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TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 1 of 173
Final Report
For the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water,
Population and Communities, Funding Agreements with:
Charles Darwin University
Griffith University, and the
University of WA;
incorporating reporting for the
CERF /NERP Transition Harvesting Project.
15 April 2011
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 2 of 173
Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... 2
1. Background ............................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Organisations Represented ................................................................................................. 5
2. Summary of Achievements .................................................................................................. 6
2.1 A summary of the major activities undertaken ........................................................ 6
2.2 Individual TRaCK projects ............................................................................................ 11
2.3 The Degree to Which the Activity has Achieved its Objectives ...................... 12
2.4 Building Capacity .............................................................................................................. 14
2.5 The benefits and outcomes of the Activity as a whole ....................................... 16
2.6 The appropriateness of the approaches used in the development and
implementation of the Activity ...................................................................................... 19
2.7 An outline of any demonstration/communication activities undertaken ...... 24
3 TRaCK PROJECT SUMMARY REPORTS ...................................................................... 29
PROJECT 1.1 SCENARIOS FOR TROPICAL RIVERS AND COASTS: INTEGRATING THE TRACK RESEARCH.................................................................................................. 29
PROJECT 1.2 CAPACITY BUILDING TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING AND
DECISION-MAKING IN INDIGENOUS CONTEXTS .............................................. 32
PROJECT 2.1 THE VALUE OF TROPICAL RIVERS ....................................................................... 52
PROJECT 2.2 INDIGENOUS SOCIO-ECONOMIC VALUES AND RIVER FLOWS ............. 56
PROJECT 3.1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION ............................................................... 65
Specific objectives were to: ............................................................................................................ 65
PROJECT 3.2 BIOPHYSICAL CLASSIFICATION: CLASSIFYING RIVERSCAPES
ACROSS NORTHERN AUSTRALIA ............................................................................. 69
PROJECT 3.3 CLASSIFICATION OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN RIVERINE FLOW
REGIMES. .............................................................................................................................. 74
PROJECT 4.1 CATCHMENT WATER BUDGETS AND WATER RESOURCE
ASSESSMENT ....................................................................................................................... 77
Surface –groundwater interactions ............................................................................................ 81
PROJECT 4.2 REGIONAL SCALE SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENTS BUDGETS ....................... 84
PROJECT 4.3 TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACTS OF LAND
MANAGEMENT ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE DALY RIVER ............................... 88
PROJECT 4.4 BEDLOAD TRANSPORT IN LARGE TROPICAL RIVERS AND ITS
EFFECT ON DRY-SEASON POOL HABITAT DYNAMICS .................................... 93
PROJECT 5.1 BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN CONTROL OF RIVERINE FOOD
WEBS ................................................................................................................................... 100
PROJECT 5.2 IMPORTANCE OF WATERHOLES AS AQUATIC REFUGIA AND THE
BIOPHYSICAL PROCESSES THAT SUSTAIN THEM .............................................. 104
5.3 RIVER-FLOODPLAIN FOOD WEB SUBSIDIES ..................................................................... 110
PROJECT 5.4 ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF URBANISATION AND CATCHMENT
DEVELOPMENT ON ECOSYSTEM HEALTH IN ESTUARIES .............................. 117
PROJECT 5.5 FLOW-ECOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS FOR BIODIVERSITY AND
ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES. ............................................................................................. 128
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 3 of 173
PROJECT 5.6 FLOW IMPACTS ON ESTUARINE FINFISH OF THE GULF OF
CARPENTARIA ................................................................................................................. 136
PROJECT 5.7 ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW TOOLS FOR NORTHERN RIVERS ................... 140
PROJECT 5.8 BIODIVERSITY AND HCVAE. BIOREGIONALISATION,
CONSERVATION PRIORITIES AND PREDICTIVE MODELS OF AQUATIC
BIODIVERSITY .................................................................................................................. 143
PROJECT 6.1 ESTABLISHING WATER MARKETS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA: A
STUDY TO ASSESS FEASIBILITY AND CONSEQUENCES OF MARKET-
BASED MECHANISMS OF WATER DELIVERY ........................................................ 149
PROJECT 6.3 DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE
USE ECONOMY IN ARNHEM LAND ........................................................................ 155
TRaCK PROJECT 6.4: DEVELOPMENT OF A HOLISTIC SUSTAINABLE
INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS PLAN FOR THE ARCHER RIVER BASIN
CAPE YORK ...................................................................................................................... 159
APPENDIX A: TRaCK TRANSITION HARVESTING PROGRAM 2010-11, FINAL
REPORT .............................................................................................................................. 166
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 4 of 173
1. Background
1.1 Purpose
This is the final report of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research
program, to meet the reporting obligations in the Department of Sustainability, Environment,
Water, Population and Communities (SEWPAC) funding agreements for TRaCK established
with Charles Darwin University, Griffith University and the University of WA in October 2009.
The report also incorporates reporting for funding provided to TRaCK under the National
Water Commission‘s, Raising National Water Standards Program, and the transition funding
provided to TRaCK under the former Commonwealth Environment Research Facility.
TRaCK is described as: helping to build Australia’s capacity to protect northern Australia’s valuable natural assets while fostering opportunities for the region’s people to develop improved and sustainable
livelihoods by bringing together a multidisciplinary consortium. To deliver TRaCK, leading tropical river
researchers and managers from across the country have grouped together with a focus on the rivers
and estuaries between the tip of Cape York Peninsula and Broome.
The aim of the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) research program was to
provide the science and knowledge that governments, communities and industries need to
make better decisions for the sustainable use and management of Australia‘s tropical rivers and
coasts. More specifically TRaCK aimed to:
increase understanding of the important natural assets and ecosystem services provided by tropical rivers and coasts;
develop methods and tools to assess the implications of potential developments;
identify opportunities to develop genuinely sustainable enterprises; and
build the capacity and knowledge of the community to engage in management planning processes.
This knowledge was also expected to inform the National Water Initiative and provide
independent and objective advice for policy makers, as well as inform planning and management
decisions across northern Australia.
TRACK‘s world-leading researchers worked with all levels of government, regional NRM
bodies, Indigenous communities, industries, local land owners and other researchers to conduct
major field work campaigns and build on the existing knowledge base.
TRACK researchers worked extensively with Indigenous people who own and manage large
parts of northern Australia‘s rivers and coasts. Indigenous knowledge and perspectives are
essential for managing natural resources in northern Australia, and in many places Indigenous
Knowledge Systems continue to be used to actively manage landscapes.
TRaCK focused on the tropical savannas of northern Australia, including the rivers and
estuaries between the tip of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland and Broome Western
Australia‘s (Map 1).
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Map 1 TRaCK region of research activity
1.2 Organisations Represented
This report is provided by Charles Darwin University on behalf of the research organisations
that comprise the TRaCK consortium. These research organisations include:
Australian Institute of Marine Science
Australian National University
Charles Darwin University
CSIRO Land & Water
CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist
GeoScience Australia
Griffith University
James Cook University
NAILSMA
NT Primary Industries Fisheries and Mines
NT Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport
Qld Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
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Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water
University of Canberra
University of Western Australia
WA Department of Water
2. Summary of Achievements
2.1 A summary of the major activities undertaken
Northern Australia has a concentration of ecologically-intact river catchments that are
significant at a global scale. It also has the world‘s oldest living culture, which in many places continues to actively manage these landscapes with Indigenous knowledge.
Northern Australia‘s rivers and estuaries are also important for industries such as grazing,
mining, fishing, agriculture and tourism. At a time of increasing awareness of the value of water
across Australia, it is important that we understand the pressures that development can place
on the unique natural and cultural values of our tropical waterways.
TRACK focused on building Australia‘s capacity to protect these valuable assets while fostering
sustainable livelihood opportunities for the region‘s people. TRaCK responded to the fact that
there was insufficient knowledge and research capacity in northern Australia to address future
challenges of natural resource management, use and conservation. Research investment had
not been at a sufficient scale or well enough integrated across social, economic and
environmental disciplines. With TRACK good science was provided to support decision
making and inform public debate about the use of Australia‘s tropical rivers and estuaries.
TRACK brought together more than 70 of Australia‘s leading researchers from social, cultural,
environmental and economic disciplines. Many key researchers in the TRACK project live and
work in northern Australia, which strengthened research capability in the region.
TRACK was established in 2007 through a consortium led by Charles Darwin University, the
University of Western Australia, Griffith University, North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea
Management Alliance and CSIRO. The consortium developed the TRACK program over two
years (2005-06) and extended its consortium of partners to include researchers from a range of
organisations.
Approximately $20 million of TRaCK funding was through the Australian Government‘s
Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities (CERF) initiative managed by the Department
of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, the Raising National Water Standards
program managed by the National Water Commission, Land & Water Australia (now closed),
and the Queensland Government‘s Smart State Innovation Funds. Additional cash and in-kind
funding of at least $11 million was provided from the research institutions, partners and state
and territory governments that formed the TRaCK consortium.
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The program of research had seven interconnected themes and was designed to generate and
share the knowledge needed by regional NRM bodies, governments, Indigenous communities
and industry to underpin the sustainable management of tropical rivers and coastal
environments.
Theme 1: Scenario evaluation
Theme 1 has utilised information from all other themes, to explore ecosystem-based, multiple-use scenarios. Scenario-building tools were used across a spectrum of society, from those living
in local communities, to those developing and implementing government policy. The theme
explored the environmental, social, cultural and economic consequences for the rivers, coasts
and communities of developing enterprises, and constructed models that drew together results
from the three biophysical themes.
Predictive models, including innovative new visioning tools, were developed and used to
evaluate scenarios. The models developed scenarios under a range of environmental,
demographic and social conditions that allowed evaluation of options by policy makers and
informed community debate. Detailed models were developed for a small number of
catchments with contrasting biophysical settings and development scenarios.
The theme stimulated local engagement and action at a community level, better delivered
services to support such action, and informed policy makers of knowledge gaps and constraints.
It identified and explored solutions to conflicting stakeholder aspirations; and developed
realistic scenarios for the future of riverine and coastal ecosystems based on TRaCK research,
including environmental flow requirements and opportunities for sustainable enterprises.
Theme 2: Values & Assets
Theme 2 focused on assets of environmental, cultural, economic and social value. It explored
values placed on tropical coasts and rivers from local, national and international perspectives. It
also documented the types of research and management issues that local communities consider
necessary to maintain these values and explored the significance of the ecological goods and
services provided by systems in their present state and importantly to maintain or enhance that
state.
The valuation of riverine and coastal assets is essential for decision-making about the allocation
of resources to different and sometimes competing uses. Value, however, is contingent on
cultural, economic and geographical perspective. Documenting the values and aspirations of
people for tropical rivers and coasts has informed four aspects of the research: (a) the value of
goods and services currently provided by rivers and coasts in terms that would allow
comparison with their value under alternative uses; (b) the value of services provided by
customary management regimes maintained by Indigenous peoples; (c) the types and conceptual
underpinnings of research seen as relevant to immediate and long-term needs; (d) multi-
disciplinary research into the mechanisms, institutions and processes that can be used to
achieve sustainable allocation of resources consistent with policy, values and aspirations.
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Economic, cultural, social and recreational values of existing goods and services were assessed
and standards for their allocation examined. Key stakeholders and Indigenous landowners
contributed knowledge about what they believed would improve community well-being.
The theme documented the social and cultural values embodied in tropical rivers and coasts
both among those who live beside them and those elsewhere. It calculated the value of goods
and services provided by tropical riverine and coastal ecosystems, and their customary
management and stewardship as inputs into decision-making about the sustainable allocation of
these goods and services, and determined how these values influence patterns of social
behaviour and the use of riverine and coastal ecosystems. It also reviewed and designed
appropriate mechanisms for achieving the sustainable allocation of tropical river and coastal
goods and services; and identified additional research gaps relevant to communities living in
riverine and coastal ecosystems.
