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 The
water quality, channel stability, and ecological health of the Hunter River and
its tributaries are highly degraded following 200 years of intensive post-colonial
land use within the catchment (see
Healthy Rivers Commission). The once extensive riparian plant communities have been cleared
to the river's edge, and the indigenous plants and animals that once thrived there
have gone. The river has been channelised and shortened, and the bed has incised.
Woody debris (logs) have been removed, and introduced fish (carp) dominate
the aquatic community. The river is largely regulated, and irrigation places a
significant demand on flows.It is clear that the landscape and the flow of the river have been so dramatically
and permanently altered that there is no hope of restoring the river to its
original condition. The Upper Hunter River Rehabilitation Initiative (UHRRI)
is developing appropriate options and restoration goals for experimental revegetation
and the instatement of large woody structures (LWS) instream.
The impetus for UHRRI came from a pilot study into river channel rehabilitation
using LWS in two tributaries of the Hunter River — Williams River and Stockyard
Creek — by Dr Andrew Brooks, then of Macquarie University. This study was
funded by Land & Water Australia, and carried
out in collaboration with the NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation
(DLWC)1, the Hunter Catchment Management Trust (HCMT), and the NSW
Fisheries Research Centre. Early indications of success encouraged a scaling-up
of the study, and its incorporation within a comprehensive restoration and research
framework.
Discussions between DLWC, HCMT, NSW Fisheries and industry representatives
indicated a broad interest in continuing the experiment. It would need to be based on sound scientific
principles, and should demonstrate and evaluate
ecosystem restoration techniques.
1The DLWC is now known as the Department of
Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) and the HCMT is now known
as the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority (HCRCMA)
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