Members of the Natural Resource Management Committee heard how weed eradication and natural revegetation projects were helping waterways during a day tour with community representatives last week.

Since its establishment last November the NRMC - a subcommittee of the North Central Catchment Management Authority Board - has set priorities for catchment areas needing protection, and recently began touring significant waterways with local residents actively involved in safeguarding and improving the environment.

Four river reaches, identified as priority assets in the 2008-09 regional catchment investment plan, were highlighted in the tour including the Loddon River, Sailors Creek, Coliban River and Kangaroo Creek.

These waterways are classified as near ecologically healthy in the catchment region.
Landcare members and private property owners making major efforts to control weeds and embark on native revegetation programs joined the tour, which encompassed public and private property, intact forested areas and open farm land.

Malcolm Brown, Chair of the NRMC, said the experience strengthened the committee's appreciation of the region's rivers and their impact on local people.

"We are interested in protecting these natural assets. We need to see them as well as hear what the community is saying about them."

Mr Brown said communities had a strong connection with the rivers that provided a focus for environmental projects.

The day's itinerary included the Wombat Forest, at the start of the Campaspe and Loddon rivers near Trentham, and continued to the Coliban River at Trentham Falls, then through Malmsbury, Vaughan Springs, Daylesford, Castlemaine and Bendigo.

The group visited a private property on the Upper Loddon at Guildford where the owners had removed gorse, blackberries and willow trees.

Mr Brown said one of the most outstanding community achievements was at the Malmsbury Common where willows had been removed from more than two kilometres of river bank and replaced with native plant species.

"One man told us he regularly watched platypus there. They liken it to a botanical ark."
Kyneton residents attribute a better flowing Campaspe River to the removal of willows from a large tract of the landscape.

Another successful effort is a revegetation project jointly undertaken by Tylden Landcare and Tylden Primary School, while Trentham Landcare makes weed spraying equipment available to local residents.

Protecting the river ecology had a positive effect on town services and tourism, through improved water quality and aesthetic appeal, said Mr Brown.

"These are some of the best river reaches in the North Central Catchment. If we can protect them, if we get that right......the benefits can then move downstream."

The NRMC and community representatives have also visited the Avoca Reach 7 and are planning to tour the York Plains.

For further information please contact: 

Communications Officer, North Central CMA
PO Box 18, Huntly VIC 3551
t: 03 5448 7124
e: info@nccma.vic.gov.au