Bega Valley
Indicator: Riparian Conditions
Results for this indicator are also available for [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Please note: Text or data highlighted in this colour represent an update to this indicator for the period 2008/09.
What the results tell us for Bega Valley
No quantitative information was available to assess changes in the condition of riparian areas within the Bega Valley Shire during the current reporting period and the previous reporting period. During this period, six threatening processes which impact on riparian condition were listed under the Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995 and the Fisheries Management Act, 1994.
Council’s Local Environmental Plan incorporates riparian management into zoning objectives and requires development applications to consider potential impacts on riparian vegetation. Council continues to develop Estuary Programs for major estuaries and associated rivers in the Shire to improve management and conservation. It has completed plans for Merimbula and Back Lakes, Wallaga Lake, Lake Curalo and Wonboyn Lake. Bega River’s plan is nearing finalisation and a new Plan for Pambula Lake has recently been initiated.
Condition of riparian zones in the Shire
The last reporting period showed that the condition of coastal lakes in the Bega Valley Shire varied from pristine to moderately affected, while the condition of their catchments ranged from near pristine to largely unmodified (OCE 2004). The extent to which the condition of riparian vegetation and streambank disturbance across the Shire changed in the current reporting period is not known, as no comprehensive assessment of riparian condition was undertaken for the period and no other detailed Shire-wide information was available at this stage. It is likely that there has been a tangible increase in riparian zone quality through a number of current major onground works based programs. The Bega Valley Shire Council in partnership with the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority is currently overseeing the implementation of riparian projects under the following iniatives;
- Wallaga Lake Catchment – ‘Land to Lake’ (numerous sub projects)
- Wapengo Lake Catchment Management Program - (numerous sub projects)
- Bega Cheese – Dairy Industry EMS -(numerous sub projects)
- Bega Wetlands Rehabilitation Project
- SRCMA Coast and Marine Incentives Program -(numerous sub projects)
- Vegetation Recovery Program - (numerous sub projects)
Council has received ongoing funding through the NSW Governments Estuary Management Program. Much of this funding has been devoted to on-ground works, with a particular focus on addressing major threats to estuarine health, including the riparian zone issues.
Threats to riparian condition
Three processes relating to riparian condition have been listed as key threatening processes in the State (see Table1.) by the NSW Scientific committee under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. Fisheries Scientific Committee also listed, under the Fisheries Management Act 1994, three key threatening processes relevant to riparian areas.
| Name of threatening process | Date of Final Determination or Gazettal |
|---|---|
| Alteration to the natural flow regimes of rivers, streams, floodplains & wetlands (DECC, 2008a) | Final: 31 May 2002 |
| Clearing of Native Vegetation (DECC, 2008b) | Final: 21 September 2001 |
| Human-caused climate change (DECC, 2008c) | Gazetted: 17 November 2000 |
| Removal and degradation of native riparian vegetation (DPI, 2008a) | Final: 01 June 2005 |
| Installation and operation of instream structures and other mechanisms that alter the natural flow regimes of rivers and streams (DPI, 2008b) | Final: 01 June 2005 |
| Removal of large woody debris from NSW rivers and streams (DPI, 2008c) | Final: 01 June 2005 |
The impacts of these key threatening processes on riparian conditions and waterways include (DECC 2008 a, b; DPI 2008, a, b; DPI 2005a):
- bank erosion
- loss of biological diversity
- impairment of important ecosystem services for fish and invertebrates (e.g. removal of refuges used during flooding or drought or removal of spawning sites)
- reduced nutrient filtering capacity
- increased light penetration of the water-body and loss of shade and shelter for fish
- reduced inputs of organic carbon (for example, twigs and leaves)
- changes to stream behaviour (increased and decreased flow, seasonality, frequency, duration, magnitude, timing predictability, rate of rise and fall of water levels and altering surface and subsurface water levels)
- Exotic plants such as Alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides) reducing stream flow
Weed invasion was identified by DIPNR (2004) as a potential threat to riparian vegetation in the Bega River Estuary, with some of the foreshore areas being infested with Blackberry and Bridal Creeper (OCE 2004). Threats to the northern riparian scrub and riverine forest vegetation communities include weed invasion and the herbicide spraying used to control these weeds, streambank erosion, trampling and browsing by livestock, altered hydrological regimes and severe mistletoe infestations (Miles 2000).
What is being done to protect riparian zones?
