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Counting Australia's protected rivers
Jon Nevill jon_nevill@yahoo.com.au
(OnlyOnePlanet Australia) Abstract
While the 14 rivers
protected by these eight areas are all relatively small by world standards, and
not all are perennial, they are the largest of Australia's well-protected
rivers. While the relative importance of various protected rivers will
remain open to debate, there is little doubt that these areas and their
rivers are significant at the international level. A
further 7 protected areas provide protection for substantial and
important river reaches, while another 7 protected areas provide almost
full protection for a number of important but relatively small rivers or
creeks (see 'summary' below). Given the scarcity of protected rivers in Australia, a conservation status assessment of Australia's riverine ecosystems should be undertaken as a matter of urgency. Such a study is likely to highlight major deficiencies relating to the protection of these ecosystems. River protection needs to be addressed as part of the current government initiative to expand protection of freshwater ecosystems within the national protected area framework. Summary Protection from alien species is sometimes impossible. However in some cases rivers can be protected from flow modification and catchment disturbance. Location within a formal protected area, however, does not necessarily confer a high level of protection on aquatic ecosystems: active protective management is necessary both within and beyond the protected area itself (Pringle 2001). Several techniques are available for managing highly connected linear protected areas (Saunders et al. 2002). Apart from protected area controls, several major legislative mechanisms provide limited protection for rivers and their catchments in Australian States. All States have:
These mechanisms are discussed in some detail in Nevill & Phillips 2004: chapter 7.
Australia has around 1400 named rivers, relatively few
of which are well protected. The Australian 1:250,000 scale map series shows
just under 3 million
km of rivers and streams. Of these rivers and streams, only about
111,000 km (or roughly 4%) are dam-free, with 100% of their upstream catchments
protected by reserves. Most of these are very small headwater streams,
many of which are intermittent or ephemeral. Of Australia’s 166,018 km of named rivers, only
14,517 km lie within reserves, and of these just under 3000 km ( ~ 2%) are dam-free from headwaters to outlet (Stein, unpublished data). Here 'reserve' is
defined as areas classed under the IUCN protected area definition as
categories I-IV. Note that this
figure is smaller than the comparative figure of total protected
landscapes due to the existence of bias caused by several very large
protected areas in arid regions, and the ubiquity of dams on major
rivers.
A detailed examination of the conservation status of river ecosystem types is likely to show that many riverine ecosystems have little or no effective protection under current arrangements.
Substantial highly protected rivers: Tasmania's Southwest World Heritage Area protects most of the catchments of the Spring, Davey, New, and Louisa Rivers, as well as several smaller rivers including the well-known Franklin. Well-known river systems in this region, such as the Gordon River and Lake Pedder, have been flooded by hydro-electric dams. The Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park protects most of the catchments of the West Alligator and South Alligator Rivers, as well as Obiworbby Brook. The South Alligator is Australia's largest protected river. The Garig Gunak Barlu National Park (Coburg Peninsula) protects significant streams such as Ilamaryi River and Mawuwu and Alaru Creeks; these are however small compared with the South and West Alligator Rivers. Most of the catchment of the East Alligator River lies in land under the custodianship of Aboriginals. The high biodiversity values of these areas are currently being eroded by the introduced cane toad, which is continuing its spread from east to west across the northern part of the Australian continent (in the tropics and sub-tropics). In Queensland, the Jardine River National Park protects a large part of the Jardine River's catchment, and the upper Coen River receives substantial protection from Mungkau Kandju National Park. The lower Coen is not protected. The Rudall River, in Western Australia's Rudall River National Park, is an important protected ephemeral river within Australia's arid interior. Western Australia has two other large protected rivers: the Prince Regent River is substantially protected by the Prince Regent River Biosphere Reserve, and the Shannon River by the Shannon River National Park. In New South Wales, the Nadgee Wilderness Area protects the Nadgee and Merrica Rivers. Rocky River and Breakneck River (although not perennial) are protected within South Australia's Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area, Kangaroo Island. Small but highly
