Catchment Management Authority Research Articles

Urban greening beyond the major cities: insights from the ‘Naturally Cooler Towns’ initiative in Victoria’s Goulburn Murray region

ABSTRACT Urban greening is attracting considerable research and practical attention for its contributions to conserving biodiversity, mitigating urban heat and enhancing the liveability and sustainability of cities and urban areas. Much of the urban greening research is concentrated on major cities, with little focus on the needs and experiences with urban greening in regional cities and towns. This paper addresses this by presenting a case study of an urban greening project, ‘Naturally Cooler Towns’, focused on regional towns in north-east Victoria, Australia. The project was undertaken by the Goulburn Murray Climate Alliance, a regional alliance of local governments, catchment management authorities and a state government department. As the region faces increasing temperatures and impacts of more frequent heatwaves, the project aimed to review tree management practices and identify opportunities for increasing canopy cover with appropriate species for ‘climate adapted street trees’. We examine how urban greening is planned and implemented in these towns, and the roles of the regional alliance in providing a forum for collaborative adaptive governance. The regional alliance plays a key role as an intermediary facilitating approaches that demonstrate situatedness: credibility, salience and legitimacy. The paper contributes towards increased understandings of urban greening approaches beyond the major cities.

IoT Based Water Surface Cleaning and Quality Checking Boat

It is foremost important to keep the water bodies around us to be clean. It is very terrible that huge amount of garbage is deposited on water bodies every year. Monitoring the quality of water that is present in the water bodies is also very important in today’s world. There is a group of people who keep on monitoring the changes that occurs on the surroundings who are named as Catchment Management Authorities. Catchment Management Authorities monitor and provide real-time day to day updates on environmental protection and tracking pollution sources. A cheap non-wired aquatic monitoring system will enable cost effective water quality measurement by collecting data as well as assisting catchment managers to maintain the health of aquatic ecosystem. The work deals with finding a way for the uncertain effects of the floating particles, hence reducing the harmfulness created on behalf of the floating particles that incorporates floating materials and curbs. Our work aims to create a garbage gathering object to monitor the lakes and ponds and also measure the condition of water by measuring several parameters. In addition, it helps to understand the water pollution using data analysis. The main feature of this project is to collect of floating objects from the surface of the water into a trash container. The Secondary work of our project is to measure the water quality by using sensors, by measuring the water quality parameters we can be able to predict the unfavourable conditions of water living creatures. pH Sensor and Turbidity Sensor are used in our project to measure the acidity and basicity of the water and turbidity level of the water respectively. The main motto is to clean the surface of the water and check the quality of the water which helps for aquatic ecosystem.

Understanding and improving community flood preparedness and response: a research framework

Many social research projects identify issues with community disaster preparedness and response but struggle to attribute these issues to underlying causes and recommend possible ways to address them. A research framework that considers the underlying causes of preparedness and response and possible interventions was developed for the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. The research framework was developed in conjunction with the Wimmera Catchment Management Authority and tested in a social research project across 6 communities in the Wimmera region. This paper provides an outline and rationale for the components of the research framework. It also summarises the regional flood insight afforded by the research framework. The research framework, albeit with some limitations, has universal appeal not only in the examination of community flood preparedness and response, but also for other hazards and other parts of the disaster management cycle.

Upper Runde sub-catchment stabilisation for Gweru city water security: considering the Vetiver (Chrysopogon Zizanioides) System an option

The study mapped soil loss hotspots and slope angles in the Upper Runde sub-catchment (URSC) with particular concentration on Gweru water sources. The catchment assessment to estimate the severity of soil loss risk was necessary for basin monitoring and possible protection for water security for the city of Gweru. The soil loss estimation model for southern Africa (SLEMSA) was used to compute soil loss hotspots and produce maps in a GIS environment. Landsat imagery, soil database, rainfall data and field observation were used for the study. The SLEMSA model output obtained showed that there is moderate to high soil loss risk around Gwenhoro and Amapongogwe because of grass cover and gentle slopes that alter the runoff rate. Land cover was predominantly grassland with patches of thickets to dense vegetation. The slope angles around the water sources were below 20° (0–5). The findings showed that the application of the Vetiver System for erosion control and slope stabilisation would be a feasible and proactive action towards city water security. This is particularly in light of small-scale farming and mining activities that are arbitrarily appearing in the catchment. It is therefore recommended that catchment management authorities implement the use of vetiver technology, especially on relatively steep slopes and bare soils to control erosion and minimise possible sediment deposition into water sources.

