The Upper Bidgee Reach

THE UPPER BIDGEE REACH Volume 1, Issue 3 July 2011 UPPER MURRUMBIDGEE DEMONSTRATION REACH Progressing the Upper Bidgee Reach Since its inception in 2008 the Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach has generated fresh interest and concern for the wellbeing of the river health and its aquatic inhabitants in particular. Initially established between Scottsdale Bush Heritage conservation property near Bredbo in NSW and Kambah Pool, it was seen by those involved as providing a strong framework for on-ground action to make improvements and reconnect community to the river, whilst gathering solid evidence through research and monitoring to demonstrate the outcomes. Later extended to cover approximately 100 river kilometers between the township of Bredbo itself and downstream of the Cotter River at Casuarina Sands recreation area in the ACT, it has generated support from a wide range of government and natural resource management organisations to help make this community initiative a reality. Since that time the initiative has raised over $300,000 in federal government grants, and more than this amount again through in-kind support, such as the installation by ACTEW of new river monitoring stations and provision of monitoring data, the management and improvement to the river surrounds by the ACT Government within the Murrumbidgee River Corridor parks and reserves, and community support through river health monitoring and other events. The initiative now has a range of plans focusing on priorities for interventions, opportunities for community involvement, concepts for carp reduction, improving habitat amongst the rivers sand slugs and scientific monitoring. Much of the federal government funding has been dedicated to improving six kilometers of riverbank health in the Bumbalong Valley in NSW, while some $60,000 has been invested in similar activities by the ACT Government across the border. Ongoing ACT Murrumbidgee fish population monitoring has taken place and been expanded upstream to encompass sites in NSW, where throughout large numbers of carp have been detected, and the native fish populations, including the threatened species, hanging on in small numbers throughout. The current Upper Bidgee Reach project manager Luke Johnston, with support from the Native Fish Strategy team and others such as Upper Murrumbidgee WaterWatch and ACT Conservation Planning and Research colleagues has been out and about talking with members of the community and natural resource managers to let people know what is happening through the initiative and seeking support to progress beyond the establishment phase. The re- sponse from the community at large has been overwhelmingly positive as there is a well recognised need to „do something‟ to help the river and its aquatic inhabitants. Now, with all long-term plans complete, preparations are being made to undertake habitat improvement works in the Tharwa sand slug with the support of the ACT NRM Council and ACTEW. Beyond this, regular meetings are planned by key agency groups and committed community members to drive the initiative forward into the future, and a unique opportunity to explore interesting and often difficult to access parts of the Bidgee has been announced through the „Upper Bidgee Reach Wanders‟ program which will take place over the coming years. Don‟t forget to check the websites or updates on activities such as the walks, potential tree planting days, fish survey demonstrations and river health monitoring opportunities as they become available. We hope to see you out there around the rivers and thank you for your ongoing interest and support for the initiative! Inside this issue: A new initiative (ACWa) has been Actions for Clean Water project takes off 2 established to reduce loss of soils and protect water quality in the Upper Riparian revitalisation in the Reach 3 Murrumbidgee Work is continuing in the Reach to repair Story by key landholder at Bumbalong 4 past and continuing degradation of riverbank and riparian zone health Cooma Region WaterWatch in the Reach 5 There are many ways in which to get involved in the Demonstration Reach and Fishin’ with electricity! 6 help make the Upper Bidgee a better place! VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3 Page 2 ACWa Project Takes Off with Tanya Noakes, Upper Murrumbidgee WaterWatch A new initiative has been established to reduce loss of soils and protect water quality in the Upper Murrumbidgee catchment by reducing sediment input through the Monaro and ACT regions. Among many impacts on native fish habitat in the Upper Bidgee Reach is the reduction in water quality caused by turbidity and loss of habitat by the deposition of large volumes of bedload sediment that has occurred as a result of large scale catchment erosion. Although presumed to have decreased more than three-fold since widespread clearing of native vegetation occurred, there is at present still a total annual sediment budget in the order of 50,000 cubic metres in the Tharwa sand slug that can be easily observed in the sandy channel bottom