Theme 3: Riverscape & Coastal Settings
Themes 3-5 are biophysical themes that fill critical gaps in our understanding of the processes
that underpin and maintain the condition of tropical riverine and coastal assets. This has
allowed us to interpret and determine the reasons for changes in the condition of environmental assets and to predict the consequences of current and future pressures,
including climate change, on these assets. It included research that developed a physical
classification system based on hydrological regime and geomorphology to characterise
riverscapes (including estuaries) and understand their formation and evolution; and research to
understand the demographic and social character of the human populations within these
settings.
Tropical rivers and estuaries can differ substantially between catchments. Differences in
riverscape setting, primarily in hydrology and geomorphology, are likely to influence all
ecosystem processes and determine ecosystem function, the potential types of developments
and the likely response to development and climate change. A physical template is needed to identify and characterise different types of riverscape and coastal settings and the degree to
which information is transferable from one site to another to underpin consistent policy
development, regional planning and management. In a similar way we need to understand the
way in which societies are organised within catchments and the belief systems that underpin
their behaviour
This research was conducted at a broad regional scale across northern Australia to inform the
degree of transferability of results from other themes. Research was conducted in five parts:
river classification; reach-based analyses; hydraulic modeling; catchment-estuarine linkages; and
social catchment analysis. Rivers were classified across the region based on both existing and
modeled data. Analyses used innovative approaches for assessing the condition of environmental assets using both aerial videography and satellite imagery. Catchment controls
on estuarine habitats were identified using these modeling techniques. Profiles of the existing
socio-economic character of catchments were developed & demographic data collected to
enable the projection of population & other changes and trends.
The theme developed a physical template based on hydrological regime and geomorphology to
characterise, classify and understand the formation of riverscapes and estuaries. It has also
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allowed us to understand the demographic and social character of human populations within
catchments and the relationship with the physical template; and to relate the potential of
biophysical character to attract and sustain different development pressures.
Theme 4: Material Budgets
Theme 4 focused on material budgets to tropical rivers and estuaries and: (i) identified and
quantified major sources of water, sediment, nutrients and carbon; (ii) estimated current and historic rates of sediment and nutrient loading in relation to land-use, (iii) developed models to
predict the effects of land-use change on hydrology, carbon, sediment and nutrient sources and
loads, and (iv) developed appropriate indicators for monitoring and assessment of water quality
and quantity.
Catchment development typically results in altered river flows and increased nutrient and
sediment loads. Quantifying the changes in hydrology and in sediment and nutrient loads likely
to result from land-use change is crucial in developing effective models capable of predicting
impacts of future catchment development and climate change on water resources and aquatic
ecosystems. To do this we need to understand how changes in land-use will alter the sources,
movement and fate of water, sediments, nutrients and carbon in tropical rivers and estuaries. The first step is to understand the current sources, transport, and stores. Response to past
changes in climate and/or vegetation can also provide an indication of how the system will
respond and recover in the future.
The effects of climate and land use change on tropical rivers and coastal hydrology were tested
using a riverine water budget model, which focused on interactions between ground- and
surface-water. Topographic, land-use, soil type and rainfall data were used to predict the spatial
patterns of sediment and nutrient sources and transport and to test hypotheses about primary
sedimentation and nutrient sources at a catchment scale. Net transfers (and rates) of carbon
and nutrients between terrestrial (riparian), riverine and coastal ecosystems were quantified
using newly-developed tracing methods.
The theme identified and ranked major source areas supplying water, sediment, nutrients and
carbon; estimated current and historic rates of sediment and nutrient loads in relation to land-
use and determined the primary processes responsible; developed models to predict the effects
of land-use and climate change on hydrology, sediment and nutrient sources and loads in
tropical northern rivers and estuaries; and developed appropriate indicators for monitoring and
assessment of water quality and quantity.
Theme 5: Food Webs & Biodiversity
Theme 5 identified the sources of organic carbon ―driving‖ aquatic food webs and the factors
that have greatest influence on both the production and supply of these sources; it also
identified particular species‘ interactions that have a strong influence on carbon and nutrient
flow to higher trophic levels; determined indices and patterns of aquatic biodiversity; and the
relationship between riverscape setting and patterns of biodiversity; developed models to
predict the effects of land-use change on food webs and aquatic biodiversity, and developed
appropriate indicators for monitoring and assessment of biodiversity and ecological condition.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 10 of 173
Many human activities affect aquatic food web structure and hence important ecosystem
processes. In tropical systems, the sources, fate and controls of primary production in aquatic
food webs and the important links to higher trophic levels was largely unknown. An essential
prerequisite for the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems is the identification of the
terrestrial and autochthonous sources of organic matter that drive the food webs. The unique
features of tropical rivers, e.g. greater flow variability, groundwater dependence, are likely to
modify the structure and response of biological communities to anthropogenic or climate
induced changes. A quantitative understanding of the spatial and temporal interplay between
nutrient loads, light, flow and primary production is crucial to developing predictive models that
can be used to determine optimal and sustainable land use practices. It appears that, despite the
complexity of tropical river ecosystems, a relatively small number of possible trophic
interactions may account for most of the transfer of nutrients and energy. Identifying these
critical interactions and understanding the factors that influence them is needed to underpin
sustainable management.
Sources and fate of organic carbon in stream, estuarine and coastal food webs were examined
using diet analysis and by incorporating recent advances in stable isotope tracing. Experiments
were undertaken to assess changes in aquatic and terrestrial carbon and nutrient sources.
Patterns and indices of biodiversity were related to riverscape setting, catchment
characteristics, drainage network typologies and long-term landscape evolution. Rapid
assessment of resource condition, including riparian vegetation, were developed and tested.
Theme 6: Sustainable Enterprises
Theme 6 identified ecologically sustainable and culturally appropriate use of coastal and riverine
resources that are presently un- or under-developed, but which offer opportunities to create
innovative development options for remote and regional communities. It developed culturally
appropriate strategies and models that are well matched to the needs and aspirations of the
resident population whilst maintaining ecological integrity; and applied scientific and Indigenous
knowledge to design management and governance systems in order to apply lessons learnt and
foster innovation. The theme included testing appropriate indicators to assess the condition of
environmental assets and monitor the ecological sustainability of developments.
There are many impediments to the development of enterprises in riverine and coastal
environments across northern Australia. Principal among these are: policies, legislation and
provision of services or lack thereof that often, inadvertently, remove the rights of Indigenous
landowners in particular and reduce service delivery or access to; governance of enterprises at
community, clan and family levels; a lack of recognition, use and application of the customary
knowledge held by resident Indigenous peoples; realistic assessments of production capacity and
markets for natural products; basic training and education; communication with audiences that
speak English as a second and sometimes third language; development of leadership structures
around aspiring remote peoples; and logistic and technical difficulties arising from tropicality and
remoteness.
Many communities, particularly Indigenous communities in northern Australia, have indicated
that they wish to explore enterprise development, often based on activities and products that
are closely connected to customary activity. The goal has been to work through favored
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 11 of 173
options by Indigenous participants to the extent dictated by joint assessment of prospects. In
other cases, assessments may warrant further investment and continued development.
Research methods and foci will therefore vary according to the nature of the initiative and the
wishes of affected interests. They may include policies and legislation; governance structures;
enterprise opportunities and studies and logistic and technological innovation. A range of
sustainability indicators have been generated building on approaches developed by consortium
partners in other regions.
This theme has sought to understand the incentives and impediments to enterprise
development in riverine and coastal environments; to develop an understanding of the
ecological and cultural assets that can contribute to innovative enterprise development and to
identify governance structures appropriate for enterprises in riverine and coastal environments
at a range of scales. It has conducted locally relevant opportunity studies that identify
enterprises that could be viable in tropical Australian riverine and coastal environments;
examined and developed solutions to technical and logistic constraints on development of
potentially profitable sustainable enterprises in riverine and coastal environments; and
developed management, business development, monitoring and evaluation tools that take into
account innovative enterprise development design around a culture based economy and that
occur on marginal landscapes.
Theme 7: Communication and Integration
Theme 7 is a cross-cutting theme focused on communication, adoption and integration. This
includes co-ordination and integration of the research activities across themes, and the
knowledge management and communication among researchers and with/between stakeholders
and landowners, particularly regional NRM bodies and those who speak English as a second or
third language. The theme has also coordinated training and capacity building by partner
institutions. The theme is separately reported in the chapter titled An outline of
demonstration/communication activities undertaken.
2.2 Individual TRaCK projects
Within the seven integrated themes TRaCK comprised 27 projects as listed below. The
outcomes for each of these projects is reported individually in the following chapters.
Scenario Evaluation
o Scenarios for tropical rivers and coasts: integrating the TRaCK research program
o New ways of better involving Indigenous people in planning for our water and
land resources
o Collaborative water planning in northern Australia
o Knowledge integration and science delivery
Values and Assets
o The value of ecosystems services provided by Australia‘s tropical river
o Indigenous values and river flows
Riverscape and Coastal Settings
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 12 of 173
o Socio-economic activity and water use in the Tropical Rivers region
o Biophysical classification: Classifying Riverscapes across northern Australia
o Ecohydrological regionalisation of Australia: a tool for management and science
Material Budgets
o Catchment water budgets and water resource assessment
o Regional scale sediment and nutrient budgets
o Towards understanding the impacts of land management on productivity in the
Daly and Flinders Rivers
o Bedload transport in large tropical rivers and its effect on dry-season pool
habitat dynamics
Foodwebs and Biodiversity
o Bottom up and top down control of tropical river food webs
o Refugial Pools. Importance of waterholes as aquatic refugia and the biophysical
processes that sustain them o River-floodplain food web subsidies
o Assessing the effect of urbanisation and catchment development on ecosystem
health in estuaries
o Flow-ecology relationships for biodiversity and ecosystem processes
o Flow impacts on estuarine finfish of the Gulf of Carpentaria
o Environmental flow tools for northern rivers (synthesis project)
o Biodiversity and HCVAE. Bioregionalisation conservation priorities and
predictive models of aquatic biodiversity
Sustainable Enterprises
o Establishing water markets in northern Australia
o Indigenous rights to water in northern Australia
o Developing an effective conservation and sustainable use economy in Arnhem
Land: options for payment for environmental services
o Development of a holistic sustainable Indigenous livelihoods plan for the Archer
River Basin, Cape York
o Nyikina Mangala Mardoowarra (Fitzroy River) Sustainable Livelihoods on
Country Case Study‘
Integration and Adoption
o Knowledge and adoption
2.3 The Degree to Which the Activity has Achieved its Objectives
TRACK was established to provide the science and knowledge that government, communities
and industries need for the sustainable use and management of Australia‘s tropical rivers and
estuaries. It had the following objectives:
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 13 of 173
increase understanding of the environmental, cultural, economic and social assets
and ecosystem services provided by tropical rivers and coasts;
develop methods and tools to assess the implications of current use and potential developments;
identify opportunities to develop sustainable enterprises; and
built the capacity and knowledge of the community to manage Australia‘s tropical rivers and coasts
A summary of achievements against these objectives is outlined below.
Objective: Increase understanding of the environmental, cultural, economic and social
assets and ecosystem services provided by tropical rivers and coasts.
The Program has generated a great deal of new information on tropical rivers that is now
readily available
We have a better understanding of how tropical river landscapes function
We have quantified a broad range of environmental, economic, cultural and social values placed on tropical rivers
The program has greatly enhanced our scientific understanding and management of important
ecosystems across northern Australia.
It has given greater attention to specific regions such as the Daly River (NT), Mitchell River
(Qld), Fitzroy River (WA) and Darwin Harbour (NT).
