Overall Findings
What does our data tell us about these rivers and our role?
1. These are unique rivers.
"The overall condition of rivers across NSW is moderate” (NSW SOE, 2021), however, our data shows that the rivers of the Bellinger and Kalang catchments are in very good health. It verifies our partners’ scientific understanding that these are unique river systems and some of the healthiest and most pristine rivers in Australia.
2. There is a responsibility that comes with this.
There is a responsibility that comes with these excellent river health results. With the huge loss of biodiversity happening across the globe, it is important now more than ever that we also focus on protecting Earth's very healthy ecosystems, such as this one. Not only for the diverse species that rely on these rivers now, but for the generations to come.
3. To work effectively, we need to protect what we have
Caring for the environment doesn't only look like improving areas of poor health. It is imperative to protect healthy waterways, internationally, nationally and locally.
“In terms of stream health it is usually more effective to protect (preserve) reaches of stream that remain in good condition, than to spend huge amounts of money trying to rehabilitate reaches that are already damaged. Similarly, it is usually more efficient to stop a stream deteriorating than to try to fix it later” (Rutherfurd, 1999).
Even small changes to a catchment can have large downstream impacts from the loss of stream biodiversity, reduced riparian vegetation condition, decreased human amenity not just within the freshwater environment but also the estuarine environments, harbours and bays. The damage at times can be so extensive that remediation is effectively irreversible (Vietz et al. 2014)
"There are opportunities to protect Australia’s most important aquatic areas so that future generations do not have to pay the high costs of rehabilitation (e.g. as has happened for the River Murray)" (Kingsford et al., 2005).
4. This is important now more than ever.
We also know that "climate change is likely to gradually add to existing stressors, particularly water availability pressures and the impacts of altered river flows” (SOE, 2021), and so, protecting these places during these times of increasing climate change is particularly important.
5. All residents and tourists need to work together.
It is vitally important that everyone who lives in or visits this area continues to take actions to care for and protect these incredibly valuable ecosystems. To be a part of the generation that cares for and helps to keep these rivers pristine for the future is a real privilege and our partners believe the Bellingen Shire community and the people that visit this area are perfectly placed to take this on.
6. Let's continue collecting data and regenerate!
Other important aspects of protecting pristine rivers include revegetating river banks, and “long-term collection and collation of ecological data for objective assessment of condition and to assess changes over time” (Kingsford et al., 2005).
We thank our volunteers for the work they do in collecting water quality and macroinvertebrate monitoring data and our partners for their work in supporting the volunteers, and collating and communicating our data.
Bellingen Riverwatch hopes to support riparian restoration work at our priority sites in the future. If you would like to put your name down to help with future river working bees, please subscribe here.
Let us all play our part in a healthy river.
Find out what you can do to help our rivers.
References:
Kingsford, R.T., Dunn, H., Love, D., Nevill, J., Stein, J. and Tait, J. Protecting Australia’s rivers, wetlands and estuaries of high conservation value. 2005. https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/606b8121-90e4-41de-a7f3-acc645b232c8/files/protecting-rivers.pdf
Kopf, R.K, McCasker, N., Paul Humphries, P. 2014. Why are there no true freshwater protected areas in Australia? https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-no-true-freshwater-protected-areas-in-australia-32966
Vietz, G. J., Rutherfurd, I. D., Walsh, C. J., Chee, Y. U. & Hatt, B. E. 2014. The unaccounted coasts of conventional urban development: protecting stream systems in an age of urban sprawl, in Vietz, G; Rutherfurd, I.D, and Hughes, R. (editors), Proceedings of the 7th Australian Stream Management Conference. Townsville, Queensland, Pages 418-424.
NSW State of Environment (NSW SOE). 2021. River Health. https://www.soe.epa.nsw.gov.au/all-themes/water-and-marine/river-health
Rutherfurd, I., Jerie, K., Walker, M. & March, N. 1999. Don’t Raise The Titanic: How To Set Priorities For Stream Rehabilitation. Cited from Second Australian Stream Management Conference paper, 1999, Adelaide, South Australia.