The Dumaresq Creek catchment is situated
high in the Northern Tablelands of NSW and is a subcatchment
of the much larger Macleay River catchment whose water
enters the Pacific Ocean at South West Rocks. The Dumaresq
Creek catchment encompasses an area of about 10,000 ha
and contains two local government areas, namely Armidale
City and Dumaresq Shire. For those unfamiliar with what
a catchment is it refers to all the land containing creeks
and gullies which flow into a major creek or a river.
Let me give you an example of this. The land that contains
creeks and gullies that flow into Dumaresq creek is referred
to as the Dumaresq Creek catchment. Eventually water from
the Dumaresq Creek flows into the Macleay River and so
the Dumaresq Creek subcatchment forms a part of the Macleay
River catchment.
Now that we have established what a catchment
is you may be asking what is the purpose of a catchment
plan. A catchment plan outlines the visions and actions
that the community wants for their catchment. A vision
is the way we want our catchment to be and actions are
ways to achieve our vision. A catchment plan gives you
or organisations such as local government, an opportunity
to let others (including farmers, town people, councils,
etc) know what activities you are doing in the catchment
(eg. things like fencing off bush, planting trees, protecting
streambanks, monitoring and improving water quality, etc.).
This process also gives the community an opportunity to
find out what other people and groups are doing. This
information greatly assists planning for future works
and can help to avoid wasteful duplication and conflict
by coordinating the activities that occur in the catchment
In the Dumaresq catchment there is an
incredibly large number of groups who have ongoing interest
and resource-related activity. Included in this are Landcare
groups, Armidale Schools Streamwatch, Water Users Association,
two Local governments, Dept. of Land and Water Conservation,
University of New England, community environmental groups,
Macleay Catchment Management Committee, Northern Tablelands
Vegetation Committee, World Wide Fund for Nature and Greening
Australia to name a few.
Armidale City contains about 80% of the
residents and 30% of the land area in the catchment and
Armidale City Council has a range of activities aimed
at improving the quality of the environment. These activities
include establishing a vegetation advisory group (referred
to as the Vegetation Working Party), monitoring of water
quality in Dumaresq Creek, installation of gross pollutant
traps (to improve the quality of stormwater discharge
into the creek), sediment control traps, strategies to
further reduce the load of nutrients discharged from the
sewerage plant and support for catchment management initiatives.
In 1995 a public forum was held where
participants identified the environmental issues of concern
in the Dumaresq catchment. Following this meeting the
Dumaresq Creek Catchment Group (DCCG) formed to follow
up the issues of concern raised at the public forum and
to co-ordinate groups with existing activities in the
catchment. In January of 1998 Lewis Kahn was appointed
by the DCCG for a period of 18 months to co-ordinate the
plan of management for the Dumaresq catchment.
So where and how do you start on a plan
of management when there are so many players? Our idea
is to utilise existing groups and their activities to
form, and achieve the actions in, the Dumaresq plan. In
other words the plan will belong to, and be representative
of, those groups who already are doing something - we
will avoid duplication at all costs! In addition we believe
that a catchment plan needs to be incorporated into the
relevant legislation such as Local Environment Plans.
Both Armidale City and Dumaresq Shire Council are supportive
of this approach. Our role is to link better the various
groups and to promote the advantages of sharing a common
catchment approach. In this way the actions in the catchment
plan will continue long after the period of NHT funding
for the co-ordinator’s position.
Article for Australian Landcare Magazine
Deadline date: 23rd March 1998
Author: Lewis Kahn
Co-ordinator for the Dumaresq Creek Catchment Group