It has provided timely information to water planners and communities in the face of mounting pressure on water resources.
It has developed new understanding of the drivers of aquatic ecosystems and how these are
influenced by rivers and catchments.
There is a better understanding of the importance of keeping water in the rivers, we can demonstrate why this is important and that the water is not going to waste.
Objective: Develop methods and tools for assessing the implications of current use and
potential developments.
Knowledge/methods/tools developed by TRaCK are a marked improvement on what was
previously available.
Much has been achieved in understanding river systems across a diverse and geographically large region.
Improved water planning tools are available and being used byr water managers and
communities.
We are better able to predict the effects of land use change on rivers.
Improved tools are available to monitor and assess water quality and quantity, and biodiversity
and ecological condition.
There is increased increase public participation in water management.
Objective: Identify opportunities to develop sustainable enterprises.
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TRACK has examined Indigenous enterprise opportunities in three discrete case study regions,
that include practical initiatives and linkages to regional and local projects.
Examined legal and capacity issues around economic development dependent on rivers & water resources.
Reviewed institutional arrangements to water markets across northern Australia, and identified
different approaches and reform opportunities.
Reviewed the relevance and impact of water management legislation; Indigenous heritage protection laws, legislation that recognizes statutory rights of traditional usage of waters and
environmental legislation.
TRaCK has presented development options matched to the needs & aspirations of the resident
population that also maintain ecological integrity.
Objective: Build the capacity and knowledge of communities to manage Australia’s
tropical rives and estuaries.
TRACK has strengthened national and regional research capability
There has been strong engagement with Indigenous and community groups
The program has increased appreciation of a range of different local community groups in the benefits of river resources, issues associated with development and appreciation of role of
research.
Research capability has steadily developed over a 5 year time frame.
TRaCK stakeholders have on-going information that is feeding in to shaping and informing decision-making.
Projects have worked in collaboration with Commonwealth, State and Territory government’s
work on planning and policy making process regarding water.
Local communities have become engaged in the program.
2.4 Building Capacity
TRaCK has successfully brought together more than 70 of Australia‘s leading researchers from
social, cultural, environmental and economic disciplines. Many key researchers in the TRaCK
project live and work in northern Australia, which has strengthened research capability in the
region.
Development of organisational capacity
While capacity building in the CERF evaluation objectives were mainly about research, there is
also capacity building within the organisations which the program interacts with, including
communities, catchment organizations, land councils etc.
Examples of organisational capacity building as a result of TRaCK include:
In the Fitzroy catchment WA there was no catchment management group before
TRaCK got behind the administration of funding for the Fitzroy Catchment Action and
Management (FitzCAM) group.
Supporting the establishment of the Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group and established a part-time regional coordinator position.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 15 of 173
Capacity building with community members including Indigenous ranger groups and
other individuals from Indigenous groups.
Getting people from around Australia to focus on the north was an achievement and has built the national capacity to research and manage the region.
Capacity was built in government departments and agencies, for example Fish Research
NT weren‘t equipped to monitor using electro- fishing and now have protocols in place
for this as well as a boat that is suitable for work in rivers.
Developing training for water planners in understanding a range of concepts and new approaches to communicate concepts relevant to water planning. These were trialed
near Darwin within the community.
Through North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA)
there has been substantial consultation / workshops / employment targets / co-authoring
and research agreements with Indigenous communities. There has been extensive
engagement with land councils and community organisations over the life of the
Program.
NAILSMA Indigenous water policy group and the NAILSMA Indigenous Community Water Facilitator Network provide useful linkages and relationships in addressing issues
around capacity building because they are both Indigenous initiatives working to support
Indigenous interests and issues.
Development of research capacity
Research capacity has been built through the development of new tools, skills and methods
suitable for remote locations. Improved collaboration with state and local agencies was a factor
in building research capacity.
TRaCK has raised skills and knowledge of research around Australia and the stakeholder and
governments who are implementing the regime. Public issues in the north are more broadly
understood Training, skilling and employment opportunities in the academic, scientific and local
communities has been enhanced. Strong collaborative research teams which bring together
researchers from throughout Australia (and overseas) with complementary areas of expertise
to develop a stronger whole system research focus, has been important in building research
capacity.
Research capacity has been built through TRaCK working with regional and local organisations
and groups to negotiate research agreements and secure approvals, which generated a lot of
discussion in the catchment about protocols for research. TRaCK collaborated with local
people in almost all of its activities - so knowledge-sharing and exchange was a key element.
The development of strong community links was very useful in building research capacity within
the TRaCK program. This has allowed for a two-way flow of knowledge and a growing
awareness among researchers of Indigenous values.
The program has provided opportunities for integration of research with other themes and
collaboration with other projects. Coordination and planning of fieldwork occurred with a view
to what questions are being asked across the programme, not just within the project. This was
kept in mind when the projects were first designed.
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The provision of postgraduate training for researchers and ‗getting researchers from around
Australia to focus on the North‘ was another positive example of capacity building. Research
capacity was also seen to have been assisted by the development of new tools, skills and
methods for remote locations as well as through collaboration with state and local agencies.
Training, skilling and employment opportunities in academic, scientific and local communities
and the impact of strong collaborative research teams was a further positive.
Local Communities
Building the capacity and knowledge of local communities to manage Australia‘s tropical rives
and estuaries included strong engagement with Indigenous and community groups, increased
appreciation of a range of different local community groups in benefits of river resources, issues
associated with development and appreciation of role of research, work in collaboration with
communities on government‘s work on planning and policy making process regarding water.
Generally TRaCK has raised skills and knowledge of research around Australia and the stakeholders and governments who are implementing management. As well as using local
knowledge and local material to engage communities, TRaCK has also facilitated new structures
for engagement including FitzCAM. It has been well recognised through the community. The
use of local people and material to get the community involved has been excellent.
TRaCK has done well to involve the users of land, including aboriginal groups. Information
definitely contributed to capacity and landholders are better equipped to deal with issues.
TRaCK has used innovative strategies and built ongoing relationships.
Activities undertaken through the North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management
Alliance (NAILSMA) and extensive engagement with land councils and community organisations
was also a highlight. Researchers reported positively on the high level two-way communication
between researchers and Indigenous communities – raising awareness among researchers of
Indigenous values. All researchers directly engaged with Indigenous groups were required to
undertake formal cross-cultural training.
2.5 The benefits and outcomes of the Activity as a whole
TRACK has contributed knowledge needed by decision makers and policy makers for
enterprise development; resource and environmental planning and assessment; and policy
decisions. While not directly developing policy, TRACK has assisted at critical decision points
by providing policy makers with relevant information. This information has been used as
independent and objective advice by those making policy and management decisions in northern
Australia.
TRACK research was mainly intended for natural and cultural resource planning and
management, and consequently the public good. The research findings have all been publicly-
available. The research informed the National Water Initiative and helped policy makers better
understand the natural, social and cultural assets of tropical rivers and coasts. The program
offered a platform to enhance knowledge and to develop sustainable economic outcomes.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 17 of 173
There is now a much broader understanding of the importance of catchment-to-coast linkages
due to the level of integration and coordination between projects. More reliable figures are
now being able to be put on commonly accepted ‗truths‘ for the North such as the dominance
of gully erosion or nutrients (poorer or more variable than first thought) in the floodplains.
The impact of the Daly River flow regime on Indigenous values downstream is an example of
where TRaCK was bridging the gaps between biophysical and social projects and how the
science is demonstrating why it is important to keep water in the rivers.
Researchers rate TRaCK very highly in terms of its performance in increasing understanding of
social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits of the tropical river systems – including
the development of methods, tools and building capacity and knowledge in local communities.
Particular contributions noted by researchers include gains in the measurements of river
systems, and improvements in knowledge in scientific understanding of the river ecosystems.
In the Review of TRaCK in 2010 almost all informed persons rated TRaCK‘s performance in
delivering on strategic objectives very highly. The quality of outputs were seen as high to very
high. Several participants highlighted the fact that work being done by TRaCK is groundbreaking
in that it is targeted towards a large range of users, as well as effectively adding to existing knowledge as opposed to rehashing old research. It was also mentioned by several participants that
some projects have been even more successful such as the socio-economic work, Daly River
Catchment work, fish and erosion work and work being done at Buffalo Creek. Mention was
also made of a database of information for water flow...a portfolio of research that is more focused,
articulated and has protocols in place. It was noted that TRaCK has dispelled some
misconceptions that northern Australia‘s water resources are unlimited, and in so doing... this
has tempered ill informed government decisions. Government is taking a more planned approach to
water allocation.
Specific examples of where stakeholders identified that outputs and outcomes from the
program have been used are:
Biological data from the Fitzroy that will be relevant to water planning work.
Using the info for future stock assessments.
Daly research about water has been beneficial in water allocation planning and resource
management.
Economic outputs and information and tools related to value of water trading have influenced management decisions.
Resource managers are using tools for evaluation.
Development of resource management and planning in the Daly River.
Improving catchment planning issues related to Living Rivers campaign in Queensland.
Fish Projects and the information from these projects have been used to highlight the relationships between fish and river systems and to set limits on extraction.
Better understanding of seasonality and thresholds of water consumption. A better
understanding of aquatic systems - all being used in strategic planning.
TRaCK work was a key component of the CSIRO work on Northern Australian Sustainable
Yields report and science reviews that fed into Northern taskforce report.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 18 of 173
Work in the Daly River and aboriginal communities on principles and practices that have been
developed to engage with Indigenous communities.
Daly River Management Advisory Committee used information about people’s attitudes to water markets.
Biodiversity projects have attracted extra resources…including project extensions and
involvement in the Kimberley heritage assessment. People want to tap into the
information TRaCK has on the Kimberley…this is an endorsement of TRaCK and the
information coming out of it. Key policy makers are seeing TRaCK as a knowledge source.
Contributions to new policies regarding Indigenous uses of water.
Establishment of the Daly River water monitoring group.
Changes to Darwin sewage treatment plant ($20million worth of infrastructure committed) as a result of a TRaCK report highlighting poor water quality.
The NT government is using TRaCK information to inform the review of the NT Water
Act and the water planning in the greater Darwin region
Wild Rivers – well positioned to inform policy and debate.
Improving relationships with Indigenous communities, working to...better understand
socio-economic mapping of these communities across Australia.
Work from TRaCK was useful to help make future decisions about land clearing and to
contribute to the understanding of industry organisations.
TRaCK has...identified areas that we do not know about - groundwater and interactions - this will help to target and filter research needs.
Relevance of products and influence on policy and decision making in long and short
term; Successful targeting of users; Capturing, storing and sharing data information, and
knowledge.
Contribution to the protection, conservation or restoration of public good
environmental assets; and sustainable use of public good environmental assets
Mitigation of current or potential threats to public good environmental assets.
Contribution to the NWC-funded Northern Australia Sustainable Yields Project and DEWHA Northern Australia Water Futures Assessment;
Use of flood mapping exercise to inform the case for mineral exploration on Indigenous
lands; State government water planning in the Kimberly;
Tools used in strengthening Indigenous participation in water planning and decision-making processes;
NT Government management Estuary management plans.
Informing target species for Oolloo Water Management Plan.
Information being used by Task Forces in Northern Australia, mining, primary industry operations and land clearing programs.
Use of information to inform and better understand water planning and management in
terms of water allocations and planning and resource management
Value of the...economic outputs and info and tools related to value of water trading which have influenced management decisions.
In the review of the Program in 2010 respondents believed that the TRaCK program
performed highly in increasing understanding of the social, cultural, economic and
environmental benefits that their tropical rivers and estuaries provide. They also indicated that
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 19 of 173
TRaCK performed highly in both developing methods and tools for assessing the implications of
current use and potential developments (and building the capacity and knowledge of local
communities to manage Australia‘s tropical rivers and estuaries. The following figure
demonstrates the performance of TRaCK as reported by end-users and stakeholders.
