Burrill Lake Estuary and Catchment Management Plan
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Burrill Lake Estuary and Catchment Management Plan December 2002 BURRILL LAKE ESTUARY AND CATCHMENT MANAGEMENT PLAN Adopted by Shoalhaven City Council on December 17th 2002 FOREWORD Why An Estuary and Catchment Management Plan? Burrill Lake and its catchment are important community assets for environmental, economic, recreational and social reasons. Competing demands for agricultural, residential and recreational opportunities need to be balanced with protection of the very values that people find attractive. We need to ensure the long-term protection of our environment, and to minimise our impacts on the natural resources of the area. To this end, Shoalhaven City Council and State Government Agencies have prepared this Estuary and Catchment Management Plan. This plan is accessible at libraries, Council offices and on the Shoalhaven City Council website – www.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au. For more information, please contact: Natural Resources and Floodplain Unit Shoalhaven City Council PO Box 42 Nowra 2541 Phone: 02 4429 3111 Fax: 02 4429 3175 Email: [email protected] Project supported by: TABLE OF CONTENTS 9.3 ISSUES............................................... 30 1 INTRODUCTION .....................................1 9.4 EXISTING DATA ................................ 31 1.1 BURRILL LAKE ....................................1 9.5 FLOODING STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS 1.2 AIM......................................................1 32 1.3 PLANNING PROCESS ............................2 10 NATURE CONSERVATION ................ 33 1.4 PLANNING FRAMEWORK .....................2 1.5 ASSISTANCE ........................................3 10.1 VALUES ............................................ 33 1.6 CONSULTATION...................................3 10.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................... 33 10.3 ISSUES............................................... 33 2 BURRILL LAKE, ITS TRIBUTARIES 10.4 FORESHORE REEDS AND SEDGES..... 34 AND CATCHMENT..........................................5 10.5 CAULERPA TAXIFOLIA..................... 35 2.1 LOCATION AND CHARACTER...............5 10.6 PEST SPECIES.................................... 36 2.2 COAST AND ESTUARY .........................5 10.7 EXISTING DATA ................................ 36 2.3 SURFACE WATER ................................5 10.8 HABITAT AND SPECIES 2.4 GEOLOGY AND SOILS ..........................6 CONSERVATION STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS.39 2.5 GROUNDWATER...................................6 11 ENTRANCE MANAGEMENT ............. 41 2.6 NATURAL HABITATS ...........................6 2.7 ABORIGINAL HERITAGE ......................7 11.1 VALUES ............................................ 41 2.8 EUROPEAN HERITAGE .........................7 11.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................... 41 2.9 RESOURCE USE....................................7 11.3 ISSUES............................................... 41 11.4 ENTRANCE POLICY ........................... 41 3 KEY VALUES .........................................12 11.5 CAUSEWAY IMPACTS........................ 42 11.6 EXISTING DATA ................................ 43 4 MANAGEMENT ISSUES ......................13 11.7 ENTRANCE MANAGEMENT 5 MANAGEMENT PLAN .........................14 STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS ........................... 46 12 RECREATION AND TOURISM.......... 47 5.1 MANAGEMENT AREAS, OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS.............................14 12.1 VALUES ............................................ 47 5.2 IMPLEMENTATION .............................14 12.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................... 47 5.3 FUNDING SOURCES............................14 12.3 ISSUES............................................... 47 5.4 ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT & REVIEW 12.4 EXISTING DATA ................................ 47 15 12.5 RECREATION AND TOURISM 6 WATER QUALITY.................................16 STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS ............................ 51 13 VISUAL QUALITY................................ 53 6.1 VALUES .............................................16 6.2 OBJECTIVES.......................................16 13.1 VALUES ............................................ 53 6.3 ISSUES ...............................................16 13.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................... 53 6.4 EXISTING DATA.................................18 13.3 ISSUES............................................... 53 6.5 WATER QUALITY STRATEGIES AND 13.4 VISUAL QUALITY STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS .........................................................21 ACTIONS......................................................... 