This initiative implements an adaptive management program through monitoring the condition of waterways and assessing the impact of government investment into waterway management activities. The initiative has delivered the Rivermap program which is a computer model to predict macroinvertebrate community condition in rivers and streams, and a targeted research program to help quantify the impact of management intervention activities on riparian vegetation, wetland condition and fish communities.
Total EC3 investment: $6.95 m
2012-13 expenditure: $0.9649 m
2013-14 expenditure: $1.7980 m
2014-15 expenditure: $2.1399 m
2015-16 expenditure: $2.0482 m
Progress
A key achievement of this initiative was the development of the Index of Condition website. This website houses the data and publications for the last three statewide assessments of river condition using the Index of Stream Condition and 800 high value wetlands on public land using the Index of Wetland Condition.
The publication of the third statewide benchmark of river condition in 2013 provided extensive data on the condition of 29,000 km of rivers across Victoria. The data was collected over a six-year period and included new remote sensing technology that provides the most detailed and accurate assessment of riparian vegetation and the physical form of river channels to date.
The research program has developed a framework for intervention monitoring and has established 30 long term projects to assess ecological responses to riparian management activities.
An evaluation of responses by priority fish species to instream woody habitat has been used to develop a decision support tool to guide the planning and delivery of stream rehabilitation actions.
Assessments of the effectiveness of managing invasive species on wetlands; how wetland vegetation recovers from disturbance; and the adaption potential of coastal wetlands that are at high risk due to sea level rise as a result of climate change, are being finalised.
Page last updated: 30/10/18