2.6 The appropriateness of the approaches used in the development and
implementation of the Activity
The philosophy in developing the TRACK consortium was to select the very best people for
the job. As a result, the team consisted of researchers who not only have the relevant skills and
expertise in northern Australia, but also have a serious commitment to working in
collaboration on large-scale projects and with a proven track record of delivery. At the same
time, the consortium placed a strong emphasis on capacity building and mentoring, to ensure
that data and knowledge custodianship resided in northern Australia.
The TRACK Research Hub brought together the skills of leading coastal and riverine scientists
from across Australia with the talent and a wealth of experience of practitioners in the study of
enterprise development and the local knowledge and understanding of people in the
communities themselves. The research program was devised to achieve a high level of
integration of disciplines; not simply across the physical and biological sciences but also to
incorporate social, economic and Indigenous knowledge and to integrate this with water
planning and management. There is no doubt that a significant and coordinated effort was
5 4 3
6
9 11
7
7
5
2
3
8
8
10
2
5
8
1 2
1
3
6
7
7
5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
No answer Unable to rate
rating 1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating 6 rating 7 rating 8 rating 9 rating 10
No
. of
Re
spo
nd
en
ts
Performance of the TRaCK program in terms of meeting its objectives and expectations
Build the capacity and knowledge of local communities to manage Australia's tropical rivers and estuaries. - Avg 7.6
Develop methods and tools for assessing the implications of current use and potential developments. - Avg 7.8
Increase our understanding of the social, cultural, economic and environmental benefits that our tropical rivers and estuaries provide. - Avg 8.4
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 20 of 173
required to generate and share the necessary knowledge to underpin the sustainable
management of Australia‘s northern rivers and coasts. Creating critical mass through
collaboration and cooperation was seen as an essential prerequisite for success.
The Principal Researchers adopted a shared leadership approach to the development of the
Program, drawing on the specific skills and expertise of individual members as required. A
Research Executive Committee was formed to bring considerable scientific leadership in
tropical river and coastal ecosystems (biological, physical and social sciences), geographical
representation across the key jurisdictions and a demonstrated commitment to communication
and engagement with stakeholders and Indigenous landowners. The team also had considerable
professional experience in the development and management of successful R&D teams.
The TRACK Research Hub built on existing linkages and provided greater opportunity and
flexibility for staff and student exchanges, and for joint research student supervision. Where
possible, research students were co-supervised by researchers from partner agencies, providing
a broader training experience and continued engagement with end-users. Coordinated field
research campaigns assisted in bringing together researchers and students from the partner
organisations.
The Research Hub drew on an impressive array of field and laboratory equipment and facilities
from its partner organizations. The sharing of these facilities (and staff) created new
opportunities for the use of innovative approaches in field and laboratory-based techniques at a
scale and with a degree of coordination and integration not previously seen in the region.
The Hub was led by a Research Executive Committee (REC), comprising the Principal
Researchers, with an elected Chair. This Committee reported directly to a representative
Program Management Committee (PMC). In addition to leading the development and delivery
of the research program, the Executive facilitated collaborative arrangements among
consortium members, reported on milestones, coordinated meetings with the stakeholders and
oversaw the communications strategy. There was Indigenous representation at all levels of
governance and importantly, the initiative linked with the Indigenous Water Policy Group which
NAILSMA in partnership with CRC Tropical Savannas and the National Water Commission
convened to develop models for management of water to reflect Indigenous interests and
aspirations.
There were strong protocols and quality control procedures in place including formal reviews
of projects as well as reviews of milestone reports at the theme and REC levels. There have
been formal reviews that have led to project closures or changes in staffing. A range of
protocols and guidelines were implemented as part of the subcontracting process, ensuring that
researcher‘s abide by a common set of behaviours, such as when engaging with communities.
The PMC provided excellent program management as well as funding support. There was a lot
of trust between the board members and the REC with strong support to meeting program
objectives. The PMC was also important for adoption, with members being strong program
advocates and operating with a high level of ownership. The REC was very hands on with
members each having a very strong ownership of the program and a commitment to
maintaining high quality research.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 21 of 173
The TRaCK governance structure was an ideal model for water research and management
needs in the isolated north. The governance arrangements also provided a highly cost-effective
model for the management and delivery of the research program. As the original host
organisation, LWA contributed its research program management expertise and administered
contracts with research partners, track progress against milestones and provided support for
the PMC. With the closure of LWA in 2009 this role was taken on by Charles Darwin
University, with a seamless transition and professional management. A central office for the
Research Hub was provided by Charles Darwin University in Darwin, with secretarial/office
support funded from the program. Additional administrative costs were included as in-kind
from the partner organisations of the Executive Committee members. The Executive also
coordinated the field-based research program to reduce inefficiencies and ensure the best use
of research funds and shared staff and facilities.
The program was developed in close collaboration and with the full support of key stakeholders
including government policy makers and management agencies, regional NRM and Landcare
groups, Indigenous Traditional Owners and representative bodies and structures, and industry
groups. Government management agencies and stakeholders were engaged in identifying
knowledge needs and setting research priorities during workshops in 2004 and 2005. Additional
feedback from regional NRM and Landcare groups was obtained at meetings in 2005 and 2006.
The program was given the full support of the NT, WA and Qld governments through the co-
operative Framework for Tropical Science Knowledge and Innovation in September 2005.
Partnership with the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance
(NAILSMA) was finalised in 2006.
Clear research needs were identified through this development process and TRaCK adopted a
holistic R&D design to address these needs. The program involved close and ongoing
engagement of end users in the research process itself, and their contribution was essential to
the successful completion and uptake of the program.
In developing the details of livelihoods research, Indigenous interests were documented
through the processes and consultative forums developed by NAILSMA. There was an emphasis
on direct responses to stakeholders and more importantly landowner requirements to design
and deliver research. Projects employed community members associated with the rivers and
coasts where research was occurring to ensure that projects were running according to their
objectives. This on-going engagement of end-users provided the opportunity for two-way
learning about values, perspectives and ecological processes.
Almost every project (only two were not cross organisational) was collaborative across
organisations, with partners bringing different strengths and making complementary
contributions to project teams. The level of project integration is outlined in the table below
that shows cross project linkages for the Program.
TRaCK Project/Theme Linked with the following Projects/ Themes
TRaCK Project 1.2 – Capacity
building tools for effective planning
and decision-making in Indigenous
contexts worked with other
projects
TRaCK project 1.4 - Assist with building Indigenous Capacity.
TRaCK project 2.2 - Participatory Action Research training workshops facilitated
by project 1.2 as part of the ‗change stories‘ project is strengthening the
capacity of DRARG members to participate more confidently with other
research projects/researchers such as project 2.2. Project 2.2 is employing a
DRARG member on a casual basis.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 22 of 173
Theme 7 - Maintain close and regular contact with theme 7 regarding change
stories project and its outputs through project 1.2, including liaising with other
themes re: ‗change stories‘ information and links with work being done in
themes 4 and 5. Continue to work closely with K&A coordinators regarding
Indigenous engagement in the Mitchell and Fitzroy River catchments.
Other themes relevant to ‗change stories‘ project
Maintain close and regular contact with projects in themes relevant to the
‗change stories‘ project.
Other; Indigenous Community Water Facilitators‘ Network through NAILSMA
Links between 1.2 and the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators Network.
Endeavour to find opportunities to share funds/information where common
objectives can be met to strengthen Indigenous participation in water planning
and policy.
Project 1.3 Collaborative water
planning
Established a link with Project 1.4 in relation to the Groundwater Visualisation
Model. Other TRaCK project members have been invited to attend workshops.
Project 1.4 Knowledge integration
and science delivery
Provided a framework for integration of TRaCK research in the Daly River and
a pathway for making this accessible to support water allocation planning.
Project 2.1 The value of tropical
rivers
A number of possibilities for cross-TRaCK project outputs were discussed at the
TRaCK meeting in Brisbane in April 2009. Anna Straton engaged in these
discussions and contributed to the preparation of such outputs.
Project 2.2 Indigenous socio-
economic values and river flows
TRaCK 2.2 facilitated a TRaCK presence at Merrepen Arts Festival in the Daly
and is working with the Daly K&A coordinator to involve other TRaCK projects,
(e.g. Theme 5), in community projects and communication opportunities.
Project 3.1 Socio-economic
classification
The water-use input output table allowed us to compare and contrast the
extent to which different development scenarios will affect consumptive water
demand. To the extent that much of this water is thus extracted from the
environment, the predictions of these simulations may thus be useful to those
seeking to estimate flows under different scenarios (much more so during the
dry, when extraction may make a difference, than during the wet when the
amount extracted is but a small proportion of total flows).
Some of the population and tourism projections developed by Dean Carson and
Andrew Taylor for use in this project could also be used as ‗scenarios‘ for
evaluation in Theme 1.
The economic model that is identified as ‗worthy of development‘ in activity C,
will provide essential economic modelling support to researchers in Theme 1‘s
scenario evaluations.
Project 3.2 Biophysical
classification: classifying riverscapes
across northern Australia
The project provides input data for various projects, including the biodiversity
project (5.8), the socio economic classification project (3.1) and the
ecohydrological regionalisation project (3.3).
Further discussions have been made with the Project Leader about integration
of the two classification projects (3.1. and 3.2). This will increase the capacity
for higher-level synthesis on classification by linking the biophysical context with
demographics.
Project 3.3 Classification of
northern Australian riverine flow
regimes
The outcomes of the classification and the development of the revised nine
second DEM have many applications in the TRaCK program and may potentially
be useful across a range of projects.
The project has linked closely with projects with Theme 3 and with biodiversity
and environmental flow projects within Theme 5.
Project 4.2 Regional scale
sediment and nutrients budgets
Sediment samples from the Flinders River received from Michele Burford‘s
project for erosion process analysis.
Sediment samples received from Jeff Shellberg‘s and Andrew Brooks sampling in
the Mitchell catchment.
Project 4.3 Towards
understanding the impacts of land
management on productivity in the
Daly river
A theme 4 integration workshop was held in Darwin in March 2009 to facilitate
knowledge sharing across projects 4.1 to 4.4.
Exchanged information on Daly River bathymetry and water budgets with
project 4.1 and received information regarding modeled water velocity and
depth as well as bed habitat and sand distribution from 4.1 and 4.4.
Several project members participated actively in the theme 1 knowledge
integration workshop and the annual TRaCK workshop in Brisbane in April
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 23 of 173
2009.
A workshop was held in Brisbane in May, involving this project as well as
representatives from 5.3 and 5.4 to discuss fieldwork in the Flinders River.
Subsequent field research has been coordinated among all three projects.
We recognise a need at this stage to step up communication with other
projects, particularly 5.7 and 5.5. We have also recently provided information
regarding plant and algal biomass and flow response to 5.7. We have provided
data and knowledge input for environmental flows to 5.7, including developing
relationships between water velocity and algal biomass. We have not yet been
invited to participate in a project 5.7 workshop, although a team member
(Simon Townsend) was present at the Darwin workshop with Daly River
stakeholders.
Project 4.3 has also recently exchanged knowledge with the NASY (Northern
Australia Sustainable Yields) project, receiving from them information regarding
Daly River groundwater modeling and contributing to a pre-publication review
of one of their reports.
Project 4.4 Bedload transport in
large tropical rivers and its effect
on dry-season pool habitat
dynamics
Project 4.1 collaborated with Project 4.2 for the process of LiDAR data. There
is also collaboration with other modules of the TRaCK.
Project 5.1 Bottom-up and top-
down control of riverine food
webs
The flux sampling is being conducted in conjunction with project 5.5 Flow-
ecology relationships.