A post-event stratified random sampling scheme for monitoring event-based water quality using an automatic sampler

Short rainfall events contribute to large portions of annual sediment and nutrient exports. Most water quality sampling schemes rely on regularly spaced temporal sampling and increasingly monitoring schemes are including a form of event-based sampling. A typical approach is to sample each event using equal intervals in time using an automatic sampler. The use of this form of sampling is systematic in nature and requires model-based statistics to be analysed correctly. Probabilistic based sampling methods allow for easier and more defendable statistical inference as the assumptions are not based on a model, rather they are based on the sample design. Several probabilistic methods have been developed, however these methods commonly require additional hardware to implement. In this paper we present a method using a stratified random sampling procedure for automatic samplers which does not require any additional hardware. Our approach is to divide the mean event hydrograph into strata based on key features such as the rising and falling limbs. Random sampling is applied within each strata. A problem of this approach is that the length of the event and strata must be defined before each event. We therefore outline how the samples can be post-stratified after each event based on the key hydrological components of each event. The sampling scheme is outlined using continuously sampled electrical conductivity and turbidity data of three events from a creek in south eastern Australia. Limited to 24 samples per event, estimated event mean CIs were within the observed event means for all three events. This method provides a flexible low-cost sampling scheme providing unbiased estimates of key event hydrological components which can be easily adapted by catchment management authorities.

Pollination of an endangeredCaladeniaspecies (Orchidaceae) by nectar-foraging behaviour of a widespread species of colletid bee

NR acknowledges funding from a Victorian Threatened Species Initiative Grant, and the National Landcare Programme through the Wimmera Catchment Management Authority. RP and BB were supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Awards (DE15010720 and DE160101313, respectively).

Using voluntary agreements to exclude stock from waterways: An evaluation of project success and persistence.

Agriculture is one of the major drivers of ecological degradation in river basins. Excluding stock (cows and sheep) from grazing riverbanks and accessing rivers is one of the most common river restoration activities. To be effective, stock exclusion must be maintained indefinitely. In Australia, and elsewhere, stock exclusion projects are most commonly implemented by establishing voluntary agreements between landholders and government agencies. This study examined the extent to which landholders in 3 catchment management authority (CMA) regions in southeast Australia maintain stock exclusion from waterways, whether vegetation on riverbanks recovered, and the effectiveness of assessment methods. It was found that nearly half of landholders continue to graze stock on the riverbank. There has been some success with improving the condition of riparian vegetation. Sites with full stock exclusion contain the pre-European abundance of juvenile trees, and sites with continued grazing contain significantly lower abundance of juvenile trees. Establishing the effectiveness of management was made more difficult by the inconsistent methods used by the different CMAs. Stock exclusion projects implemented with voluntary agreements have the potential to succeed if oversight is improved between government agencies and CMAs and between CMAs and landholders. Projects will be easier to assess if regional authorities use consistent methods of assessment. Voluntary agreements are only suitable for environmental management if projects are monitored, maintained, and assessed appropriately. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;15:237-247. © 2018 SETAC.

Design Microprotests

Design Microprotests

Farm Water Program: Using the Water Savings Calculator

AbstractCalculating the water savings expected to be realised from improvements to farm irrigation systems is an integral part of the Farm Water Program being delivered in northern Victoria, Australia. Water savings form the basis of works packages landowners undertake to improve water productivity of their irrigation systems. Through the Farm Water Program, landowners agree to transfer more than half of the water savings for environmental purposes in exchange for funding to do works. The Farm Water Program originated in 2009 following the introduction of an AU$300 million On‐Farm Irrigation Efficiency Program by the Australian government. The Goulburn Broken and North Central Catchment Management authorities, relevant Victoria government agencies and irrigation industry bodies formed a consortium to bid for funding to be used on properties across the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District of Victoria. The organisations have worked in partnership as the Farm Water Program and have successfully delivered 620 projects involving over 80 000 megalitres of water savings. The water savings calculator was developed using research findings conducted in the region and has been widely accepted and confirmed by landowners as they have developed projects. This paper describes the processes of using the water savings calculator to determine project water savings. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Revegetation, restoration and reptiles in rural landscapes: Insights from long‐term monitoring programmes in the temperate eucalypt woodlands of south‐eastern Australia

