INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION TRANSFORMING TO OUTCOMES FOR THE MOORE CATCHMENT INSIDE THIS STRATEGY pg # Section 1 Introduction 2 Section 2 Connections 7 People and the landscape 8 People and the soil 15 People and water supplies 21 People and the floodplain 26 People and waterways 29 People and the ocean 36 People and the biota 38 People and the atmosphere 44 Section 3 The way forward 47 Section 4 List of strategies 49 Section 5 References 52 Section 6 Acknowledgments 54 STRATEGY 2001 PRESENTED TO THE COMMUNITY BY THE MOORE CATCHMENT GROUP MOORE CATCHMENT CATCHMENTGETTING MOORE TO THE POINT GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT 1 INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION Where are we heading? MOORE The Moore Catchment is a very Do we walk away and say that this is rewarding place to live, work and nature’s way of telling us that we don’t RIVER recreate. It has generously supported belong here? every aspect of our rural lifestyles. CATCHMENT No! However, the catchment is now sending MOORE RIVER CATCHMENT us strong signals that it is out of Perhaps we are ready to acknowledge that balance, not just on an environmental we have all the necessary ingredients for front, but economically and socially a prosperous and sustainable community, • Covers more than 14,000 too. we just need a different recipe. square kilometres of land in the Sediment is choking our creeks and Yes! rivers, salt is scarring our landscape, Shires of Gingin, Victoria while commodity prices are falling and schools are closing. Plains,Dandaragan, Moora, Dalwallinu, Coorow, Carnamah Do we throw up our hands and proceed as though it’s ‘business as usual’? and Perenjori. No! • Has a total population in the order of 15,000 people. And how will we • Provides over nine per cent of Water, a vital ingredient but a Western Australia’s gross value get there? fragile resource. of agricultural production. First off, we need a recipe that we all really want is scones. At the same time understand and accept, and that delivers there is no point cooking scones if you • Is an investment base for local, the appropriate end product. are preparing a dinner banquet. interstate and international Put simply, there is no point giving people This document contains a recipe that businesses. a recipe for a cheesecake when all they uses local ingredients and will appeal to the tastes of the Moore Catchment • Supports industries such as community. For it to be successful, the ingredients need to be mixed in the right tourism, retailing, forestry and order and in the right proportions. Furthermore, with cooking comes resource extraction. washing and wiping up — jobs we all try • Is part of the South West to avoid! Botanical Province which has Once the community is committed to this document, it is likely some people may the greatest native floral wish to add to it. diversity in the whole of That is okay. It is like someone wanting Australia. to make raisin scones rather than plain scones, and we know that at the end of • Is a high priority area for water the day we are just increasing the versatility of the recipe. resource management. Ready to cook up a storm? PRESENTED TO THE COMMUNITY BY THE MOORE CATCHMENT GROUP GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT 2 GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION General Approach THE A multitude of organisations in Western the Perth metropolitan area but its MOORE Australia are concerned with community population is only one per cent of Perth’s. CATCHMENT development, either in a voluntary Given these factors, the Moore GROUP capacity or as part of a government Catchment Group initiated the program. Generally these organisations development of an overarching strategy A community initiated group, taking are doing a competent job in their (i.e. considering the environment, a coordinated and cooperative specialist field. economy and people as interrelated approach to rural planning and entities), which is highly focused and management. Unfortunately, when they are transferred catchment specific. en masse to a rural community, it creates It has broad community an overload of committees, stand-alone representation, with two members reports, recommendations and funding from each of the eight constituent options. The dirdirdirectect andand strstrstream-eam-eam- shires: Gingin, Victoria Plains, lined apprapprapproach taken in Dandaragan, Moora, Dalwallinu, This is of great concern, as rural Coorow, Carnamah and Perenjori. communities cannot afford any the devdevdevelopment of this duplication of effort. Resources, strstrstrategy gavgavgave rise to itsitsits The Moore Catchment Group especially people, are at a premium. Take title ‘Getting Moore tototo receives a yearly operating grant the Moore Catchment as an example — from the Water and Rivers it is