LAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL RIVERS AND STREAMS SPECIAL INVESTIGATION FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS June 1991 This text is a facsimile of the former Land Conservation Council’s Rivers and Streams Special Investigation Final Recommendations. It has been edited to incorporate Government decisions on the recommendations made by Order in Council dated 7 July 1992, and subsequent formal amendments. Added text is shown underlined; deleted text is shown struck through. Annotations [in brackets] explain the origins of the changes. MEMBERS OF THE LAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL D.H.F. Scott, B.A. (Chairman) R.W. Campbell, B.Vet.Sc., M.B.A.; Director - Natural Resource Systems, Department of Conservation and Environment (Deputy Chairman) D.M. Calder, M.Sc., Ph.D., M.I.Biol. W.A. Chamley, B.Sc., D.Phil.; Director - Fisheries Management, Department of Conservation and Environment S.M. Ferguson, M.B.E. M.D.A. Gregson, E.D., M.A.F., Aus.I.M.M.; General Manager - Minerals, Department of Manufacturing and Industry Development A.E.K. Hingston, B.Behav.Sc., M.Env.Stud., Cert.Hort. P. Jerome, B.A., Dip.T.R.P., M.A.; Director - Regional Planning, Department of Planning and Housing M.N. Kinsella, B.Ag.Sc., M.Sci., F.A.I.A.S.; Manager - Quarantine and Inspection Services, Department of Agriculture K.J. Langford, B.Eng.(Ag)., Ph.D , General Manager - Rural Water Commission R.D. Malcolmson, M.B.E., B.Sc., F.A.I.M., M.I.P.M.A., M.Inst.P., M.A.I.P. D.S. Saunders, B.Agr.Sc., M.A.I.A.S.; Director - National Parks and Public Land, Department of Conservation and Environment K.J. Wareing, Dip.For.(Cres.), B.Sc., M.F.; Director - Forest Products Management, Department of Conservation and Environment A.H. Teese, B.Agr.Sc., T.S.T.C. ISBN 0 7241 9250 6 CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 8 A. VICTORIAN HERITAGE RIVERS 32 A1 MITTA MITTA RIVER 48 A2 OVENS RIVER 51 A3 HOWQUA RIVER 54 A4 BIG RIVER 56 A5 GOULBURN RIVER 60 A6 WIMMERA RIVER 65 A7 GENOA RIVER 70 A8 BEMM RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES, 72 GOOLENGOOK, ARTE, AND ERRINUNDRA RIVERS A9 SNOWY RIVER 76 A10 SUGGAN BUGGAN AND BERRIMA RIVERS 81 A11 BUCHAN RIVER 83 A12 MITCHELL AND WONNANGATTA RIVERS 84 A13 THOMSON RIVER 93 A14 YARRA RIVER 96 A15 LERDERDERG RIVER 99 A16 AIRE RIVER 102 A17 GLENELG RIVER 105 A18 MURRAY RIVER 108 B. ESSENTIALLY NATURAL CATCHMENTS 110 B1 RED AND BENEDORE RIVERS, AND SHIPWRECK, 116 EASBY, AND SEAL CREEKS CATCHMENT B2 RODGER RIVER AND MOUNTAIN CREEK CATCHMENT 117 B3 AVON, TURTON, AND DOLODROOK RIVERS AND 118 BEN CRUACHAN CREEK CATCHMENT B4 O’SHANNASSY RIVER CATCHMENT 119 ISOLATED ESSENTIALLY NATURAL CATCHMENTS 121 C. REPRESENTATIVE RIVERS 123 D. OTHER RIVER USES AND VALUES 130 E. RIVER FRONTAGES, BEDS AND BANKS 134 F. MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 145 F1 RECREATION 145 F2 NATURE CONSERVATION 152 F3 CULTURAL HERITAGE 159 F4 VISUAL RESOURCES 164 F5 FLOW REGULATION 166 F6 ENVIRONMENTAL AND RECREATIONAL WATER REQUIREMENTS 171 F7 WATER USE EFFICIENCY 174 F8 WATER QUALITY 175 F9 WATERWAY MANAGEMENT 185 F10 UTILITIES AND SURVEY 193 F11 MINERAL AND STONE PRODUCTION 196 GLOSSARY 204 REFERENCES 209 Appendices: Error! Bookmark not defined. I Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. II Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. III Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. IV Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. V Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. VI Error! Reference source not found. Error! Bookmark not defined. Maps: 1 Final recommendations omitted A1—A17 Victorian heritage rivers omitted INTRODUCTION The Land Conservation Council, Victoria - established by the Land Conservation Act 1970 - carries out investigations and makes recommendations to the Minister for Conservation and Environment on the use of public land in order to provide for the balanced use of land in Victoria. In making its recommendations, Council must have regard to both the present and future needs of the people of Victoria, in relation to criteria emphasising the need to protect significant conservation and recreation values. Council has also taken the view that it must achieve a balance between these and other community needs of public land seen from local, regional, State, and national perspectives. As part of this, it must provide for legitimate uses such as water use, the harvesting of forest produce and mineral extraction. Under its Act the Council is required to take into account the social and economic effects of its recommendations, and that has been done for this Investigation. Rivers and Streams Investigation In June 1987, the government directed the Land Conservation Council to conduct a Special Investigation of Victoria’s Rivers and Streams, in accordance with the following Order in Council: ‘Under Section 8 of the Land Conservation Act 1970 the Council is required to carry out an investigation of the scenic, recreational, cultural and ecological values of rivers and streams in Victoria, and to make recommendations on the use of these rivers and how their identified values can best be protected.’ Notices announcing the commencement of the Investigation were published in the Victoria Government Gazette and in Victorian newspapers in November 1987. In September 1989, the Council published the ‘Rivers and Streams Special Investigation - Resources Report’, which described the natural, cultural heritage, recreational, and scenic values of Victoria’s rivers and streams. Its purpose was to ensure that everyone who had an interest in the future use of our waterways and their catchments could obtain and study the basic information that the Council itself studied, and provide a submission on the report and its contents. The Council then formulated its Proposed Recommendations, and published them in November 1990 to provide a basis for public comment. Copies were distributed to all who made submissions on the Resources Report. A further submission period followed, and a list of those who made submissions is provided in Appendix I. Council’s response to submissions is given below. These Final Recommendations are the next stage of the process followed by the Council in accordance with the Land Conservation Act 1970. They will be presented to the Minister for Conservation and Environment for consideration by the government. Recommendations approved by the government will be implemented by the relevant land and water managers. The Council’s role is public land use planning; it does not have a role in ongoing management, beyond proposing broad management guidelines that are intended to clarify recommendations for the use of land. Availability of submissions Submissions received by the Council are available for inspection at the Council’s offices. Reasons for this Investigation Clean water, along with clean air and food, are fundamental to society. For thousands of years humans have sought to control the flow of rivers to our direct advantage. As a result, dryland areas have bloomed, floods have been reduced, and we have developed cities and industries that utilise large quantities of water. Hydro-electricity resources have also been developed. Societies are now recognising, however, that these benefits have had costs for the rivers. This century - with the advance of concrete technology, heavy earth-moving equipment, high-capacity pumps, and the availability of capital - changes to rivers, wetlands, and ground-water tables have taken place at an unprecedented rate. While Victoria has enjoyed the benefits of water resource development and the resultant economic growth, this growth has not been without adverse environmental and economic impacts. Construction of numerous weirs and dams has substantially changed the flow of many rivers. Rather than reflecting natural processes, river flows increasingly reflect human requirements, and as a result many natural systems have been put at risk. Our rivers have also been adversely affected by the discharge of a variety of effluents arising from off-stream domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses of water. Land use practices also have an impact. For example, land degradation, the addition of increased amounts of sediment to streams, and dryland salting have resulted from past land use. The salt not only makes an affected area unsuitable for agriculture but also adds to the salt load of the river, decreasing its suitability for irrigation or domestic consumption further downstream. Collectively, land uses, polluting discharges, and flow regulation have often reduced the scenic, recreational, ecological and cultural heritage values of rivers. They may also have economic implications where they restrict the downstream use of water, or affect the sustainability of important industries, or the attractiveness of areas with significant recreational or tourism values. The availability of water, which with minimal treatment is suitable for drinking, is becoming a pressing issue around the world. Debates in Australia reflect differences of opinion over the appropriate use of water and surrounding land. The flooding of Lake Pedder and the proposed flooding of the lower Gordon and Franklin Rivers in Tasmania became major issues. In Victoria, controversies over proposals to dam the Murray at Chowilla, to build a storage at Yarra Brae, and to divert the Aberfeldy at Donnelly Creek are reviewed in Dr J. Powell’s 1989 book ‘Watering the Garden State’. This work also discusses the 1964 proposal to divert Big River water to Melbourne, resulting in Premier Bolte’s pronouncement that not ‘one drop’ of water would cross the Great Dividing Range. More recently, plans to dam the Mitchell River at or below Angusvale and proposals to extract additional water from the Snowy River have aroused concern. The debates have emphasised the need to consider all values, be they economic return, flora, fauna, scenery, recreation, or cultural heritage, when determining appropriate water and associated land use. Increases in population and leisure time are likely to place greater demands on public land and resources, as people seek those recreational opportunities provided only by public land.