Welcome to the NV Landcare Past Projects Page

Howard's Reach Landcare Project

This project has taken advantage of extensive investigations into the functioning of the Nambucca (Nambucca Catchment Study. 1999, Nambucca River Styles 1999, Landcare Evaluation 2002) and a wealth of local experience and expertise. The project is designed to stabilise and revegetate a highly visible reach of North Arm Creek. A DLWC river officer, on the request of the land managers, has designed the project with input from GA, NVL, local Land Council and residents.

The reach is described as a confined valley with bedrock controlled discontinuous floodplain River Style (River Styles in the Nambucca Catchment). The site had an actively eroding left hand bank, pinned against the valley margin at it’s lower end. The bed of this section was relatively uniform, lacking pools as a result of the sedimentation from the adjacent eroding bank. A significant pool is located at the bottom end of the reach where the channel abuts bedrock. Vegetation was largely absent along the eroded bank (approx 200m). In more stable areas, vegetation was dominated by Casuarina cunninghamiana.

The project was funded over a number of years through Australian Government Envirofund and CMA devolved grant scheme. The over all project constructed a rock bed control at the top and bottom end of the reach immediately upstream of the pool. This protected the reach against continued bed lowering and helped prevent sedimentation of the pool downstream, while providing fish passage. In addition, large woody debris was incorporated into the channel throughout the reach to encourage the development of pools and provide diversity and fish habitat.

Bowraville Bore Fields Project

The Bore Fields was one of the most important and challenging projects sponsored by NVL .
The project was initiated by a landowner who wanted some help with an eroding gully. The fact that the gully ran across the bore field, the sole water supply for the Nambucca, increased the significance and the threat that the project would address.
The landowner's preferred option was to increase the height of the levee that initiated the erosion. The council were less than convinced that there was a potential threat to the water supply.

The project protected the Nambucca Valley Bore Fields by preventing a flood channel from further erosion.
NVL requested help from the NRCMA. It was apparent that if the erosion was not was not stopped the gully would become the main channel resulting in a 800meter reduction in reach length, therefore increased river slope, therefore increased river velocity, therefore more erosive energy therefore bed lowering, therefore a drop in the water table, therefore a reduction in the storage capacity of the Nambucca water supply.

The biggest challenge was to convince the landowners, council and community that allowing the channel to function as a flood pressure release, rather than simply raising the levee that was responsible for the erosion in the first place, was the best option.

Had the flood channel eroded to the degree that it became the major channel it would have cut off 800m of the Nambucca River.
As a consequence of the cut-off, the water table would have been lowered in an extremely important reach of the river and large scale bed and bank failure up stream would have been expected. 

A 30m rock ramp was constructed, retard structures erected, 4000 endemic species planted and the area was fenced off.

There was a flood soon after completion that required urgent maintenance. The work required extra rock and excavator time. This resulted in a funding short fall for maintenance planting and weeds control.
Nambucca Valley Landcare, a local nursery, the Green Team and the landowners have shared that cost.
NVL received no management fee for this challenging and time consuming project.
The management fee would have barely covered the $1566 that NVL contributed on top of our in-kind contribution.