Short Oral Presentation 11th Australian Stream Management Conference 2024

Why did you do it? 

Quantifying the proportion of waterways protected is a difficult task that is yet to be consistently undertaken across Victoria.

The construction of riparian fences to protect priority waterways from stock is identified as a key management action in the Wimmera Waterway Strategy 2014-2022. Significant lengths of waterways have been protected from stock through CMA and land manager collaborations to fence and change grazing management practices along rivers and streams.

Waterways are also protected through other means, including formal protection such as National Parks, adjacent land use and independent landholder management practices.

What did you do? 

The Wimmera Catchment Management Authority (CMA) and RM Consulting Group (RMCG) collaborated to:

• Develop a methodology to assess the proportion of waterways that are protected from stock access which can be replicated by the Wimmera CMA across the catchment. A three-stage assessment methodology was co-designed with the Wimmera CMA that included automated Geographic Information System (GIS) modelling, manual aerial imagery analysis, and review and on-ground verification of priority reaches by Wimmera CMA staff.
• Complete an assessment of the length of priority waterways in the Upper, Middle and Lower Wimmera River using the methodology to determine the proportion of waterways that are protected from stock access.

What have you learned? 

In stage 1, 700 kilometres (km) of waterways  in the Upper and Lower catchment were assessed of which 338km (48%) of priority waterways were protected on both frontages and a further 92km (13%) were protected on one frontage. The current stage 2 project follows on directly from stage 1, with the aim of assessing the remaining 852 km priority waterways in the Middle catchment downstream of Glenorchy through to Horsham.

Why does it matter? 

Understanding the proportion of waterways protected offered the Wimmera CMA a range of strategic benefits including the ability to:

• Inform the review and renewal of the Wimmera Waterway Strategy 2014-2022
• Combine the data with other decision-making criteria to support the strategic prioritisation of on-ground works and programs to achieve the Wimmera Waterway Strategy goals
• Quantify the amount of waterway protection work still outstanding to support the establishment of targets, budgets, and provide evidence for funding applications
• Provide meaningful figures that can be reported to the community and influence increased participation in the protection of waterways.

 These findings also provide other CMA and natural resource management (NRM) agencies with the opportunity to further adapt and refine the methodology to their catchments.