SummaryOver the past decade, there has been a concerted effort to better understand the distribution and abundance of reptiles in agricultural landscapes and to specifically evaluate their response to revegetation (tree and shrub plantings) and habitat restoration in the wheat‐sheep belt of south‐eastern Australia. This article reviews the response of reptiles to revegetation and woodland management and provides ten insights and lessons that can be applied to help improve reptile conservation in temperate eucalypt woodlands and fragmented agricultural landscapes in Australia. The review focuses primarily on revegetation programmes conducted by Landcare and Greening Australia, and management interventions funded by Local Land Services in NSW and Catchment Management Authorities in Victoria.

An Assessment of Intermediary Roles in Payments for Ecosystem Services Schemes in the Context of Catchment Management: An Example from South West England

Payments for Ecosystems Services (PES) schemes are an underdeveloped component of the policy mix for catchment management in many countries. The importance of intermediaries to such schemes is acknowledged in the literature but few studies go beyond theory to evaluate practice. This paper analyses generic intermediary functions for PES. It then evaluates an innovative example from southwest England that provides illustrations, and some lessons regarding necessary capabilities and characteristics for intermediaries, and understanding of their form, functions and modalities. The ‘UpStream Thinking’ project was co-developed by a private water company and an environmental charity. The former translated effective demand from shareholders and water customers for improved raw water quality into finance, whilst the latter had capabilities for catchment-scale on-farm delivery and trusted acceptance as an intermediary. While any sector can potentially provide a PES intermediary, the value driven, not-for-profit and politically neutral voluntary sector proves to be a good fit. Such ‘boundary organisations’ are also well placed for horizontal coordination of catchment management authorities and actions.

The impacts of a changing climate on catchment water balance and forest management

AbstractClimate change has serious impacts on forest services with regard to the spatial and temporal distribution of water within catchments. Hence, combined forest and catchment management in a changing climate is a crucial concern for people and society. To assess hydrological processes and water resources in two forested headwater catchments in south‐west Germany the physical based hydrological model ArcAPEX was calibrated to investigate climate change scenarios for the near (2021–2050) and far (2071–2100) future. Even though the trend in temperature is positive in most regional climate change scenarios for south‐west Germany, the precipitation trend is quite ambiguous. Different precipitation scenarios give access to the possible bandwidth between water stress and flood generation. Our results can be used to describe water resources and discharge characteristics under conditions of different land use change scenarios.Management option for a sustainable forestry and flood mitigation will be to “spread the risk” by creating forests with a high biodiversity and a prioritization of forest services and functions. The principle is to find “no‐regret” decisions. In this sense, final decisions should not be taken too early, and several options should be kept open, such as dealing with increasingly frequent droughts on one hand and increased runoff generation on the other hand. Thus, it should remain possible for forest and catchment management authorities to react to possible developments in an uncertain future.

Exploring Spatial Data Sharing Factors and Strategies for Catchment Management Authorities in Australia

Spatial information plays a significant role in addressing many decision making process including the catchment decisions. Spatial data sharing is recognized as one of the important components in spatial data infrastructure design and development. This research develops spatial data sharing strategies for the implementation of improved spatial data sharing arrangements between catchment management authorities (CMAs) and state government organizations in Australia. A mixed method research approach was utilized to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from 56 CMAs and the embedded design framework was used for the synthesis and interpretation of the results. The national survey data and case study data were collected and analyzed sequentially using the mixed method design framework. Within, the case study, social network analysis was introduced for analyzing data sharing and provides a new perspective on assessing spatial data sharing relationship. The supplemental case study analysis embedded within a larger national survey provided a supportive role and enhanced the findings from the national survey. The key factors which influence spatial data sharing between state government organizations and CMAs were identified and classified into six major classes as governance, economic, policy, legal, cultural and technical. The nontechnical factors (governance, policy, economic, legal and cultural) were found to be more significant in comparison with the technical factor. Based on these findings, fourteen data sharing strategies were developed. The study suggests that the adoption and implementation of these strategies can assist in overcoming the spatial data sharing issues and hence will contribute to improved spatial data sharing arrangements between regional CMAs and state government organizations in Australia.

