Page 749 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 9 March 2005
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stabilise the soil, and natural revegetation is occurring in many places. However, to create a stable catchment, reafforestation with pines and/or natives is essential. The Shaping our territory report in November 2003 considered the importance of revegetation of this part of the catchment and concluded that reafforestation with pines was the more practical and readily achievable alternative. One and a half million seedlings, a mixture of natives and pines, have been cultivated for planting over the 2005 autumn-winter season.
Restoration work in the lower catchment has provided an opportunity to explore different and better ways to manage our catchments. The riparian areas along streams in the catchment are important zones for stream protection and for wildlife purposes. ACT Forests, in conjunction with researchers from the Australian National University, are investigating the effectiveness of the wider riparian protection zones that match the slope of the land.
The effect of the bushfires on the Cotter River itself has also been considered as a component of the catchment restoration. The Cotter River, particularly the upper Cotter catchment, is the source of most of our domestic water supply. The river also plays a crucial role in conserving biodiversity, with two threatened fish species, the macquarie perch and the two-spined blackfish, occurring in the river. Over the past two years the river has been impacted by the bushfires, a record-breaking drought and the effects of the dams in the catchment. Nevertheless, with the benefit of environmental flow releases refined by an ongoing adaptive management program, the river has been accorded a reasonable bill of health from the Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology.
Restoration work in the lower catchment is continuing. Our catchments tend to be more susceptible to summer rainfall, which comes in storms—in contrast to the gentler rain we get in winter and spring. This summer has seen our first substantial summer rain since the bushfires and we have seen some significant erosion. We had expected erosion; it would have been abnormal not to have had some. Erosion is a normal part of such landscapes and, given the harsh post-fire conditions, we would have expected significant movement. We are using this knowledge to assist us to manage the landscape, and there are good examples of soil stabilisation, which we are looking to as models.
It cannot be stressed enough that the issues confronting the ACT are both unprecedented and extremely complex and that there will inevitably be a variety of scientific opinion about the best way forward. It is interesting that some experts have chosen to air their views now, rather than contributing to the open public consultation process on the non-urban study. The government’s aim continues to be to base the restoration work on the best available evidence. This process is being guided by an across-agency field restoration team, with representatives from ACT Forests, Environment ACT and ACTEW. I do need to stress that the restoration works aimed at protecting water quality are being given a very high priority.
The restoration work in the Cotter catchment is new territory for everyone. We have never had a fire of the catastrophic nature of the 2003 bushfires, affecting so much of our catchments. We have learnt much and will continue to learn as we chart our way forward. In that process I have great confidence in the catchment restoration works being guided by our land managers, Environment ACT and ACT Forests, with the expertise
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