoring was from the belief of participants that there were few tangible private benefits. We conclude that successful monitoring programs should target resources/outcomes that are meaningful and relate directly and obviously to participant’s priorities (eg. increased production), and require ‘champions’ and technical support to ensure follow-up data extrapolation and delivery of results and interpretation to stakeholders.