Policy Change and Its Effect on Australian Community-based Natural Resource Management Practices

The authors of this article report on a qualitative study of Australian community-based natural resource management groups known as Landcare groups. They discuss how four Landcare groups contributed to sustainability practices and how a policy change implemented in 2003 influenced the efforts of the groups to remain active in their activities. Using case-study methodology and drawing on Habermasian theory to support their work, the authors show that changing administrative structures created a tighter connection among government policies, projects and landholders carrying out natural resource management projects. The tighter connections provide more efficient processes to deliver officially valued outcomes as they are mediated by the catchment management authorities, but that efficiency is achieved at a cost because each landholder is now in competition with other landholders in the catchment to improve his/her own properties. Now the landholders are clients of the system, as private consumers rather than as a local community.

Institutional challenges of adopting ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change

In view of past environmental degradation and anticipated climate change impacts, we assessed the potential for ecosystem-based adaptation in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia. In a workshop with staff from three Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) who had jurisdiction over three sub-basins, as well as technical experts, nine adaptation options were identified that ranged from environmental flows, restoring river channel habitat, reoperating infrastructure and controlling invasive species. A Catchment Adaptation Framework was developed and used to assess and compare these adaptation options with each of the CMAs, drawing on interviews with their key stakeholders, to identify the risks, benefits and costs. We found that ecosystem-based adaptation can augment catchment management programs and requires investment in a suite of different but complementary measures to lower risk. Our research found institutional challenges in implementing this approach, including the complexities of multi-agency management, constricting legal requirements, narrow funding arrangements, under-developed institutional capacity, difficulties of implementing catchment-scale programs on private property and the need to adhere to community expectations. These institutional issues are ubiquitous internationally and point to the wider issues of providing sufficient management capacity to support adaptation. The Catchment Adaptation Framework presented here enables river basin managers to systematically assess the adaptation options to better inform their decision-making.

Impacts of groundwater extraction on salinization risk in a semi-arid floodplain

Abstract. In the lower River Murray in Australia, a combination of a reduction in the frequency, duration and magnitude of natural floods, rising saline water tables in floodplains, and excessive evapotranspiration have led to an irrigation-induced groundwater mound forcing the naturally saline groundwater onto the floodplain. It is during the attenuation phase of floods that these large salt accumulations are likely to be mobilised and discharged into the river. This has been highlighted as the most significant risk in the Murray–Darling Basin and the South Australian Government and catchment management authorities have subsequently developed salt interception schemes (SIS). The aim of these schemes is to reduce the hydraulic gradient that drives the regional saline groundwater towards the River Murray. This paper investigates the interactions between a river (River Murray in South Australia) and a saline semi-arid floodplain (Clark's floodplain) that is significantly influenced by groundwater lowering due to a particular SIS. The results confirm that groundwater extraction maintains a lower water table and a higher amount of fresh river water flux to the saline floodplain aquifer. In terms of salinity, this may lead to less solute stored in the floodplain aquifer. This occurs through three mechanisms, namely extraction of the solute mass from the system, reducing the saline groundwater flux from the highland to the floodplain and changing the floodplain groundwater regime from a losing to a gaining one. It is shown that groundwater extraction is able to remove some of the solute stored in the unsaturated zone and this can mitigate the floodplain salinity risk. A conceptual model of the impact of groundwater extraction on floodplain salinization has been developed.

