our catchment

The Hunter-Central Rivers CMA plays a vital role in managing a unique and diverse 37 000 square kilometres of the east coast of NSW—from Taree in the north, to Gosford and the coastal waterways of the Central Coast in the south, and from Newcastle in the east to the Merriwa Plateau and Great Dividing Range in the west.

The region’s major waterways are the Manning, Karuah and Hunter rivers and the coastal waterways of Wallis Lake, Port Stephens, Lake Macquarie, Tuggerah Lakes and Brisbane Waters.

The region’s landscapes range from estuarine lakes and mangroves, coastal sands and rich alluvial floodplains to rural hinterland, forests and the dissected sandstone of the Great Dividing Range.

This geographically diverse region supports a range of land uses including coal mining, quarrying, power generation, heavy industry, urban development, tourism and recreation, forestry, aquaculture and a wide range of agricultural industries.

The region is home to nearly one million people and supports the growing population centres of Newcastle, Maitland, Lake Macquarie, Taree and Gosford as well as Cessnock, Singleton, Muswellbrook, Scone, Merriwa, Gloucester, Forster, Tuncurry, Port Stephens, and Wyong.

Download map (976Kb jpg)

Key natural resource management issues

The region faces many challenges in managing and sustaining its natural resources. Key issues are identified in the three Catchment Blueprints covering the region:

Central Coast
- urban development
- stormwater management
- loss of biodiversity and native vegetation
- erosion and sedimentation
- riparian zone management
- rural land management
- wetland degradation and loss
Central Coast Catchment Blueprint (1.3Mb pdf)

Hunter
- degradation of the riparian zone including channel structure decline, sedimentation, loss of vegetation and streambank erosion
- degradation, loss and fragmentation of native vegetation cover and terrestrial, riverine, estuarine and wetland habitat and biodiversity
- high levels of induced salinity in rivers, groundwater and soil
- soil degradation including rill, sheet and gully erosion, mass movement and exposed acid sulfate soils
 Hunter Catchment Blueprint (874Kb pdf)

Lower North Coast
- loss of native vegetation and wildlife habitat
- blue-green algae blooms, particularly in the Myall Lakes, which could jeopardise community health and the viability of tourism and local fisheries
- water quality, for example in Wallis Lake, where an oyster-related outbreak of the hepatitis A virus in 1998 jeopardised community health and the viability of tourism and local fisheries
- acid drainage from exposed acid sulfate soils which threaten local fish stocks
- riverbank foreshore instability which put at risk valuable alluvial soil and riverine corridor vegetation
- wetland decline which decreases the natural filtering of nutrients entering the waterways
- declining soil health which leads to soil erosion and lower agricultural production
Lower North Coast Catchment Blueprint (1.6Mb pdf)

The CMA has developed a 10-year Catchment Action Plan that incorporates the work of these three blueprints.