The 2002 Bega Valley Local Environmental Plan (LEP) zoning objectives incorporate riparian management. For example, the objectives of rural general zoning under this LEP include providing for the proper and coordinated use and protection of rivers and riparian corridors, while the objectives of the environmental protection foreshore zone relate specifically to the protection and conservation of riparian areas (OCE 2004). The LEP also requires development applications to consider potential impacts on riparian vegetation within the Shire.
The vegetation types; riverine forest and northern riparian scrub have been categorised as having a high priority for protection within Bega Valley Shire because of their severe extent of depletion (Miles 2000). Miles (2000) recommended that special consideration be given to these communities when assessing development applications, that willow control be a priority especially in those areas with existing native riparian vegetation and that the greatest effort should be put into conserving existing native riparian vegetation.
For over a decade the Bega Valley Shire Council has been developing an Estuary Management Program for all major estuaries in the area whilst also examining ways to best manage and protect the many estuaries and tributaries that are not part of the formal Estuary program. Plans have been finalised for Merimbula and Back Lakes, Wallaga Lake, Lake Curalo, Womboyn Lake, Bega River (final draft) and plans are being initiated for Pambula Lake. The Estuary management process in particular aims at protecting and enhancing riparian and foreshore vegetation (BREMP 2007). Updates on the implementation of these estuary management plans within the Bega Valley Shire are currently available by contacting Bega Valley Shire Environmental Services Section.
Riparian areas continue to be a high priority for natural resource management agencies in the Bega Valley Shire. Bega Valley Shire Council has made a concerted effort to ensure that riparian areas throughout the Shire have received appropriate focus and protection in the new draft Comprehensive Local Environmental Plan (CLEP). The CLEP is based on a standard template and complimentary overlays. This format is far from ideal with regards achieving effective natural resource management. Council has addressed the issue of riparian zone protection through, environmental zonings of foreshore areas and the application of a riparian overlay.
Council has also amended its Subdivision development control plan to incorporate greater protection and consideration of riparian areas.
There is no definitive qualitative data to demonstrate improvements or otherwise in the status of riparian communities and ecosystems within the Shire. However the ongoing roll out of projects through major environmental rehabilitation projects through the SRCMA, Landcare and Bega Valley Shire Council has resulted in large stretches of creeks, rivers, wetlands and estuarine foreshores, being fenced, replanted or physically protected.
The Bega Cheese Dairy EMS program has seen the continued planting and fencing of drainage lines and the removal of cattle from creeks and rivers. An excellent example of this project can be seen on the eastern end of Jellat flats about 5km east of Bega.
The Southern Rivers CMA has undertaken extensive projects on the Murrah River and in the catchment of Wapengo Lake, where some $360,000 of Commonwealth, State and Local Government funds have been invested in riparian enhancement projects that address threats to Wapengo Lake. These nationally funded activities undertaken during the reporting period in the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority area are likely to have enhanced riparian conditions within Bega Shire Council area.
References
BREMP – see Bega Valley Shire Council
Bega Valley Shire Council (2007) Bega River Estuary Management Plan (DRAFT), Bega Valley Shire Council, viewed 15 October 2008
http://www.begavalley.nsw.gov.au/event/drt_begariver_emp.htm
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (2008a) NSW Scientific Committee—Final Determination, Alteration to the Natural Flow Regimes of Rivers, Streams, Floodplains and Wetlands—Key Threatening Process Declaration, NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, viewed 14 October 2008,
http://www.threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/profile.aspx?id=20002
Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW) (2008b) NSW Scientific Committee—Final Determination, Clearing of Native Vegetation—Key Threatening Process Declaration, NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, viewed 14 October 2008-10-14 http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/ClearingNativeVegKTPListing.htm
Department of Primary Industries (NSW) (2008a) Removal of large woody debris from NSW rivers and streams, NSW Department of Primary Industries, viewed 10 October 2008
http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fisheries/habitat/publications/threats/removal-large-woody-debris
Department of Primary Industries (NSW) (2008b) Degradation of native riparian vegetation along NSW water courses, NSW Department of Primary Industries, viewed 10 October 2008
Department of Primary Industries (NSW) (2005a) Fisheries Scientific Committee Recommendation—Installation and Operation of Instream Structures and Other Mechanisms that Alter Natural Flow Regimes of Rivers and Streams, NSW Department of Primary Industries, viewed 11 August 2005, http://www.fisheries.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/5284/FR21_dams.pdf.
OCE – see Office of the Commissioner of the Environment
Office of the Commissioner for the Environment (2004) Australian Capital Region State of the Environment Report 2004, Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, Canberra (see Riparian Condition)
