Case Study - Reversing Erosion
For more than forty years Paul Collins has been involved both professionally, and as an active community Landcare member, in reversing the growing problem of erosion on the banks of the Hunter River.
In his recent State Government role as a natural resources officer for the Department of Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources (DIPNR) Paul explains that he has helped implement river care plans using River Paramedics volunteer teams. River Paramedics is a partnership between Conservation Volunteers and the Coal & Allied Community Trust which aims to rehabilitate the Hunter River through planting thousands of native trees along the river banks.
“Pre European settlement the Hunter Valley streams were stable as the soil was very soft and friable and acted like a sponge soaking up the rain - very different from how it is today. Back then everything was in a state of natural balance,” Paul explains.
“But as soon as livestock like cattle and sheep were introduced to the area, their hooves hardened the soil so instead of seeping into the land, water ran off it.
“The rivers and creeks began to change - they straightened and the gradient became steeper. This created more velocity, causing the banks to erode and the rivers to widen.
“I’m retired now but I cast my mind back to 1966 when I started work as a natural resources field officer with what was then known as the Water Resources and Irrigation Commission (WR&IC) and which has since changed names many times!
“In those early days the Hunter Valley river system had become seriously degraded and after the 1955 flood it was considered the worst eroded river system in Australia with hardly any native plants growing on the river banks.
“I was part of Rivercare, a section within the WR&IC that commenced river restoration works in 1956. In the mid-90s the department worked on developing and implementing river care plans which now cover more than 1000 kilometres of the Valley.
“Developing a river care plan involves working out what needs to be done along various sections of the river using aerial photographs, talking to landholders and holding workshops with Landcare groups. Within a decade we sourced various means of funding and created hundreds of river care plans.
“The River Paramedics programme provided us with teams of conservation volunteers to help us implement the river care plans produced by the Commission and was funded through the Coal & Allied Community Trust.
“The Coal & Allied Community Trust approved the sites based on the river care plans and where landowners actively agreed to be involved and support the project.
“On those sites rehabilitation work was carried out with the help of volunteers from Conservation Volunteers who willingly gave their time and labour.
“Planting native trees is a big part of the revegetation effort as they bind the bank and reduce the effects of erosion. Once the trees are established bird life returns and the ecosystem is rebalanced.
“When it came to planting for the River Paramedics project it was determined that it would be best to plant the native long stem tube stock and to plant them deep into the ground where their root systems could quickly establish and reach the water table.
“This innovation overcame the problem of planting normal tube stock, which would wash away in the first floods.
“Today, it’s absolutely amazing – there are now hundreds
of thousands of natives growing along the Hunter River and its tributaries.
“We know that a lot of the original plantings from River Paramedics have been lost because of the drought. Where landholders were diligent with their watering programmes and maintenance the trees have flourished and are now more than five metres tall.
“Despite the loss, due to the combined efforts and support from everyone in the partnership, the river systems are better now than they have been for the past 200 years.
“The partnership between the Coal & Allied Community Trust and Conservation Volunteers started at least five years ago and in that time so much has been achieved – it really is amazing.”