protected rivers and creeks: Victoria was until recently the only Australian State with a statute aimed specifically at river protection. While this legislation appears to be poorly implemented, the "B1" catchment listed under the Heritage Rivers Act 1992 does protect the entire catchments of two small coastal rivers, the Benedore and Red Rivers in East Gippsland. These lie within the Croajingalong National Park. Wilson's Promontory National Park protects the small but important Darby River. Queensland's Fraser Island (Great Sandy National Park and Great Sandy Conservation Park) protects several important streams, including Yidney Creek. Cape Melville National Park protects Saltwater Creek. The Northern Territory's Garig Gunak Barlu National Park (formerly Coburg Peninsula National Park) protects Mawuwu Creek and Alaru Creek, and the small Ilamaryi River. Copper Mine Creek (protected by the Fitzgerald River National Park) and Weanerjungup Creek (protected by the Cape Arid National Park) are also worthy of specific mention amongst WA's protected rivers. Large
protected river reaches: These areas
are: Not listed above, but nevertheless of importance, are a group of adjacent reserves, including the Wollemi National Park north west of Sydney, which protect some of the smaller headwaters of the Colo and Hunter Rivers. The large national parks to the immediate west and south of Sydney, covering deeply dissected sandstone plateaus, also protect important headwater biodiversity. Many of the rivers and streams of the Great Dividing Range in the far south east (Victoria and New South Wales) have been damaged by hydro-electric developments and unsympathetic forestry, although some important headwater streams are nevertheless protected to some extent by the adjacent Kosciusko (NSW), Alpine and Snowy River (Vic) National Parks. The importance of identifying which
rivers are protected: Further investigation of the values and condition of protected rivers is urgently needed, along with studies of aquatic and riparian biodiversity hotspots, as well as headwater biodiversity. A national conservation status assessment of Australia's inland aquatic ecosystems is another important priority; such a study is likely to highlight serious deficiencies in the protection of riverine ecosystems. Keywords: protected rivers, freshwater, protected areas, aquatic ecosystems, governance, biodiversity. Copies of this document are available in electronic form from www.onlyoneplanet.com.au. Background In New Zealand 13 river catchments and 2 standalone coastal lakes are largely protected by statutory water conservation orders. New Zealand embarked on a Waters of National Importance project in 2003, with a stated objective: "water bodies with nationally significant natural, social and cultural heritage values will be protected". A major study (Chadderton et al. 2004) has identified nationally significant rivers for biodiversity protection. This study has no Australian equivalent. Australia currently lacks effective river protection mechanisms such as the USA's 'wild and scenic rivers' legislation or the non-statutory Canadian Heritage Rivers System - in spite of calls for action over several decades (eg: Pollard & Scott 1966, Lake 1978, Barmuta 2003, Kingsford et al. 2005). Under the Australian constitution, most natural resource management responsibilities rest with the six States and two Territories (referred to below as 'States'). These are Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, together with the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. State government water agencies are now attempting to improve the management of rivers together with their catchments and groundwaters; however the legacies of past mistakes, most importantly widespread over-allocation of extracted water (combined with the deliberate destruction of wetlands) and catchment clearance have in many cases caused irretrievable damage to freshwater ecosystems. Ineffective controls over the cumulative impacts of incremental water infrastructure development continues as a major problem which needs urgent attention (Nevill 2003). Options for the protection of rivers in Australia are discussed by Nevill & Phillips (2004:chapter 7), Kingsford et al. (2005) and Blanch (2006) who also discuss a variety of existing State and Commonwealth programs related to the protection of freshwater ecosystems more generally. Australia is the driest inhabited continent, and has only two river systems of continental scale: the Murray-Darling, and the rivers of Lake Eyre (these being largely ephemeral). Although the Murray-Darling contains several protected areas, these form a comparatively small part of the system catchment, which generally speaking is highly degraded from an ecological viewpoint. Amongst the many threats faced by Australian rivers, three