Top-down control experiments in the Flinders River are being undertaken in
collaboration with project 4.3 and top-down control experiments in the Daly
are being done in collaboration with Project 4.6 (FARWH).
Project 5.2 Importance of
waterholes as aquatic refugia and
the biophysical processes that
sustain them
Sampling on the Flinders River is tightly linked to Project 4.3 as all sites overlap.
This will help to provide a holistic understanding of processes regulating
primary productivity and invertebrate and fish biomass in waterholes.
Project 5.3 River-floodplain food
web subsidies
Sampling (Feb. ‘10) was coordinated with project 5.4 to better understand
linkages between floodplains and estuaries. This sampling took place in the
Flinders and Norman Rivers.
There also continue to be links to project 5.6 as samples collected for otolith
age determination are being analyzed for stable isotopes to evaluate the use of
different habitats (river, marine, and floodplain) by barramundi.
Project 5.4 Assessing the effect of
urbanization and catchment
development on ecosystem health
in estuaries
Water quality in waterholes in Flinders River (Project 4.3) has been compared
with water quality in Norman River estuary during the recent major floods
(Project 5.4).
Project 5.5 Flow-ecology
relationships for biodiversity and
ecosystem processes
The seasonal food web sampling occurring in tributaries of the Daly River was
conducted in conjunction with project 5.1 River food webs. The same sampling
design is being used by both projects, but where 5.5 is investigating two
components relating to longitudinal fluxes of aquatic biota and food web
productivity, project 5.1is focusing on two components relating to the exchange
of resources across the aquatic-terrestrial interface: one focuses on the lateral
fluxes of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates across the riparian zone to identify
the times of year where there might be peaks in this exchange, and the other is
investigating changes in the trophic guild structure of riparian bird assemblages
to identify when there is the potential for greater predation pressure on aquatic
invertebrate and fish resources.
As for the 5.5 components, these activities will be conducted across a range of
flow permanence, and over the seasonal hydrograph, to illuminate the fluxes of
materials both longitudinally and laterally under different flow conditions.
Project 5.6 Flow impacts on
estuarine finfish of the Gulf of
Carpentaria
Collaborative links have been maintained with Theme 1 modelling projects
through confirmation of conceptual models developed during last year. This has
identified how outcomes will be incorporated into the final integrated modelling
project.
NT staff involved in this project, have a long term working relationship with the
Daly river fish sampling Project 5.8.
Linkages are continuing to be developed with Project 5.4.
Sampling and data sharing with Project 5.2.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 24 of 173
Project 5.7 Environmental flow
tools for northern rivers
The nature of Project 5.7 as a synthesis of research requires it to have strong
collaborative links with all TRaCK projects conducting flow-related research.
Project 5.7 will be synthesising the major flow-related findings from Projects 2.2,
3, 4.1- 4.4 and 5.1 - 5.6 to develop a set of tools and principles to inform,
conduct and recommend environmental flows for tropical rivers.
As discussed above, there are also strong links with project 1.1 and Theme 7,
which share some convergent activities. Communication between these
projects is being assisted by the development of an integration project ―cluster‖
in April 2009.
Project 5.8 Biodiversity and
HCVAE
Tissue samples from fish collected in the Daly River as part of projects 5.1, 5.3
and 5.5 have been collected for use in this project.
Hydrological and geomorphologic data gained through Project 3.3 has been
used in analyses of fish and turtle distribution.
Project 6.1 Establishing water
markets in northern Australia
Researchers on projects 6.1 and 6.2 met in Darwin to outline approaches and
progress. Linkages to case studies in Theme 6 will be made as project
proposals are finalized. There is potential for knowledge sharing with other
TRaCK projects and CERF hubs (such as the Environmental Economics hub).
Project 6.3 Developing an effective
conservation and sustainable use
economy in Arnhem Land
Project coordinator Jon Altman is currently advising TRaCK project 2.2
Indigenous values and river flows. There are links between this project and
project 2.2.
Theme Integration / Other linkages Theme 4 and 5 held a planning workshop in Brisbane to revise projects in light
of SmartState funding and to budget and coordinate a plan for Indigenous
engagement
All the leaders from Theme 1 and 2 (socio-economic) met twice: to ensure
coordination when engaging with communities; to avoid duplication in methods
being used and literature surveys; as well as to discuss ways of maximising
impact (e.g. involvement of water planners in these themes).
2.7 An outline of any demonstration/communication activities undertaken
Background/Objectives
The TRaCK Program developed a Knowledge and Adoption Strategy at its inception which had
the objective to increase the uptake and impact of TRaCK research outcomes. To create the
best likelihood of adoption, six areas of activity were identified:
1. Project level knowledge and adoption planning
2. Understanding and engaging stakeholders
3. Program communications
4. Indigenous engagement strategy
5. Managing synthesis and legacy
6. Information and knowledge management
The Knowledge & Adoption context
The context for the TRaCK CERF hub was unique. For TRaCK where we work affected the
nature of what we did and who could use it. The tropical north is a large sparsely populated
area, with a high proportion of Aboriginal people. When TRaCK commenced there was not a
lot of existing data meaning that there was a great need for on-ground data collection (23 out
of 28 projects did field-based data collection).
The implications for K&A were that a large effort was required to engage with people on the
ground as we visited their land. All researchers had a responsibility for K&A but it was also
recognised there was a need for dedicated individuals to coordinate and promote this activity
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 25 of 173
and undertake program level activity. To this end the team employed a K&A coordinator and 3
regional coordinators for each of the jurisdictions (based, in Broome, Cairns and Darwin).
Engagement
We recognised early in the program that the people who were interested in our research
(other than the researchers)—our stakeholders—needed to be involved in the program if we
were to achieve our goal. Our stakeholders were involved in a number of ways:
We consulted them as we were developing the program of research.
They were represented in TRaCK governance.
They took part in the research itself.
We discussed progress, in a variety of forums.
We sought their input and feedback, where appropriate, as we developed products.
We put substantial effort into developing strategies and processes to make sure that we were
involving our stakeholders consistently and well, especially considering how geographically
dispersed they were. We also developed strategies for communicating about field trips, the
progress of our research and the findings.
We put particular focus on how we worked with Indigenous people. NAILSMA, our main
Indigenous partner, developed an Indigenous engagement strategy. Following on from this
strategy, we developed research agreements with Aboriginal people in our three main
catchments. Some research was directed and conducted by local Aboriginal people, for example
the sustainable livelihoods studies in the Fitzroy and Archer catchments.
Field-based projects provided opportunities for the paid participation of Indigenous people as
cultural advisers, research assistants and field guides. The K&A team also employed two
Aboriginal women as coordinators in the Mitchell catchment (Qld).
At the request and with the support of Traditional Custodians of the Mitchell River, 18 TRaCK
staff received cross-cultural training. We have had some highly positive feedback from
researchers as it highlighted to some the mutual benefits of working in partnership with
Aboriginal people. This will be a significant legacy of the TRaCK program.
Local input guided research activities and processes. For example, in the Kimberley,
arrangements were made with local educational facilities, resource centres and research
projects through which aspects of the TRaCK research were integrated into existing curricula
and programs.
Workshops & conferences
The TRaCK website contains information about over 70 conference presentations made by
TRaCK researchers and students predominantly at scientific conferences. In several instances
TRaCK supported Aboriginal collaborators to attend and present at conferences such as
Riversymposium and the Australian Society for Limnology.
Conferences
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 26 of 173
Coast to Coast conference, Darwin (2008): TRaCK sponsored a session with MTSRF:
―Crossing Boundaries in Tropical Rivers & Estuaries: Maintaining Connections‖.
Riversymposium , Brisbane (2009): Six TRaCK researchers presented at two federally
funded feature sessions: ―The Potential of the North? Flows for Rivers & Estuaries:
Understanding Their Values‖ and ―The Potential of the North? Indigenous water
issues‖.
Australian Society for Limnology Congress, Alice Springs (2009): TRaCK and the WA
Department of Water held 2 special sessions on ―Tropical Rivers -research,
management & community engagement‖. Seven researchers and 1 student gave oral
presentations on their research and 1 a poster presentation. Four Traditional Owners
were sponsored to attended. Two gave oral presentations and two posters.
Indigenous Studies Indigenous Knowledge Conference, Fremantle (2009): TRaCK
supported three traditional custodians to attend. All gave presentations which were the
only ones on natural resource management. They were very well attended and
generated a great deal of interest from Indigenous people across Australia.
Workshops and briefings:
The K&A team and researchers have made a consistent effort to brief our stakeholders at
events ranging from annual general meetings to cultural festivals. We have also conducted
briefings with smaller groups.
TRaCK has participated in all the CERF conferences
There have been three annual TRaCK workshops. 1. Darwin 2008 - Over 60 people
attended over the 3 days, including project teams, LWA, NWC and DEWHA
representatives, invited speakers from across jurisdictions and local NT stakeholders.
2. Brisbane 2009 - 48 TRaCK researchers presented their key findings to State and
Commonwealth stakeholders (19) and requested feedback about how we best deliver
to them. 3. Brisbane 2010- 44 researchers attended with the focus to share and
synthesize findings.
The team provided regular updates to regional stakeholders including the Kimberley
Land Council, the Fitzroy Catchment Management Group, and outlying communities
(Fitzroy), Daly River Management Advisory Committee, Daly River Aboriginal
Reference Group (NT), the Mitchell River Watershed Management Group, and
Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group, (Qld). Also the relevant
Regional NRM groups, local Indigenous ranger groups, local government, etc. Many of
these groups have members representing pastoralists, agriculture and industry and so
provided an efficient means of communicating to a broad range of stakeholders.
Meetings and briefings were also conducted with State government agencies
(particularly NRETAS, DERM and DoW). These have occurred in the capitals and
regions and have ranged from formal presentations by researchers to discussions with
small groups about the significance of research findings.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 27 of 173
The Director has met frequently with Federal stakeholders to promote collaboration
and research uptake. Examples include DEWHA/DSEWPaC regarding the Kimberley
Heritage Assessment, the Heritage Division of DEWHA on Indigenous engagement and
links with the Working on Country program. He has also presented at NWC seminars
and DEWHA Bunker briefings.
Highlights included:
The Mitchell River Indigenous forum held on country in late 2008. This laid the
foundation for our collaboration with traditional custodians from the upper catchment
in subsequent years. More than 90 Traditional Owners attended and eight TRaCK
researchers attended.
Daly River fish and flows seminar and workshop in mid 2009. Stakeholder
representatives included NRETAS, Power and Water Museum and Art Gallery of the
NT, NRETAS Minister Advisor and others.
The K&A team coordinated and supported the participation of 8 Traditional Owners (4
from the Kimberley, 2 from the Daly and 2 from the Mitchell) at the 2010 CERF
conference in Canberra. All TO‘s presented at the Indigenous session, describing the
(quite different) nature of their work associated with TRaCK. The TO‘s all felt this was
an important opportunity to express their views directly to the funders and decision-
makers in Canberra – for some it was their first visit.
Media
22 media releases were made over the life of the program content ranging from highlights from
research findings and outputs to releases in conjunction with events such as workshops, signing
of research agreements, etc.
Articles about TRaCK have appeared in the Australian, The Canberra Times, the NT News
(front page twice), Courier Mail, Broome Advertiser, and Cairns Post (front page once).
Interviews have featured on radio programs including Bush Telegraph, ABC Rural, Country
Hour, national ABC radio, and national Indigenous radio. Interviews have also appeared on
regional and capital city news broadcasts. TRaCK researchers also contributed to an ABC
Radio National feature program on the Daly River.
One of our most popular releases was ―North QLD river researchers solve why big floods
equal big barramundi‖. It received extensive media coverage in regional print, radio and online.