The quality of resource condition targets in regional natural resource management in Australia

Natural resource management organisations in Australia routinely establish resource condition targets in their regional plans and catchment strategies. We reviewed biodiversity, water and community resource condition targets set by Catchment Management Authorities (CMAs) in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW) over planning cycles since 1997 against criteria of being specific, measurable and time-bound (SMT). The overall quality of targets is poor, with less than 30 per cent of targets meeting the three criteria. Disturbingly, there are no SMT targets in the most recent NSW CMA catchment strategies. We identify three major reasons for poor target setting: a lack of appropriate standards and guidelines from governments to enable high quality target setting; a lack of realism about the budgetary and technical feasibility of ambitious environmental targets amongst those involved in natural resource management; and a lack of adequate focus on outcomes by both CMAs and governments. Improvements to target setting can be achieved through stronger signals and commitment by governments, including by rewarding performance of regional bodies practising outcome-focused accountability.

From organisational learning to social learning: A tale of two organisations in the Murray–Darling Basin

In this paper, I compare reflections from my action research engagements with two Murray–Darling Basin (MDB) natural resource management (NRM) organisations, Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) and Murray Catchment Management Authority (CMA) in NSW, Australia. My engagement with MI (2005–2007) coincided with the most extreme years of the extended Millennial Drought. The research engagement with Murray CMA (2009–2012) occurred as the Millennial Drought ended, and coincided with the 2010–2011 floods and local community anger over plans to reduce irrigation allocations in the MDB. Both organisations were also undergoing cultural change inspired by concerted efforts to promote widespread staff participation in evaluation, reflection and learning. While I observed considerable organisational learning at MI, staff recounted constraints on making substantial advances towards sustainable water use practices across the MDB because of limitations on MI’s sphere of influence. Murray CMA, on the other hand, was charged with the development of a ‘whole-of-community’ strategic plan. This required the development of organisational strategies that achieved both organisational change and the creation of opportunities for broader social learning. Murray CMA’s recognition of the importance of the social dimension is a critical element of the ‘double-loop’ learning that I argue enabled a transformation of the organisation’s culture.

Variations in Soil Carbon Stocks with Texture and Previous Landuse in North-western NSW, Australia

<p>Australia’s land managers will need specific information about the best locations at which to sequester carbon if they are to take advantage of the recent Carbon Farming Initiative of the Australian Government under which carbon offsets can be created through sequestration of carbon in soil and trees. The literature indicates that soil texture and previous landuse are important determinants of soil carbon content. This paper describes the results of work to assess the current levels of soil carbon and the extent to which they vary with previous landuse and soil texture in the Namoi Catchment Management Authority in North West NSW, Australia. Soil samples were taken at 74 sites for determination of soil carbon concentration and stocks as well as soil texture and landuse in the last 10 years. There was wide variation between sites in soil carbon concentration and stocks which were greatest in those soils which had not been disturbed by cultivation and in soils with higher clay content. Thus, the greatest potential for carbon sequestration is in soils with the lowest carbon concentration, those which have been previously disturbed, and with higher clay content. Maintaining any increased carbon concentration will depend on minimizing disturbance, increased carbon input and minimizing loss of carbon through soil erosion. As these factors all vary significantly on a regional and landscape basis it will be important for land managers to have access to information which allows them to choose the sites at which potential for sequestration of soil carbon is greatest.</p>

Managing Invasive Native Scrub to Rehabilitate Native Pastures and Open WoodlandsT.Gavel, R.Treweeke and D.Saunders (eds). Central West Catchment Management Authority, Wellington, NSW and Western Catchment Management Authority, Cobar, NSW, 2010. 143 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐7313‐3437‐7 (freely available from: http://cw.cma.nsw.gov.au/OurNaturalAssets/managinginvasivenativescrub.html).

Managing Invasive Native Scrub to Rehabilitate Native Pastures and Open WoodlandsT.Gavel, R.Treweeke and D.Saunders (eds). Central West Catchment Management Authority, Wellington, NSW and Western Catchment Management Authority, Cobar, NSW, 2010. 143 pp. ISBN 978‐0‐7313‐3437‐7 (freely available from: http://cw.cma.nsw.gov.au/OurNaturalAssets/managinginvasivenativescrub.html).