between Tharwa Sandwash recreation area and Point Hut Crossing. “The planets just have to align,” mused Upper Murrumbidgee WaterWatch Facilitator, Tanya Noakes, in explaining the development of the Actions for Clean Water (ACWa) project‟s inception and sudden meteoric take off. “Since 2009, WaterWatch, ActewAGL, the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Coordinating Committee (UMCCC) and the Cooma Council have been aware that there was a problem in the Upper Murrumbidgee with sediment mobilisation during intense summer storms. We‟ve suspected for a while that the drought and concomitant loss of vegetation cover was aggravating the situation, but it was the engagement of the Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Authority (MCMA) and the Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach manger that pushed the project over the tipping the point from, „talking about it‟ to „doing something about it.‟” “The Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Evidence of erosion in the Monaro, behind Bredbo village (top) and on the main Murrumbidgee channel in the Reach has certainly focused attention on Bumbalong Valley (bottom). A new the need to improve the river health for native fish of the river in southern NSW Photos: Luke Johnston initiative is and the ACT and helped renew the established to understanding that Canberra has a strong vested interest in the health and stability reduce loss of of the Monaro,” said Noakes. soils and “The ACWa project has pulled together funds to employ a contractor from Sinclair Knight Merz to protect water draw together all the data about hydrology, bank stability, and geology that might affect sediment mobilisation in the upper catchment and map out known as well as potential erosion hot spots. quality in the “We don‟t want a document that‟s just going to sit on a shelf,” said Noakes. Upper “We want to use the information to generate a prospectus of work required for each site. This will be something we can take to potential funding partners and quickly bring them up to speed on Murrumbidgee where things are, and what needs to happen next. Initiatives such as the Upper Bidgee Demonstration Reach have been invaluable, as they are both a foci of community interest and repositories of knowledge concerning sediment movement and mitigation activities.” “MCMA had a lot easier time investing in this region as there is already substantial community engagement and support for habitat improvement projects. The UMDR has been instrumental in building those community networks in the upper Monaro.” Erosion and waterway sedimentation has been an issue for more than a century and this is a major undertaking, but it is so important to make headway and through initiatives such as ACWa and the UMDR, through time, hopefully we can „turn the tide‟ on the decline of our fauna and flora dependant on this valuable ecosystem. VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3 Page 3 Riparian revitalisation around the traps Beyond the directly funded Upper Bidgee Reach riparian improvement works, we are lucky enough to have quite a lot of other effort going into improving the health of the riverine environment by committed members of the community and government programs and initiatives. Herein is an update on two such activities, the first by the ACT Government who have been investing in revitalisation of the Murrumbidgee River Corridor‟s native vegetation throughout the Upper Bidgee Reach, and the second here by the active and successful Michelago and District Landcare Group upstream in New South Wales. Thanks to both Brian and Tony for the stories. A Million Trees for the ACT, by Brian Summers - ACT Parks and Conservation Service The ACT Government‟s Million Trees project commenced in 2008 as a result of the ACT‟s eighteen year Climate Change Strategy “Weathering the Change”. A component of the project aims to revegetate previously cleared areas along the ACT Murrumbidgee River Corridor (MRC), an approximately 70 kilometre stretch of the Murrumbidgee River between The Angle near Williamsdale and Parkview west of Belconnen. It is hoped that through this work the quality of water in the Murrumbidgee River will be maintained and improved by replacing previously impacted vegetation communities. Many of these have suffered from past land clearing practises and more recently the large 2003 bushfire that swept right through the ACT Murrumbidgee River Corridor. In relation to the MRC component, 300,000 trees are to be planted at 30,000 per year. To manage this project, I was appointed as the MRC Million Trees Project Officer, based out of the ACT Parks & Conservation Service depot at Casuarina Sands. Large scale planting commenced from Angle Crossing heading north along the MRC. Targeted areas have been previously cleared gullies and flowlines, riparian zones and hillsides and hilltops. In particular, the stretch of river from Angle Crossing to Point Hut Crossing has been targeted with riverine tree species such as manna gum, Eucalyptus. viminalis.

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