The main researcher Dr Tim Jardine was also subsequently approached by Australasian Science
Magazine to write a related article.
Audiovisual
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 28 of 173
2 DVDs from the Kimberley produced by local Aboriginal organisations, another is being
finalised from the Mitchell. Three podcasts in addition to radio interviews with researchers are
also on the website.
Publications
All research projects have provided a summary of their key findings. These will be published as
a plain English legacy of TRaCK‘s research. The publication will also provide information about
where readers can find publications with more detail about topics of interest. Over the life of
the program there has also been:
33 fact sheets produced describing research and summarising findings
14 newsletters or newsletter contributions including 5 On TRaCK publications and 12
magazine articles including in Kantri Laif and the DSEWPaC Wetlands magazine, Stories
of Australian Science, Savanna Links, and NWC newsletter Distilled
4 posters capturing information about Aboriginal resource use and names for plant and
animal species. These posters have had positive feedback from communities and another
2-4 are planned as part of the TRaCK synthesis year
28 Technical reports (including 3 going through final approvals)
65 journal articles already published or in varying stages of the publication process.
3 book chapters with a further 14 awaiting publication
1 book of aquatic biodiversity of northern Australia
Website
The TRaCK website is a significant tool to make information about the consortium and outputs
easily accessible. A basic site was overhauled in 2009 to be underpinned by a searchable
content management system (www.track.gov.au).
The site includes:
All TRaCK publications as citations or PDFs where we hold copyright
Descriptions of all projects including contacts and their publications
All media releases
An image gallery with over 200 photos
Information about the research occurring in the key focus catchments
A DVD containing all these assets has been designed and will be broadly distributed to
stakeholders in mid 2011. The site will eventually be archived on the new NERP site. The
robust structure of the site means that it can support the Digital Atlas that has been developed
to deliver all TRaCK assets including metadata and maps in a searchable geographic context.
The impact of the K&A activity will be evaluated during the final synthesis year with
recommendations to inform the future NERP program.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 29 of 173
3 TRaCK PROJECT SUMMARY REPORTS
PROJECT 1.1 SCENARIOS FOR TROPICAL RIVERS AND COASTS:
INTEGRATING THE TRACK RESEARCH
TRaCK Theme: Scenario Evaluation
Project Number: 1.1
Project Title:
Scenarios for tropical rivers and coasts: integrating the TRaCK
research
Project Coordinator: Stephen Garnett
Key Partner Personnel:
Neil Collier, Hmalan Hunter-Xenie, Iain Gordon, Kostas
Alexandridis, Colette Thomas, Renee Bartolo, Rick van Dam,
Bruce Campbell
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary
This project integrates research from other themes and provide tools for evidence-based
decision-making. In this project stakeholders have been engaged at various levels, from local to
national, to develop likely scenarios for the future of tropical rivers and coasts. They have been
invited to explore the environmental, social, cultural and economic consequences of scenarios
using a variety of modeling tools (including systems dynamic, Bayesian, GIS-based tools). The
models have been developed in a participatory manner, largely using data and outputs
developed by other themes/projects.
2. Project Objectives
To develop realistic scenarios for the future of riverine and coastal ecosystems based on
TRaCK research, including environmental flow requirements and opportunities for sustainable
enterprises.
3. Location
The project worked in three catchments, including the Daly, Fitzroy and Mitchell.
4. Target Audiences for the research
The principal target audience is a broad range of stakeholders involved in various decision-
making processes. But it is not confined to decision-makers: all stakeholders involved will be
better informed by exploring the scenario models. Some examples of target audiences include:
NRM groups: e.g. Mitchell River Watershed Management Group (Queensland)
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 30 of 173
Government: Water resource management departments across northern Australia
Regional water planners
Indigenous groups: e.g. Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group (Northern Territory)
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project sought to improve decision-making by multiple stakeholders in relation to water
use and catchment management in Northern Australia, and to improve engagement amongst
catchment managers, policy makers and researchers in each of three catchments in which it was
to operate.
The project proposed to do this by developing visioning and scenario tools that strengthen
local capacity among Indigenous communities, followed by testing to enable Indigenous
stakeholders to engage more effectively in planning and decision-making processes. Initial proof
of concept was undertaken with the Aboriginal Reference Group (ARG) for the Daly River
region whose members have specifically requested activities and tools that would allow them to
participate more effectively in the broader planning process. These tools, which will be
applicable in a wide variety of Australian landscapes, were then to be applied in focus
catchments in WA (Fitzroy) and Qld (Mitchell) with similar water resource planning issues.
The Research Executive Committee (REC) became concerned about the progress of Project
1.2 Capacity building tools for effective planning and decision-making in Indigenous contexts in 2009,
and agreed to undertake an independent and external review of the project to determine
future directions.
The review found that the project was ambitious given the multiple challenges of decision-
making scales and institutional capacities. The challenges were increased by the change and
relocation of key research personnel, an insufficient understanding of the capacity building
requirements of the ARG and delays in negotiating research agreements. However, an
understanding of these challenges was a legitimate part of the research process and contributed
to the improved implementation of the revised project. There remained strong support for the
objectives of the project from all partners that contributed to the review and who clearly
wanted the project to continue.
Project 1.1 was replaced by Project 1.4 in October 2009, following the comprehensive review
and consideration by the Program Management Committee.
The achievements of the project included:
Review of participatory modeling approaches
Development of policy briefs on ―Visions for the North‖
Review and scoping of tools that help evidence-based decision-making, including
stakeholder-driven models that explore scenario consequences: Systems dynamics
models and Bayesian Belief Networks.
Improved confidence and participation of ARG members in workshops and meetings
ARG planning workshop March 2008
ARG ―Change Stories‖ training workshop June 2008
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 31 of 173
Participation in a FitzCam meeting June 2008
ARG ―Change Stories‖ workshop August 2008
ARG governance training workshop December 2008
Paper delivered to the River Symposium (including participation by two ARG members) September 2008
Participation in Mitchell River Indigenous Forum December 2008
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 32 of 173
PROJECT 1.2 CAPACITY BUILDING TOOLS FOR EFFECTIVE
PLANNING AND DECISION-MAKING IN INDIGENOUS
CONTEXTS
TRaCK Theme: Scenario Evaluation
Project Number: 1.2
Project Title:
Capacity building tools for effective planning and decision-
making in Indigenous contexts
Project Coordinator: Owen Stanley
Key Partner Personnel:
Bruce Campbell, Bev Sithole, Neil Collier and Hmalan Hunter-
Xenie.
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary In order to achieve the goals of the Project, two activities were developed: Power Tools and
River Change Stories:
Power Tools
– Aim: To provide Indigenous people with the skills and information required for
them to be more effectively involved in water planning.
– Method: We relied on what they identified that they needed. We provided the
program directly or paid for outside experts to do it.
River Change Stories
– Aim: To record Indigenous peoples‘ knowledge of changes to the catchments to
complement scientific knowledge and to assist communities record their
knowledge and heritage.
– Method: To involve Indigenous people as much as possible in all aspects of the
production, filming and film processing stages so they gain knowledge and skills.
2. Project Objectives
Stimulate local engagement and action at a community level, better deliver services to
support such action and inform policy makers of knowledge gaps and constraints.
Identify and explore solutions to conflicting stakeholder aspirations.
3. Location
The Project was undertaken in TRaCK focal catchments of the Daly (NT), Fitzroy (WA) and
Mitchell (Qld).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 33 of 173
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
Power Tools
The Power Tools component of the project has been a success. The organisations involved
have said that it has been helpful in improving their knowledge, skills, knowledge and confidence
to engage in water planning processes.
People involved in the project requested information on:
Formal aspects of ―western‖ organisations through which their views were being expressed
- including legal obligations, roles, accountability requirement,
Operating issues – including improving members‘ attendance and participation, relationship
with researchers, appointment of a facilitator, providing community feedback, business
planning, sometimes people had difficulty speaking for a large area involving other peoples‘
country when they were not entitled to under Aboriginal law,
Understanding scientific knowledge - Western knowledge, researchers and the scientific
method, role of Indigenous knowledge,
Water policy process and the ways in which catchments work – National Water Initiative, interaction between surface and ground water,
Meaning of terms – ―aquifer‖, ―cultural water‖, ―environmental flows‖…
For the Daly Catchment a series of workshops were organised on:
Visioning and planning (to investigate what worked and what didn’t in their participation in water
planning and their ideas for improvements)
Governance (roles and responsibilities of members in the organisation)
Participatory research tools
Oolloo aquifer (meanings of terms used, water allocation process by the Northern Territory
Government,)
For the Mitchell Catchment a series of workshops were organised on:
Land & water policy (to develop a consensus on approach to water issues)
Governance (structure of the Mitchell River Traditional Custodian Advisory Group
[MRTCAG], roles and responsibilities of members, accountability)
Research tools (nature of research and researchers, the scientific method, role of Indigenous
knowledge preparing for Change Stories, current water policy)
Business planning (to teach and develop a business plan for MRTCAG)
For the Fitzroy Catchment there was:
Support for the Fitzroy River Catchment Action Management (FitzCAM) project workshop.
Joint activity with the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators‘ Network.
Change Stories
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 34 of 173
For Change Stories, the filming in the Fitzroy and Mitchell catchments has been important to
the communities in recording the history, increasing empowerment and self esteem, and
creating knowledge about filming.
In the Fitzroy catchment the project contracted an Indigenous Media Training organisation in
the region, called the Yiriman Project, to undertake all aspects of the organising and filming of
Change Stories for this catchment.
In the Mitchell Catchment the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) was contracted to
undertake the filming. Some aspects of the filming were:
Four language groups, Western Gugu Yalangi, Kuku Djungan, Wokomin and M-Barbaram
Filming required 1600kms of travel, to 6 major sites and many minor sites.
It required months in preparation with community, one week trial for interviews and
distance, and one week of filming
Over 34 people interviewed fully and 150+ people attended the filming – water and food,
transport, swags etc had to be organised
Produced 12 hours of film, to be reduced.
ABC is interested in making programs from the material.
For the Mitchell Catchment observations from the Change Stories project were:
River in good condition high in the catchment (the TOs considered themselves ―blessed‖) and in poor condition lower down (Chillago)
River Problems:
Pollution, especially from mining
Lower water flow because of water being taken out
Dry and shallow waterholes
Change of water banks for mining, road construction
Erosion
Lack of access because of fencing and private ownership
Feral animals, causing damage to banks
Uncontrolled behaviour by squatters
Cultural issues: River is the most important aspect of the environment
Want revitalisation of culture
Want Aboriginal language in schools, ―why Italian?‖
5. Indigenous Engagement
The philosophy underlying Power Tools and River Change Stories is that Indigenous people, as
far as possible, should be fully involved in the design and implementation of the programs. Thus
the project worked through their organisations using a range of agreements relating to conduct
and intellectual property. The organisations were:
MRTCAG – Mitchell River Traditional Custodian Advisory Group Aboriginal Corporation
DRARG – Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group, and
FitzCAM ARG – Fitzroy River Catchment Action Management Aboriginal Reference Group
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 35 of 173
Under Power Tools, organisations were asked what training they thought they needed and then
provided it directly or funded another organisation to provide it. Under River Change Stories,
the organisations decided how and where the filming should take place and who should be
interviewed. We required them to discuss certain questions that are of interest to scientists,
but apart from that, they were able to discuss any matter relating to the catchment, and their
lives and culture relating to it.
The level of training of Indigenous people was, very high under Power Tools, and in some cases,
the training was provided by an Indigenous person. The level of training under River Change
Stories differed somewhat between the Fitzroy and Mitchell filming. Indigenous people were
fully involved in all aspects of the Fitzroy filming, and it was undertaken as a training program. In
the Mitchell case, local Indigenous people were involved in all aspects apart from filming and
sound, and film processing functions. However, in this case, the camera person was a local
Indigenous person who had left the Mitchell area some years ago, and ABC Resources
employed an Indigenous trainee to undertake the first edit of the film stock.