over two and a half times larger than the PPPoint’.oint’.oint’. Commission. It is also sponsored by other state departments and local government authorities. Reasons for Developing a Strategy What is a strategy? Similarly, the casualty list will be just as Is this just another mumbo jumbo word high for biodiversity. It is estimated that that fits into the bureaucratic demands 450 endemic plant species will be lost of our time? from our wheatbelt as a result of salinity. No. It is our recipe for success. It is the belief of the Moore Catchment Group that many strategies have not been The term strategy was originally used implemented because, while they are relation to warfare, and meant the ‘art of ‘overall plans’, they are not sufficiently planning and directing the larger military responsive to the current situation. For movements and operations in a campaign instance, a feature of planning exercises is setting up a ‘vision for the future’. Nine or war’. times out of ten, the vision is unrealistic, ignoring the environmental, economic or Scene from the First World War, Are we fighting a war? Well the analogy Pontoon Bridge Heilly. social constraints already existing in the has already been made. Take recent news region. headlines: ‘The war against salt’, ‘The fight against rural population decline’. To move forward, the community must accept the past, deal with the present and And the stakes could be just as high. prepare for the future. There is the potential for our catchment to turn into an inhospitable, barren The Moore Catchment Group views a wasteland. Take a photo of a bombed area strategy as ‘the skilful management of a in Europe during the First World War, situation’: a situation we have now, and and it looks very similar to a salt-scalded one that we need to address urgently to safeguard our future. area in the Western Australian wheatbelt. A salt-scalded paddock in the Moore Catchment. PRESENTED TO THE COMMUNITY BY THE MOORE CATCHMENT GROUP GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT 3 INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION No matter what hat you wear in the community This strategy belongs to you Because ......Because evevevery individual, family and orggganisation has a hands-on rrrole to play in the future of the Moore Catchment. Because ......Because the sciences, arts, social grrroups, educational institutions, media, bbmedia, usinesses and govovovernments ararernments e all called on to offer creativeativeativeee leadership in implementing this strategy... PRESENTED TO THE COMMUNITY BY THE MOORE CATCHMENT GROUP GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT 4 GETTING MOORE TO THE POINT INTRODUCTIONINTRODUCTION Scope of the Strategy The Moore Catchment Group The strategy follows three principles: floodplain, waterways, biota, ocean and has reviewed many strategies 1. Outcomes focus on the atmosphere. from Western Australia and connections people have interstate. Unfortunately, not It should be noted that each connection is with the environment considered to have equal importance. one adequately fits our needs. We then took this concept a step further (see diagram below). Some strategies were divided into The Moore Catchment Group is specific issues (e.g. soil structure decline, committed to making a difference to the For each connection we identified where drainage, algal blooms). However, this lives of people in the region. To do this the Moore Catchment community relied exacerbates the problem of not looking it is vital that the community is most heavily on the environment. For at the connection or wider impact of considered in a dynamic and instance, the strongest links people have different actions. interconnected social, economic and with the landscape is through their environmental setting. wellbeing and their homes, while the Some strategies were divided into themes strongest link people have with the soil is (e.g. land, water and biodiversity). For this strategy to be adopted it really through their livelihoods. However, this leads to excessive needs to put more of a human face to duplication and discourages integration natural resource management. After all, We then decided how to improve each link. between government departments and it is people, not a slender tree frog, who This approach will guarantee people- community groups. will implement the strategy. related outcomes such as pride, cohesion, participation, commitment, conservation, This doesn’t mean following in the acceptance, collaboration, protection, Other strategies were divided according footsteps of our industrial forefathers — sharing, mitigation, recovery, to specific outcomes or targets. In it is about rediscovering how we are enhancement, investigation, investment, general, people living in the catchment intricately linked to the environment we sensitivity and adjustment. would