stand out: extraction and regulation of flows, catchment modification, and alien species (Nevill & Phillips 2004:s4.2). There is no universal definition of 'river'; however size is the main distinguishing factor in relation to 'streams' or 'creeks'. Size can apply to catchment, waterway length and complexity, or flow. A 'protected river' could be defined (with apologies to the IUCN) as 'a river managed to provide secure and effective protection from threats to its major values'. This definition however makes identification of protected rivers rather complicated, as it implies a knowledge of the way the river's values are changing over time. In the case of most Australian rivers this information is either not available or is only partially available. For the purposes of this paper a protected river is defined as one having most of its catchment within a reserve, no significant water extraction or regulation, and no major artificial barriers to the movement of aquatic fauna. This definition ignores the important issue of alien species, which is not discussed in this paper due to its complexity and intractability. Generally speaking, freshwater ecosystems are not well protected over most of the Australian continent. Within areas designed to protect terrestrial biodiversity (such as national parks) aquatic ecosystems may receive little protection from flow regulation and beyond-boundary water diversion (Lake 1978, Pringle 2001). It should be noted that most of the rivers within the large Kosciusko National Park in New South Wales, for example, have been dammed by the Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric Scheme. Recreational fishing [v] may even be promoted in Australian National Parks and other protected areas, together with the introduction of alien predators such as trout which can profoundly affect pristine freshwater ecosystems (Tilzey 1976). Some national parks have been named after rivers: the Rudall River National Park, for example. Australian national parks named after rivers are the: Mitchell, Snowy, Lower Glenelg (Victoria), Mary, Flora, Keep (Northern Territory), Fitzgerald, Rudall, Drysdale, Moore, Shannon (Western Australia), Guy Fawkes, Mongarlowe, Clyde, Goulburn, Murray, Bellinger, Abercrombie, Georges, Bargo, Tarlo (New South Wales), Franklin-Gordon, Savage (Tasmania), Jardine, Russell, Straaten, Endeavour (Queensland), and Onkaparinga (South Australia) River National Parks. Note that in several cases the contiguous national park offers little or no protection to riverine ecosystems. National data: The Australian Wetlands Database contains data relating to Australian Ramsar sites, as well as sites listed the Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA). Australia has (or had at the close of 2005) 64 sites listed under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 1971. Most of these areas (which can include both public and private land) are managed by State governments under formal management plans - in collaboration with landowners where applicable. The Commonwealth's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 provides these areas with limited additional protection under the Commonwealth's powers to intervene if national or international environmental values are threatened (Nevill & Phillips 2004: ss6.1.2 & A3.5). Defining
and identifying protected rivers: Table 1 below examines the issue of protected catchment area using a 95% criteria, while Table 2 reports the issue of protection of the natural flow regime by examining the protection of headwaters and the existence of dams. Data on groundwater extraction from river feed aquifers was not available, so this issue (while it may be of great importance in some areas) is not included in the analysis. Table 3 re-examines the issue of large catchments with less than 95% under protection, while Table 4 examines the inclusion of rivers in the Ramsar and DIWA data in the national wetlands database. Protected river
tables Tasmania's Southwest World Heritage Area contains four large contiguous protected areas: the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, the Southwest Conservation Area, and the Savage River National Park. The Southwest World Heritage Area is of outstanding importance for the protection of Tasmanian rivers. Names are as per the digital 1:250,000 topographic maps (Geoscience Australia, 1992). Table 1. The largest 20 drainage basins of named streams with more than 95% of their catchment area protected within a reserve (reserve defined as IUCN protected area levels I to IV), and no listed (major) upstream or downstream dams, sorted by basin area. Source: Stein unpublished data.
Area above in km2. Table 2.
Protected upper catchments: the largest (by estimated average
flow) 20 streams (or sections of streams) with 100% of their
upstream area within a reserve (reserve defined as IUCN protected area
class I to IV) and no listed (major) upstream or downstream dams.