Nine members of the ex-FitzCAM Aboriginal Reference Group (FitzCAM ARG) and two key
personnel (FitzCAM ARG Coordinator and the Fitzroy ICWFN) were involved in the Power
Tools program. At least six Indigenous youths from the Yiriman Youth Project operating in the
Fitzroy River catchment, and took the lead in collecting stories in the River Change Stories
program. Over 30 Indigenous people from the area were involved in consultations and
interviews.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Publications:
Paper was submitted to Ecology and Society in September 2009 – Sithole, B., Hunter-Xenie, H.,
Collier, N. and Garnett, S.T. entitled ‗Planning with People‖ A Review of Participatory Planning
for Natural Resource Management.‘
Presentations:
Hunter-Xenie, H. and White, V. 2008. Update on Power Tools and Change Stories programs.
Presentation to the Indigenous Community Water Facilitator Network, December 2008,
Darwin.
Hunter-Xenie, H., Goodman, P. and White, V. 2008. Update on Power Tools and Change
Stories programs. Presentation to the Daly River Management Advisory Committee, 12
December 2008, Darwin.
Hunter-Xenie, H., Collier, N., Liddy, M., White, V., White, M., Garnett, S.T. and Sithole, B.
2008. Bringing Aboriginal people into water planning – lessons from the Daly River.
Presentation at the River Symposium, 1-4 September, Brisbane.
Sithole, B., Collier, N., Hunter-Xenie, H. in collaboration with the Daly River Aboriginal
Reference Group. 2008. TRaCK project 1.2 ‗Change Stories‘ Training Report: Daly River
catchment, Northern Territory. CDU, Darwin, 22pp.ABSTRACT
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 36 of 173
Events held by project
At least 10 workshops in the Daly and Mitchell River catchments as activities under the Power
Tools program. Approximately 120 Indigenous and 20 non-Indigenous people participated in
these events along with P1.2 staff.
The Yirimin Youth Project undertook the collection of stories for the River Change Stories
program in the Fitzroy River catchment. The Yiriman Youth project involved over 30 local
people in the consultations and interviews.
The project held an intensive two week program in July 2010 regarding the collection of stories
for the River Change Stories program in the Mitchell River area with MRTCAG. Over 150
people were involved in the program over the two week period.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 37 of 173
PROJECT 1.3 COLLABORATIVE WATER PLANNING
TRaCK Theme: Scenario Evaluation
Project Number: Project 1.3
Project Title: Collaborative Water Planning
Project Coordinator: Poh-Ling Tan
Key Partner Personnel:
Sue Jackson, Wendy Proctor, Sharna Nolan (CSIRO), John
Mackenzie (Griffith University), James Whelan (Change Agency)
1. Project Summary
This project produced, trialed and promoted collaborative approaches to water planning;
incorporating improved approaches for involving communities, industry and the public; and
providing methods to incorporate social, cultural and economic values in water planning,
especially those held by Indigenous people. In Phase 1, it surveyed national and international
best practice in collaborative water planning, NRM; and survey community, industry and agency
expectations of water planning processes in 2 catchments in Australia where water planning has
occurred. The case studies were in Queensland (Gulf of Carpentaria) and WA (the Ord).
In Phase 2 the focus shifted to two major case studies in northern Australia specifically
catchments in northern Queensland and the Northern Territory. Working in consultation with
water agencies, it trialed and evaluated improved tools for collaborative planning in these two
catchments. Tools considered for use in the trials include conflict resolution techniques in
relation to science based disputes including joint fact finding; social learning, deliberative
workshops, and multi-criteria evaluation processes. Key features of the trial included
community water planning workshops in the catchments for capacity building, developing training materials, evaluation and adjustment of the process.
2. Project Objectives
(i) Identify barriers to and opportunities for industry, Indigenous and broader community
participation.
(ii) Map industry, Indigenous, broader community and agency expectations of water
planning processes, including the role of transparency in trade-offs.
(iii) Benchmark water planning tools and standards for engaging participants and
incorporating values and transparent trade-offs in water planning. (iv) Trial identified tools to determine suitability for a range of Australian circumstances,
especially in regions where there are significant Indigenous interests.
(v) Promote tools and develop a proposal for a training package for agencies, industries and
community groups in the use of these tools to contribute to effective water planning
processes.
(vi) Contribute to development of national guidelines for public participation in water
planning, particularly in regard to Indigenous participation.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 38 of 173
3. Location
Phase 1: Retrospective evaluation of water planning in Queensland (Gulf of Carpentaria), and
WA (the Ord).
Phase 2: Trial of collaborative water planning tools in processes in the Greater Darwin area in
NT, and the Wet Tropics in North Queensland.
4. Target Audience(s) for the research
government policy makers
state/territory and regional water planners
federal government agencies
local government councils
water planning committees
regional NRM groups
Indigenous groups
Peak industry organisations
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
Project achievements and outputs included:
Better collaborative water planning in northern Australia – improvements to practice
through the provision of information, training materials and learning opportunities in
water planning trials
More appropriate participation from all groups with an interest in water planning
Greater practitioner, awareness and competency in using various deliberative planning
tools
Greater consideration of ways of addressing conflict in water planning
Informed stake-holder contributions to national water policy debate and implementation
of the National Water Initiative
A report evaluating water planning in northern Australia and identifying barriers and
opportunities to industry, Indigenous and broader community participation in water
planning
A tool-kit of best practices for engaging industry, Indigenous and broader community groups and incorporating values in water planning
Guidelines for monitoring and evaluating public participation in water planning
Publications that contribute to national standards for public participation in water planning
A major objective of the project was also to identify correlations and divergences between the expectations held by stakeholders involved in water planning, including industry, Indigenous,
broader community and agency expectations, in terms of public involvement, planning
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 39 of 173
processes and water allocation outcomes. Prior research has demonstrated that in some
instances expectations of roles of communities, industries and Indigenous peoples have not
matched those of water planners, or executive levels of government. This research represented
the first focussed effort to obtain a broader stakeholder perspective on the expectations for an
expanded role for community input specified in the National Water Initiative.
As a summary of our attempts to clarify these expectations, the table below presents in a
matrix form the different perspectives which have been identified through the course of this
project:
Expectations for Water Planning
Indust
ry
Indig
enous
Com
munity
Age
ncy
Role of Community
All interests in the region and its water resources be considered
The diversity of the region, and the specificity of each river, be
afforded due consideration in the process
Community contributions be used to supplement the science
where necessary
Community participants have a role to facilitate wider community
involvement in the development of the plan
The panel would be provided with appropriate resources to fulfil
its role to facilitate broader engagement in the process
Finalised statutory water plans should reflect the contributions
made during the planning process
The issues raised in the context of the community meetings would
be afforded due consideration and that they would receive
feedback on those issues from agency staff
Water plans achieve a science-based balance between competing
uses
Water Planning Process
All contributions, including those of the panel and obtained through
the submissions, be valued and respected by the agency
Water planning decisions display and maintain transparency and
fairness through an open, accountable decision-making process
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 40 of 173
Water plans are based on appropriate technical information and
defensible research
Local, including Indigenous, knowledge which may not be available
to the technical assessors be recognised and afforded parity with
the findings of the science
The cultural values, including Indigenous, non-Indigenous, and
recreational, be recognised and embedded in the process
Water plans require the informed consent of all Traditional
Owners in the area prior to its statutory enactment
Timeframes for the water planning process should be streamlined
to avoid the least possible disruption to regional development and
investment
All information relating to water use and management would be
made available to community stakeholders as part of the water
planning process, and after the process has reached a decision
Water Planning Outcomes
Native title, cultural heritage and Traditional Owner custodial
interests must be recognised and upheld through the plan
Enhanced protection of the rights of existing water users
Water plans should sustain communities aspirations for regional
development and long-term social improvement
Plans should provide sufficient certainty about allocations to
support development and future regional investment
The process be flexible enough to accommodate potential changes
to the region during the planning process and the ten-year duration
of the plan
Plans should endeavor to establish tradeable entitlements wherever
possible
The literature, policy and case study reviews conducted in the first phase of the project, and
workshops with planners in the nominated jurisdictions, confirmed the need to further develop
and apply collaborative methods for water planning in key areas, including:
clear processes and standards for community engagement, particularly for
participants in a community reference panel/group to understand the role, timing
and purpose of their involvement;
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 41 of 173
communication strategies and techniques to address the specific information
requirements of diverse constituencies, including science communication;
capacity-building tools to increase community understanding of water planning, and
the ability to contribute meaningfully to the conduct of planning process;
training and professional development for agency staff and science providers to
better facilitate community collaboration in planning and research;
Indigenous specific engagement strategies for identifying the implications of water
plans for cultural heritage, values and practice and the economic development
opportunities provided by water planning;
data, knowledge and information systems with the capability to handle input from
technical, local, traditional and Indigenous sources; and
decision-support systems for rigorous and transparent trade-off analysis in decision-
making.
A suite of effective water planning tools and standards to meet these identified needs and to
align with the expectations of planners and stakeholders was shortlisted, reviewed, and
customised for application in the northern Australian context through two case studies.
Throughout the tool development and case-study stages, planning tools which better engage
participants, provide a means to incorporate values, and allow for transparent trade-offs in
water planning were the focus of our efforts.
A list of 15 deliberative planning tools, many of which had been used for purposes other than
water planning was developed. Literature on the use of these tools for planning was examined,
including case study reports, to assist in their customisation for the specific requirements of
northern Australia water planning. Based on this review, a decision-tree for the selection of the
appropriate deliberative tool was developed, and these tools were benchmarked according to a
‗fit-for-purpose‘ framework to provide water planners with guidance in tool selection. This fit-
for-purpose framework has formed the basis of a ―Water Planners Portal‖: a proposed online
repository and guide to support water planners in the selection of tools and methodologies
collaborative water planning. A visual demonstration of the Portal was presented at the Review
Workshop in Darwin in October 2009. A prototype portal is currently under development.
Howard East, NT.
In the course of fifteen months, the project trialed, promoted and evaluated two planning tools:
a stakeholder analysis and a participatory groundwater visualisation tool. The team worked
closely with representatives from local stakeholder groups, members of the broader
community and staff from the Water Resource Management Branch of the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, The Arts and Sport (NRETAS) and independent experts from
the Queensland University of Technology. Three reports of this work have been written, Nolan
2009a, 2009b and 2009c.
Nolan‘s stakeholder analysis formed the basis of Ministerial Advice by NRETAS in 2009 for the
formation of a Howard East Water Allocation Committee. However no decision has as yet
been made for Howard water allocation planning to commence.
Western Cape York, Queensland
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 42 of 173
Researchers conducted interviews, site visits and workshops with sixteen Traditional Owners
from Aurukun Waterways, Wetlands and Coastal Advisory Committee, and with twenty
Traditional Owners from the Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group, with the
aim of jointly developing engagement protocols which ensure that decisions about future water
use and allocation respect and follow customary decision-making processes, and best align with
the values, the aspirations and the visions of the local communities.
