Namoi River Styles Report
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NAMOI RIVER STYLES REPORT River Styles, Indicative Geomorphic Condition and Geomorphic Priorities for River Conservation and Rehabilitation in the Namoi Catchment, North-West, NSW SEPTEMBER, 2004 Guy Lampert and Amalia Short Namoi River Styles i Namoi River Styles ii Table of Contents SECTION ONE: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................... 1 SECTION TWO: INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 3 SECTION THREE: METHODS......................................................................................................................... 5 SECTION FOUR: REGIONAL AND CATCHMENT SETTING................................................................... 7 4.1 OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................... 7 4.2 GEOLOGY AND LANDSCAPE UNITS………………………………………………………….……..……….7 4.3 VEGETATION AND LAND USE ..................................................................................................................... 13 4.4 CLIMATE..................................................................................................................................................... 15 4.5 HYDROLOGY……………………………………………………………………………………………….16 SECTION FIVE: DEFINITION AND INTERPRETATION OF RIVER STYLES IN THE NAMOI CATCHMENT .................................................................................................................................................... 19 SECTION SIX: THE DISTRIBUTION OF RIVER STYLES IN THE NAMOI CATCHMENT .......... 117 SECTION SEVEN: INDICATIVE CONDITION OF STREAMLINES IN THE NAMOI CATCHMENT ................................................................................................................... 126 SECTION EIGHT: GEOMORPHIC PRIORITIES FOR RIVER CONSERVATION AND REHABILITATION IN THE NAMOI CATCHMENT................................................................................ 139 SECTION NINE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................... 148 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………152 APPENDIX 1: RELATIVE ABUNDANCE OF RIVER STYLES IN EACH LANDSCAPE UNIT…………………………………………………………………………...…155 APPENDIX 2: LONG PROFILES FOR SELECTED STREAMLINES…………………………..………159 APPENDIX 3: THE RIVER STYLES APPROACH TO PRIORITISATION……………….…………165 Namoi River Styles iii Acknowledgments This report was funded by the Nation Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality as an interim priority project from the Namoi Catchment Blueprint (Namoi Catchment Management Board, 2003). The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) provided in-kind support which included financial management, office space and access to resources such as vehicles and aerial photography. Thanks are due to several people from the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) in the Barwon Region who assisted in the production of this report. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Angela McCormack and Katherine Kerr who provided GIS support, Stephen McLane from Inverell Resource Centre for the timely provision of aerial photography, David Outhet from CNR and Kirstie Fryirs from Macquarie University for their technical input and review, Sue Powell for initial project management and Neal Foster for his discussions on all things riverine. Special thanks also to Nathan Penny, Tim Watts, Peter Dawson, Glenn Bailey and Robert Albert for the input of their local knowledge on riparian issues. Lastly, we would like to thank George Schneider from the Hunter Region for the excellent discussions regarding the setting of priorities for river rehabilitation and management. Namoi River Styles iv Section One: Executive summary River Styles River Styles provides a geomorphic summary of river character and behaviour primarily based on the relationship between channel and valley morphologies and broader landscape controls. This provides a physical template upon which a range of other biophysical attributes can be analysed. In conjunction with an assessment of the indicative geomorphic condition of rivers, such a biophysical framework provides a sound basis for developing river conservation and rehabilitation priorities within a catchment. River Styles in the Namoi Catchment The River Style analysis of the Namoi catchment has assessed around 10 thousand kilometres of named stream length. From this, 23 different River Styles have been identified in the Namoi catchment. These have been divided into four broad categories based largely on valley morphology. Namely confined, partly-confined, laterally-unconfined and discontinuous. Indicative Geomorphic Condition of River Styles in the Namoi Catchment A broad-brush assessment of geomorphic condition was undertaken of the streamlines examined in this study. As this was largely an assumptive process the term “indicative condition” was adopted, based on three broad categories of condition – good, moderate and poor. From this assessment approximately 20% of the assessed streamlines in the Namoi catchment are in good indicative condition, 50% are in moderate indicative condition and 30% are in poor indicative condition. Geomorphic priorities for river conservation and rehabilitation in the Namoi catchment In this report, the determination of River Style and indicative condition of assessed streamlines in the Namoi catchment has provided for a geomorphic basis for prioritising river conservation and rehabilitation efforts. While this process has only considered the geomorphic basis for setting priorities, it is acknowledged that further filters should be applied to account for triple bottom line considerations. The geomorphic filters used to prioritise streamlines in the Namoi catchment can be condensed into four main categories: • Conservation Priority filters • Strategic Priority filters • High Priority Rehabilitation filters • High Priority Remeditation filters • Moderate/Low Priority Remeditation filters As the Namoi catchment is spatially large, it is recommended that conservation and rehabilitation actions be targeted initially at areas where the greatest success and continuity of effort is most likely to be achieved. These are, as determined by areas where there is a concentration of Conservation and Strategic Priority reaches: • Upper Macdonald: the Macdonald River and its tributaries upstream of the confluence with Spitzbergen Creek. • Cockburn River tributaries: the Cockburn River and its tributaries upstream of the confluence with Mulla Mulla Creek. • Upper Ironbark Creek: Ironbark Creek and its tributaries upstream of the confluence with Nangahrah Creek. • Maules Creek: Maules Creek and its tributaries upstream of the confluence with Horsearm Creek. • Pillaga Outwash streams: this covers most streamlines crossing the Pillaga Outwash landscape unit from Mollee (or Nuable) Creek in the east to Box Creek in the west. Namoi River Styles 1 Due to the relatively coarse resolution of this assessment, it is recommended that these areas be initially assessed in greater spatial detail. This would determine stream recovery potential and the exact nature of threats and pressures, allowing for more specific management actions to be developed for the high priority areas. Of these areas, priority for further assessment and action should be given to the Pillaga outwash streams and the Upper Macdonald as these areas contain a high proportion of fragile and rare River Styles respectively. It is tendered that the five main priority categories can be used as a basis for allocating funds for river conservation and rehabilitation activities. It is recommended that funding in the short term be apportioned with a bias towards Conservation and Strategic Priority reaches to account for the more detailed assessments required in the high priority areas. However, in the longer term, allocating funds equally to the four main priority categories will ensure a balance between the needs of the rivers and those of the local communities in the Namoi catchment. Additionally, in order to define catchment-framed goals for river rehabilitation in the Namoi catchment, the following general river management recommendations are made: 1. Encourage and support river management actions that protect identified Conservation reaches through the removal of threatening processes. 2. Encourage the implementation of appropriate rehabilitation and preventative actions in Strategic reaches. 3. In High Priority Rehabilitation reaches promote low cost rehabilitation works such as fencing, revegetation and weed management that maximise improvements to river condition and work with natural river processes. 4. In High Priority Remediation reaches efforts should be made to slow or stop degradation through appropriate changes in land management. 5. Discourage activities that are known to greatly exacerbate channel instability including gravel extraction, snag removal, riparian vegetation disturbance and channel and flow diversions. 6. In Moderate/Low Priority Remediation reaches rehabilitation efforts should only be initiated once they are considered a priority after other triple-bottom line filters have been applied. Furthermore, these reaches will not improve in condition without significant, costly intervention. The geomorphic character and behaviour of these reaches is poor and in some cases irreversibly