Trtanscript for Riparian landscapes workplace interview

[Speaker: Peter Vollebergh]

My name's Peter Vollebergh. I work in the Waterway Health Team at the Water and Catchments Group in DEECA. I manage the Riparian River Channel program, and I've actually been around waterway health since the Cretaceous actually, since about - since 1988 when I started. Since then, I've been in a number of roles, water quality, broader waterway management roles, and I've been doing riparian specifically, in this role, since about 2006.

What are riparian landscapes?

So riparian land is land that abuts rivers, creeks, and wetlands. And it's sort of that interface between the more terrestrial environment, the land environment, and I suppose the water environment. And depending on the landscape, it, you know, could be 20 meters, 30 meters, it could be a hundred meters. But we often look at working on, say, 20 or 30 meters from the bank, the top of the bank of a waterway and consider that to be the riparian area.

Well, waterways have a broad range of values. They clearly have environmental values. They have cultural values for Traditional Owners, social values, like recreation, and economic values, like we use water for drinking and for agriculture. And riparian areas have so many important roles in protecting all those values. They buffer nutrients and sediment runoff from farmland into rivers. They, with the trees on riparian areas, provide habitat for both in the stream because trees that fall in become habitat for fish. Trees on the land, obviously habitat for birds and other animals. And in a time now of climate change and drying climate, in many ways, they're even more important, because of the pressure that's on waterways.

What do you love about working in water?

I love the fact that, actually, you get to help improve the environment. And I love the fact that in some small way over the-- over my long time working in Waterway Health, I've actually helped improve rivers and I find that really satisfying and fulfilling.

I have been around for a while, but there's always lots of new things that come up. And really, basically, who doesn't love working with rivers? I get to work with rivers and they're fantastic places, so that's what I love.

How has your experience working in water been?

I had an accident, which left me with a permanent physical disability. Coming back to work. It was a bit challenging, but the public service, my managers at the time, were incredibly supportive. Make a few adjustments, allow me some flexibility in terms of working from home. I was working from home long before Covid, I'm telling you, right? So I pioneered the flexibility of working from home. And, really, it's enabled me to keep working, keep contributing to, you know, be able to use my knowledge and expertise, and it's a great environment for someone in my circumstance.

What technology is used across riparian landscapes?

In riparian management, we use a lot of new technologies. Technologies, like a lot of satellite imagery is used to track, you know, where riparian areas are recovering. Also, LiDAR, light detection and ranging, is used a lot these days to, again, measure riparian vegetation change, measure the morphology of the river itself to see whether there's been erosion or sedimentation in the river. These would've been done more on ground with surveys in the past, but now these technologies can really assist.

Drones have flown over rivers. And in fact, if you look at a lot of websites of rivers, you'll see fantastic just shots of drones flying over rivers. But also, they’re used to track, again, track and monitor different changes in the riparian area. So, there's definitely, it's a developing area of using technology to make - to, you know, uncover a lot of new information.

Can you make a difference?

I think if you're passionate about the environment, a career in water is a really good place to go. You know, you can actually make a difference. You can look at the work you've done and go, ‘I've actually helped to improve the environment.’ You know, who doesn't love being on a river, sitting on a riverbank, walking along a river? I think during Covid we all just love going to our local creek and walking along a river. I love that I can make a difference, and I look back over a long time in the department and, you know, I can say, ‘I helped make a difference to the state of Victoria's Rivers.’