Discussion: The Northern Territory's Kakadu National Park and associated Ramsar site (1,980,400 ha), protect most of the catchments of the West Alligator and South Alligator Rivers, as well as other significant streams such as Obiworbby Brook and Barramundie Creek. A small portion of the eastern headwaters of the South Alligator lie outside the eastern boundary of the Park, and there is a small excision for the Koongarra Mineral Lease. The South Alligator is Australia's largest protected river. The Garig Gunak Barlu National Park (Coburg Peninsula) protects Ilamaryi River, and Mawuwu and Alaru Creeks. Alien species such as the Cane Toad and various introduced grasses present major problems to these ecosystems. Queensland's Jardine River National Park (400,000 ha in Cape York Peninsula) protects a large part of the Jardine River's catchment, and the upper reaches (18%) of the Coen River (draining into the Gulf of Carpentaria) receive substantial protection from Mungkau Kandju National Park. Again, some of the Jardine's headwaters lie outside protected area boundaries. The lower Coen is not protected. Some smaller rivers within island protected areas are important: Rocky River and Breakneck River (although ephemeral) are protected within South Australia's Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area, Kangaroo Island. Yidney Creek is the largest of several important waterways protected by Queensland's Fraser Island National Park. The entire catchment of Hosnie’s Springs on Christmas Island is protected within either national park or Ramsar site boundaries. The Rudall River, in Western Australia's Rudall River National Park is an important protected ephemeral river within Australia's arid interior. In contrast, Coopers Creek, one of the best-known of such arid rivers, has a relatively small part (around 2% or 413 km2) of its huge catchment protected through reserves. It should however be noted that the Lake Eyre Basin Intergovernmental Agreement has protection of rivers within the Agreement Area (which includes the Cooper's catchment) as a key objective. Western Australia has two significant protected rivers which do not feature in the Tables 1 and 2 above: the Prince Regent River is substantially protected by the Prince Regent River Biosphere Reserve, and the Shannon River by the Shannon River National Park (details on protected area size below) [vii]. Western Australia's Copper Mine Creek is substantially protected by the Fitzgerald River National Park on the Albany Coast. Along the Esperance coast, Weanerjungup Creek is protected by the Cape Arid National Park. Table 3. Significant drainage basins of named streams with less than 95% of their catchment area protected within a reserve, and no listed (major) upstream or downstream dams. Source: Stein, unpublished data.
Areas above in km2. Amongst smaller streams with protected catchments, a few are worthy of specific note. In New South Wales, the Nadgee Wilderness Area protects the Nadgee and Merrica Rivers. According to Andrew Cox (pers. comm. 24/6/05) "The Merrica River catchment was logged when it was State Forest up until 1996/7, and a big wildfire went through it a little before then, but it should be restoring nicely. The National Parks and Wildlife Service claimed that the Merrica River is the largest coastal wilderness catchment in NSW. Public vehicle access to the Merrica River was closed as part of the Nadgee wilderness declaration in 1996/7". Victoria's "Essentially Natural Catchment B1" (LCC 1991) in Croajingalong National Park protects the small but undisturbed contiguous coastal catchments (14,470 ha) of the Red and Benedore Rivers together with Shipwreck, Seal and Easby Creeks. In South Gippsland, Darby River is protected by Wilson's Promontory National Park. All are small streams, even by national standards. The Australian Wetlands Database: Amongst the Directory's 850-odd entries, 28 rivers are listed, of which three have substantial protection. The directory's list contains 143 sites which include at least part of a river ecosystem. A further 27 Ramsar sites protect parts of rivers, usually specific reaches, deltas or floodplains, or small complete catchments. From a catchment protection viewpoint, the three highly protected DIWA rivers are the South Alligator , Western Australia's Prince Regent River, (both mentioned above) and the Cotter River in the Australian Capital Territory. Unfortunately the Cotter does not qualify as a protected river, as it has been dammed in three places to supply Canberra's water. Most of the catchment of the Cotter, including the bulk of the riparian zone of the river, obtains protection through the ACT's statutory reserves, mainly the Namadgi National Park. As already noted, the Prince Regent River obtains substantial protection from the Prince Regent River Biosphere Reserve, of which the Prince Regent Nature Reserve (634,952 ha) forms the major part. Western Australia's Shannon River obtains substantial protection through the Shannon River National Park; a major part (89%) of the catchment (~83,000 ha) lies within protected areas. Unfortunately there are some areas in its headwaters that are outside the protected area. The Shannon River (like the Jardine) is not included in the DIWA, or protected by Ramsar status. Although many rivers in northern Australia are not currently affected by water regulation or catchment development, a lack of protected status means that the future of these rivers is uncertain. At present many northern waterways lie within Indigenous reserves, and have had little flow or catchment modification - although alien species do present major problems. An important issue is to what extent the
biodiversity of small streams contributes to, or duplicates, the
biodiversity of larger rivers. The
minor spring-fed tributaries of many coastal rivers contain significant
invertebrate endemism – quite different and often arguably more
significant than the larger rivers themselves (W. Ponder, pers. comm.
