Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy

Background

About Floodplain Wetlands

Floodplain wetlands are essential to the maintenance of the hydrological, physical and ecological health of our life support system - the riverine environment. They provide economic, social and cultural benefits through their ability to enhance water quality, conserve flora and fauna, mitigate floods, sustain grazing after floods have receded and through other forestry, fishing and agricultural activities. They provide many recreational, educational and scientific opportunities and add diversity to our landscape.

Despite their importance, wetlands have been one of the least valued and most abused of Australia's natural resources. Various assessments suggest that nationally, as much as 50 per cent of the area of wetland that existed 200 years ago has been lost. Within the Murray-Darling Basin, many wetlands have been completely lost through drainage and filling. Most remaining wetlands have been altered or degraded through activities within them or within their catchments. These activities have profoundly changed the wetlands' water regimes and the quality, composition and distribution of vegetation communities and dependent animal species. Of particular concern is the degradation of wetlands on river floodplains - the most predominant type, in terms of numbers and area - within the Basin.

In summary, the main causes of wetland degradation include:

• changes in river hydrology caused by regulation of flow and diversion of water
• blockage of floodplain flows caused by causeways, levee banks and structures
• disposal of stormwater, sewage and irrigation effluent into wetlands
• excessive grazing by stock, feral and native animals
• cropping on floodplains and lake beds
• introduced fish species and aquatic weeds
• rising saline groundwater beneath floodplains, and
• urban and recreational developments.
  

The main effects of wetland degradation include:

• deterioration of river water quality;
  
• increased occurrence of algal blooms;
  
• reduced abundance and diversity of native plants and animals;
  
• sedimentation of storages and rivers;
  
• loss of floodplain uses including grazing, forestry, fishing and cropping;
  
• loss of cultural and aesthetic values; and
  
• reduced recreational opportunities.

Degradation of the Basin wetlands continues. In accordance with the goals and objectives of Council's Natural Resources Management Strategy, urgent and coordinated action is required to halt and reverse the degradation of wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Preparation of the Strategy

The decision to develop the strategy recognised the inter-dependent relationship between rivers, their floodplains and associated wetlands, and the alarming rate of degradation of these critically important resources. An important foundation of the decision was the River Murray Commission's 1986 survey of the wetlands of the River Murray.

The development of the Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin commenced in 1992, when a national Floodplain Wetlands Management Workshop was convened. The workshop identified the issues affecting floodplain wetland management, and the high priority activities - involving research, planning, management and education - required for the sustainable management of floodplain wetlands in the Basin.

Using the outcomes of the 1992 workshop, the Commission's Wetland Management Working Group - which comprised members of each of the partner governments - developed a Draft Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy. In June 1995, Council approved the release of the draft strategy for public consultation. An extensive and Basin-wide, community consultation program was subsequently undertaken, guided by Council's Community Advisory Committee.

The final Strategy, which was approved by the Ministerial Council and released in 1998, now incorporates - as much as possible - the desires and views of the Basin's natural resource management, scientific and wider community.

Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy 1998

Purpose

The Strategy aims to guide and support investment in on-ground action and research to enhance the condition of floodplain wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin. It provides a framework for interstate coordination of management and policy, and for monitoring and reporting the effort and success of floodplain wetland management activity in the Basin.

The strategy's objectives are consistent with the 1995 water reform principles of the Council of Australian Governments. They also help deliver the aspirations of the Natural Heritage Trust and its component programs.

Goal and Objectives

The goal of the Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin is:

To maintain and, where possible, enhance wetland ecosystems in the Murray-Darling Basin for the benefit of present and future generations.

To meet this goal, the 8 Strategy objectives are:

1. To support community initiative in managing floodplain wetlands.
   
2. To develop sound scientific understanding of the physical, chemical and biological processes operating within wetlands and of the relationships between floodplain wetlands and adjacent floodplain and river environments.
   
3. To evaluate and manage river flow regimes and water allocations to maintain, restore and enhance floodplain wetlands.
   
4. To develop sustainable-use guidelines for various uses of floodplains and dependent wetlands, and to prepare wetland management manuals to support wetland rehabilitation programs.
   
