Building capacity to protect watercourses
On ground works for the Natural Resources Northern and Yorke co-ordinated Catchments project across the Willochra, Broughton, Wakefield and Light catchments, have now been completed.
More than 60 landholders, five local governments, and numerous schools and volunteers across the Northern and Yorke and Adelaide Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources regions have been involved in the project to achieve 460ha of revegetation, 54km of fencing and 4000ha of weed control.
Natural Resources Northern and Yorke Water Officer Jennifer Munro thanked all of the landholders who have participated to make the outcomes of the project possible.
"This project has had exceptional results and has been a fantastic opportunity to work with a large number of landholders across very diverse landscapes," Ms Munro said.
In addition to on-ground works, monitoring and surveys of the catchments have been carried out to understand and protect the diverse habitats and the species within them.
Fish and bird surveys and river red gum monitoring provides important information about the health of these catchments. The results of these activities will be presented in 2017 at community events to celebrate the completion of the project.
Ms Munro said the next step is to produce Draft Catchment Action Plans to prioritise future projects and that community involvement in this process is vital.
"I encourage all members of the community across the four catchments to contribute to the Action Plans via the Four Rivers Survey to ensure that future projects like this one are addressing priority on-ground actions."
Wakefield Regional Council Community Development Officer Holly Cowan said the project goes beyond Council borders, promoting a landscape scale approach that could not be achieved by Council alone.
"The key outcomes align with Councils objectives as outlined in the Council Strategic Management Plan 2012-16 and actions in the Regional Public Health Plan Yorke Peninsula Alliance 2014-2020 while also promoting positive partnerships between different tiers of Government, organisations and the community.
"The benefits to the environment are already evident and the encouragement of environmental stewardship, particularly amongst landowners, will ensure positive outcomes are achieved even beyond the life of the project."
The Four Catchments Project 2012-17 is funded by the Australian Government.
To register your priority issues for future projects, please complete the Four Rivers Survey online http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/decisions/yoursay-engagements-northern-and-yorke-catchments-action-plans/. Responses will continue to be collated for all four catchments through to the end of the project in June 2017.
For more information about the Four Catchments Project, contact the Natural Resources Centre in Clare on 8841 3444 or visit http://www.landscape.sa.gov.au/ny/projects/four-catchments
Image gallery