19/4/05, Lowe & Likens 2005, Meyer et al. 2003). Similar comments may apply to springs in
the arid interior (see discussion of South Australia below). It may be that some of the most important
parts of rivers, from a biodiversity viewpoint, lie in the upper
headwaters; here it is worth noting that some of Australia's most
significant protected rivers, the Prince Regent and the South Alligator
for example, have their headwaters outside protected area boundaries. This, along with the identification of freshwater biodiversity
hotspots, warrants urgent further attention.
Source:
The Australian Wetlands Database (accessed 25/5/05): http://www.deh.gov.au/water/wetlands/database/index.html Note that the distinction between ‘reach’ and ‘segment’ is not supported by data accessible through the database, and has been drawn here based on my rather limited knowledge of the sites. The ‘river catchment’ figures are more accurate, largely because I had expert assistance in identifying them.
If Australia has 14 highly protected rivers
of reasonable size,
it has many more with partial protection, including at least 11 having
substantial areas within
the Ramsar framework (see Table 4 above). Smaller protected streams
may have exceptional biodiversity values; further investigation is
necessary.
The Australian wild rivers project: 'Wild
Rivers’ was a national program initiated by the Commonwealth
Government in 1993, with the primary objectives of identifying and
encouraging the protection of rivers that remained largely unaltered by
European settlement (Stein et al., 2001). It did not specifically
identify high-conservation-value ecosystems or include wetland
ecosystems.. The
Wild Rivers Project systematically identified Australia’s wild rivers, and developed guidelines for the management of wild rivers.
A
wild river, as defined by the project, is:
a channel, channel network, or connected network of waterbodies,
of natural origin and exhibiting overland flow (which can be perennial,
intermittent or episodic) in which: ·
the biological,
hydrological and geomorphological processes associated with river flow;
and ·
the biological,
hydrological and geomorphological processes in the river catchment with
which the river is intimately linked, have
not been significantly altered since European settlement. Wild
rivers that may flow underground for all or part of their length (eg:
through karst) are included. Although
lists of wild rivers were produced for each jurisdiction, strategic
protection of identified rivers and river reaches never eventuated The
database was later revised on a low-key basis at the Department of
Environment and Heritage, and is now entitled the Australian River
Catchment and Condition database. This reflects that fact that the
principal ongoing interest in the data-base is in its use as a strategic
level indicator of condition across all watercourses on the continent,
rather than the project's other brief of identifying significant rivers
which were in particularly good condition[i].
The data was built on by the National Land and Water Resources
Audit Assessment of River
Condition project. The
original consultants (ANU CRES now incorporated within the Fenner School of Environment and Society)
prefer to refer to it as the river disturbance database, as the link
between the indices of anthropogenic disturbance and river condition is
not fully understood, and in fact the full effect of these disturbances
may not be evident in terms of river condition for many years
(Stein et al. (1998); Stein et al. (2002)
). An
upgrade to the wild rivers database sits within the continental
landscape framework developed by the Fenner School to
support the systematic identification of priority streams for
conservation across Australia. The framework incorporates a hierarchical
environmental classification with the disturbance indices as indicators
of naturalness built upon a spatially nested, hierarchical catchment
reference system. The classification groups streams on the basis of the
shared similarities of key abiotic attributes that drive hydrological,
geomorphological and ecological processes and hence are responsible for
observed patterns in stream characteristics at landscape scales. The
consistent and comprehensive characterisation of streams that this
framework provides enabled a review of the comprehensiveness and
adequacy of the National Reserve System (Stein, 2006) and will assist
other conservation assessment tasks including evaluation of ecological
value criteria (eg: representativeness, uniqueness, naturalness) and the
design of biological surveys. (Stein, 2006). The framework is currently
being revised to reflect recent improvements in the drainage analysis on
which it is based. Calculation of the wild rivers disturbance indices
will incorporate more current disturbance information where it is
readily available nationally. However, a more comprehensive revision of
the wild rivers database will require additional resources. Most rivers meeting the full "Wild Rivers" criteria in New South Wales, Victoria and |