5. To improve management of introduced species in floodplain wetlands;
   
6. To develop inventories and information standards for monitoring and mapping the floodplain wetlands of the Murray-Darling Basin.
   
7. To improve understanding of social, cultural, economic and environmental values of wetlands.
   
8. To increase awareness of wetland values and wetland management issues (including impacts from activities in contributing catchments).
   

Implementation of the Strategy

One of the most important intentions of the strategy is to encourage close cooperation between policy-makers, agency staff, researchers and the community. In this regard, implementation of the Strategy will be pursued through a range of existing and future policies and programs. In NSW for example, an annual 'wetlands action plan' is prepared to guide activity in that State, consistent with the principles of the NSW Wetland Management Policy, and the Floodplain Wetlands Management Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin.

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission's commitment to the strategy's goal and objectives is emphasised through a number of recent - and major - initiatives, including:

• the implementation of Council's 'cap' on water diversions in the Basin;
  
• the allocation of 100 gigalitres each year for the watering of the Barmah Millewa Forest Wetlands - the world's largest River Red Gum forest system; and
  
• The development of a flow management plan for the entire River Murray, which integrates a number of current activities, including:
  
  • the review of operations of Hume and Dartmouth Dams;
    
  • environmental flow requirements for the Murray, identified by scientific panels;
    
  • wetland and floodplain requirements identified in each state; and
    
  • state-based flow and water quality initiatives, such as the NSW River Flow & Water Quality Objectives, the Victorian Bulk Water Entitlement process and the South Australian River Murray Flow Management process.

The Commission will continue to fund investigations of wetland systems, principally through its Strategic Investigations and Education program. For example, the Commission has funded investigations of:

• the Chowilla Floodplain which spans the SA/NSW border and is part of the 'Riverland' Ramsar site;
• the water requirements and vegetation health of the Macquarie Marshes in NSW;
  
• the relationships between flooding and waterbird breeding in wetlands adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River in NSW;
  
• the functioning of major Victorian 'mid-Murray' wetlands; and
  the impacts of drought and the recovery of wetlands and fish habitats in southern Queensland.

Our understanding of floodplain wetlands is incomplete and while we cannot wait before undertaking on-ground action, ongoing research and investigations is essential. The Commission's strong support for the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology is again indicative of its commitment to the strategy.

The importance of wetlands is also recognised in the Commonwealth's Natural Heritage Trust. The Murray-Darling 2001 program in particular has supported - and will continue to support - on-ground projects aimed at rehabilitating wetlands. Recent examples of this support includes:

• the development of wetland management plans for Fivebough Tuckerbill Swamps, by the Murrumbidgee Field Naturalists of NSW;
  
• a water balance assessment of the Great Cumbung Swamp, by the Lachlan River Management Committee in NSW;
  
• the rehabilitation and management of flow at Bullock Swamp, as part of the Nangiloc Colignan salinity management plan in Victoria;
  
• the management of River Murray wetlands as part of the Mallee Water Management Plan in Victoria;
  
• works associated with the Gurra Gurra Lakes and Salt Creek Wetland Management Plan in South Australia;
  
• the rehabilitation of the Maize Island Wetland in the Riverland of South Australia; and
  
• the ecological inventory and development of management plans for floodplain wetlands in the Queensland portion of the Murray-Darling Basin.
  

Much of the wetland management works associated the implementation of the recently launched Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment Action Plan, will be eligible for NHT support.

The Strategy Document

The Strategy document presents and elaborates on the goal, objectives and principles of the Strategy. It also discusses:

• the importance and uses of wetlands;
  
• their overall condition in the Murray-Darling Basin;
  
• the location of significant wetlands in the Basin;
  
• the relationship between the FWMS and other major policies and programs;
  
• the responsibility for implementing the strategy;
  
• how implementation of the strategy will be evaluated; and
  
• a number of major published references, a list of contacts and a glossary of terms used in the strategy.
  

A selection of key Basin wetlands are also discussed in the strategy document, to provide wetland managers with reference points and so assist their management efforts. Examples of wetland management investigations and on-ground works are provided to show what has been and what can be done to improve the condition of floodplain wetlands in the Basin.

Distribution of the Strategy

Copies of the Strategy are available from the Commission Office or through the partner agencies. Contact details can be obtained here.