54 7 EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION....25 14 CULTURAL HERITAGE...................... 55 7.1 VALUES .............................................25 14.1 VALUES ............................................ 55 7.2 OBJECTIVES.......................................25 14.2 OBJECTIVES ...................................... 55 7.3 ISSUES ...............................................25 14.3 ISSUES............................................... 55 7.4 EXISTING DATA.................................26 14.4 EXISTING DATA ................................ 56 7.5 EROSION AND SEDIMENTATION 14.5 CULTURAL HERITAGE STRATEGIES STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS ............................27 AND ACTIONS................................................. 57 8 WATER FLOWS.....................................28 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................... 58 8.1 VALUES .............................................28 8.2 OBJECTIVES.......................................28 8.3 ISSUES ...............................................28 8.4 WATER FLOW STRATEGIES AND ACTIONS .........................................................29 9 FLOODING..............................................30 9.1 VALUES .............................................30 9.2 OBJECTIVES.......................................30 The goals of the Coastal Policy 1 INTRODUCTION establish the overall long term outcomes for the policy to be 1.1 BURRILL LAKE implemented through specific Burrill Lake is located in the City of objectives and strategic actions for Shoalhaven on the New South Wales which responsibility is assigned to south coast, by road approximately government agencies, local councils 230km south of Sydney, 65 km south and the wider community. Estuary of Nowra and 6km south of Ulladulla. management plans are one of the many tools by which the objectives of Burrill Lake's waterways and their the Coastal Policy can be met. catchments are characterised by many environmental, social, commercial and Total Catchment Management recreational values that make them Total Catchment Management (TCM) popular places for a wide variety of is the overlying management approach activities. The pressure of these uses that involves the coordinated use and has sometimes resulted in competition management of land, water, for and some degradation of the area's vegetation, ecosystems and other natural resources. resources within a drainage basin. In the Shoalhaven, the Southern 1.2 AIM Catchment Management Board This Burrill Lake Estuary and manages TCM. In 2002, the Board Catchment Management Plan released a draft blueprint for the provides a comprehensive and management of natural resources in integrated set of strategies to the region. enhance, protect and conserve the natural resources of Burrill Lake NSW Estuary Management Policy and its catchments so as to ensure The NSW Estuary Management Policy that its use is ecologically is one of several component policies sustainable in the long term. under the umbrella NSW State Rivers and Estuaries Policy. The Estuary By natural resources, we mean the Management Policy has been soil, water, vegetation, fauna, developed by the State Government in landscape and cultural heritage of the recognition of the ecological, social catchment. and economic importance of the State's estuaries and in response to The plan has been prepared under the concern about the long-term following hierarchy of NSW consequences of their accelerating Government policies. degradation. This policy forms part of a suite of catchment management NSW Coastal Policy policies and ‘provides for the The NSW Coastal Policy 1997 is the assessment of all estuarine uses, the Government's policy for the co- resolution of conflicts and the ordinated planning and management production of a unified and sustainable of the NSW coastal zone. It aims to management plan for each estuary, guide the management and planning including remedial works and the of the coastal zone by co-ordinating redirection of activities, where the various policies, programs and appropriate’ (NSW Government 1992). standards that apply at both State and local government level including the The goal of the Government’s Estuary Estuary Management Policy under Management Policy is to achieve which this Estuary Management Plan integrated, balanced, responsible and has been developed. ecologically sustainable use of the State’s estuaries, which form a key component of coastal catchments. Date adopted: Page 1 Burrill Lake Estuary and Catchment 17th December 2002 Management Plan • Crown Land Foreshore Tenures 1.3 PLANNING PROCESS Policy (non commercial This draft plan is a result of research, occupations) (1991) discussions and negotiations commencing in 1999 and involving the While this Plan was in preparation, the Burrill Lake Task Force, State Healthy Rivers Commission conducted Government Agencies, Shoalhaven an independent inquiry in to the Council, various community management of coastal lakes in NSW. organisations and individual