Through documenting and analysis of the values and preferences of the Indigenous groups
consulted, the TRaCK researchers developed recommendations for guidelines for allocation
decisions for Indigenous water reserves, that may be applicable to other areas of the Cape, and
Northern Australia more generally, where Indigenous water reserves are made available. These
recommendations are based on a negotiation framework which:
Places Indigenous communities in a position to make informed decisions about
future water use and management;
Ensures a strong negotiation position for those communities to maximise the financial and non-financial benefits of the water reserve;
Provides as much ownership and control of the decision-making process in the
hands of the Indigenous communities in the region as possible; and
Establishes sufficient flexibility to ensure that Traditional Owners are
appropriately recognised and able to initiate and advance planning objectives
beyond responding to those of government agencies. These recommendations for a collaborative approach also seek to strengthen the network of
catchment-based groups and organisations which are able to provide ongoing policy advice on
Indigenous water issues from a range of viewpoints, at a national, regional and local scale.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Throughout the project, the research team sought to promote collaborative planning tools and
approaches through a range of communication and engagement activities. The findings from the
project have been submitted for consideration in the development of a number of national
initiatives related to water planning, including the National Water Commission‘s Biennial
Review, the Northern Australian Land and Water Resource Assessment and the Northern
Australian Taskforce.
Water Planning Portal – The development of the Water Planners Portal was based on an
identified need to provide guided support to water planners to develop, implement and review
water plans in real-world contexts that are restricted by administrative requirements and the
availability of and access to resources. The development work done for the Portal through the
TRaCK project has been extended through another National Water Commission project,
Water Planning Tools, which will both support the continuing legacy and expand on the TRaCK
research.
Indigenous engagement guide – Reviews of the Good Practice Guide for Indigenous
Engagement in Water Planning conducted with Traditional Owner Groups through this project
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 43 of 173
have identified the need for introductory communication materials for Indigenous communities
to introduce and explain water planning in a plain English format.
Publications
Ayre, M. 2008. Collaborative Water Planning: Retrospective Case studies, Volume 4.2, Water Planning
in the Ord River of Western Australia. Report to the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge
(TRaCK) program. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
Elix, J. 2008. Collaborative Water Planning: Best Practice Strategies and Techniques in the Resolution of
Public Disputes over Natural Resources, Volume 2. Report to the Tropical Rivers and Coastal
Knowledge (TRaCK) program. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
Mackenzie, J. 2008. Collaborative Water Planning: Retrospective Case studies, Volume 4.1, Water
Planning in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Report to the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge
(TRaCK) program. Land and Water Australia, Canberra.
Mackenzie, J. and Whelan J. 2009. Establishing Indigenous Water Reserves in Cape York.
Forthcoming journal article.
Mackenzie, J. 2009. Improving Traditional Owner Participation in Water Planning: Catchment-wide
Advisory Groups. Forthcoming journal article.
Mackenzie, J., Nolan S. and Whelan J. 2010. Collaborative Water Planning: Guide to Monitoring and
Evaluating Public Participation, Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
Nolan S. 2009a. Collaborative Water Planning Project, Rural Darwin (NT) Case: Analysis of
Stakeholder Interests in the Groundwater Resources of the Howard East Aquifer, CSIRO Sustainable
Ecosystems, Darwin.
Nolan S. 2009b. Collaborative Water Planning Project, Participatory Groundwater Visualisation Tool,
unpublished report.
Nolan S. 2009c. Collaborative Water Planning: Rural Darwin District (Northern Territory) Pilot Study,
Final Report, unpublished report.
Tan, P. L. 2008. Collaborative Water Planning: Legal and Policy Analysis, Volume 3, Report to the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) program. Land and Water Australia,
Canberra.
Tan, P.L. et al. 2008. Collaborative Water Planning: Context & Practice. Volume 1, Report to the
Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) program. Land and Water Australia,
Canberra.
Whelan, J. et al, 2009. Proposal for a Training package for agencies, industries and community groups
in best-practice water planning processes, unpublished report.
Workshops/ Presentations
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 44 of 173
Northern Australia Taskforce Land and Water Assessment: Workshop participation and input
into the Mitchell Catchment case study for the Land and Water Assessment. 28th August –30th
September 2009.
Integrated Water Resource Management Professional Development Presentation: Professional
Development Seminar delivered to members of the Philippines Water Resources Board and the
Indonesian Water Supply Association as part of the International Water Centre‘s IWRM
Professional Development Program. 1st September 2009.
TRaCK North Queensland Meeting Presentation: Presentation to TRaCK researchers at
Griffith University on Aurukun field research. 11th September 2009.
Riversymposium: Conference Presentation on the findings from the project as part of a special
session at this conference on Northern Australian Rivers. 21st – 24th September 2009.
Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group: Workshop conducted with Mitchell
River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group on Indigenous water reserves in Cape York. 5th -
6th October 2009.
Research Review Public Meeting: Community presentation on research findings at Public
Meeting in Darwin, 12th October 2009.
TRaCK Collaborative Water Planning Review Workshop: Project findings review and outputs
reporting workshop conducted with Northern Australian stakeholders, including agencies,
community and research providers. 12th-13th October 2009.
Murray Darling Basin Authority: Input into the Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy based on
TRaCK Monitoring & Evaluation Guide, and review of stakeholder engagement strategy. 19th-
20th October 2009.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 45 of 173
PROJECT 1.4 - SCENARIOS FOR TROPICAL RIVERS AND INTEGRATING THE
TRACK RESEARCH
TRaCK Theme: Scenario Evaluation
Project Number: 1.4
Project Title:
Scenarios for tropical rivers and coasts: integrating the TRaCK
research
Project Coordinator: Francis Pantus
Key Partner Personnel:
Research Organisation:
Griffith University, Lindsay Bradford, Martin Stroet, Charles
Darwin University Hmalan Hunter-Xenie, Cathie Barton,
Chris Devonport; ERISS, Renee Bartolo
Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary
Based on the experiences and outputs of TRaCK Project 1.1, this project aimed to integrate
knowledge from the TRaCK science projects into models. The integrated knowledge improved our system understanding and formed the basis of the delivery of flexible management scenario
evaluation capability to the TRaCK program and its stakeholders. This project has done this by
further developing and implementing a broad framework for catchment-to-coast management
strategy evaluation (C2C-MSE) for the Northern Australian Rivers. This framework has then
been used to provide tools for evidence-based decision-making.
2. Project Objectives
Develop capability to evaluate realistic scenarios for the future of riverine and coastal
ecosystems based on the research, including environmental flow requirements and
opportunities for sustainable enterprises.
This project has:
• Engaged external and internal stakeholders at a range of levels to identify realistic
scenarios for the future management of key rivers and coasts.
• Integrated models and knowledge from other TRaCK projects into the broader C2C-MSE framework to explore scenarios for management and development of our natural
resources.
• Further developed the broad conceptual frameworks and implement software tools to
support decision-making based on best available knowledge.
• Identified gaps that will improve model reliability and predictive capacity
3. Location
The project is focusing on the Daly River catchment in the NT.
4. Target Audiences for the research
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 46 of 173
This project has engaged selected external stakeholders from various levels. To ensure that the
results of this project are relevant to the NT-government policy development and NRM
management, the project has interacted with key policy and decision makers in the NT-region.
The project also aims to integrate knowledge from other TRaCK projects, and as such, it
regards the TRaCK projects as another important (internal) group of stakeholders.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
This project has:
Integrated knowledge developed in the TRaCK science projects.
Developed/adapted of software based on the Catchment- to-Coast (C2C) Management
Strategy Evaluation (MSE) framework.
Delivered integrated science products into resource management.
Improved decision-making by multiple stakeholders in relation to water use and catchment
management in Northern Australia.
Improved engagement amongst catchment managers, policy makers and researchers.
In summary project outputs are:
The prototype Daly River MSE application is now operational and is delivering example
triple-bottom-line (economy, social and environmental) decision tables that allow high-level
tradeoffs to be delivered to resource managers and stakeholders.
The tradeoffs between the various scenarios in terms of triple-bottom-line are expected to be subtle and complicated if competing objectives are being pursued.
Explicit estimation/simulation of uncertainty is now also possible. The representation of
uncertainties will allow a more risk-based approach to resource management. Explicit
uncertainty recognises the need for robustness of management in the presence of ignorance
and natural variability.
The focus of the Project has been to deliver a prototype of an MSE-application (tool + regional
information) for the Daly River Catchment. To achieve this, the Project has worked towards
an MSE-application that allowed us to evaluate a range of water-related management options
for the Daly River catchment showing (triple bottom line) tradeoffs between social, economic
and environmental (physical and ecological) performance indicators.
The ‗central‘ model in the Daly River catchment MSE is the hydrologic model, allowing us to
trace water from precipitation to overland and groundwater flows through the catchment.
This model was developed, implemented, tested and (preliminarily) calibrated by the project
team.
For the ecology-based performance measures, we employ the optimal fish habitat models
developed by Project 5.9: ―Northern Australia Aquatic Ecological Assets‖. These models
established the relationship between river flows and optimal habitat for key species such as
Sooty Grunter and Barramundi) and their life cycles. Linking these models to the hydrologic
model and accepting ‗optimal habitat availability‘ as a performance measure for the ecological
state of the riverine system in the Katherine area is a first step in the adaptive process of
discussing and selecting appropriate performance measures for the Daly catchment.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 47 of 173
The model used to represent our socio-economic knowledge in the current version of the Daly
River catchment MSE was developed by Project 3.1, ―Socio-economic activity and water use in
the TR region‖. This model not only functions as a response model given available or allowed
water extraction limits, it also functions as a driver of water demand itself. It allows us to
evaluate the efficacy of the Water Allocation Plan under a range of scenarios. The sectors
included in the economics model are: Accommodation, Agriculture, Construction, Cultural and
Recreational Services, Electricity, Fin, Communication & Property, Government, Education &
Health, Mining & Manufacturing, Trade, Transport, Indigenous households, Non-Indigenous
households. The economics I/O model is described in detail in Stoeckl et al. (2010).
The third model of importance in the Daly prototype MSE, albeit not developed by a TRaCK
project, is the NRETAS Tindall Aquifer Water Allocation Plan (WAP). This plan explicitly
states the decision rules followed to set annual water allocation limits for the Tindall Aquifer at
Katherine. These rules have been incorporated (with some simplifications) into the Daly River
MSE application. This is of importance as it allows us to examine the effectiveness of the WAP
in an adaptive fashion, where the WAP takes the place of the management decision
functionality within the MSE framework.
Figure 1 shows the overall outline of currently implemented models with the emphasis on the
response models (yellow boxes) underpinning the triple-bottom-line focus for the prototype of
the Daly MSE application.
Figure 1 The main models implemented for the Daly River MSE prototype
application. In the background the six MSE conceptual elements (decision, action,
response, observation, assessment and learning). The implemented models are
coloured to conform with the MSE conceptual elements.
With the model configuration as shown in Figure 1, a series of scenarios were run to
demonstrate the capabilities of the prototype Daly River MSE application. The aim was to
show triple-bottom line performance of various economic options, with and without the Tindall
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 48 of 173
WAP (Water Allocation Plan) in place. Table 1 briefly describes the scenarios that were
evaluated.
Table 1 Scenarios evaluated to demonstrate the capability of the Daly River MSE
application
Scenario Description
1 No economic activity No economic activity at all, and no groundwater water
extraction as a consequence
2 Activity 2006 level Economic activity stable on 2006 level, no WAP
3 Activity 2006 level + WAP Economic activity stable on 2006 level, with WAP
4 5% Tourism Growth 5% annual tourism growth, defined by accommodation,
cultural/recreational, electricity and construction sectors,
no WAP
5 5% Tourism Growth + WAP 5% annual tourism growth, defined by accommodation,
cultural/recreational, electricity and construction sectors,
with WAP
6 1.5% Overall Growth All 12 industry sectors grow by 1.5% annually, no WAP
7 1.5% Overall Growth + WAP All 12 industry sectors grow by 1.5% annually, with WAP
8 5% Overall Growth All 12 industry sectors grow by 5% annually, no WAP
9 5% Overall Growth + WAP All 12 industry sectors grow by 5% annually, with WAP
10 5% Tourism + 1.5% agri 5% annual tourism growth (see strategies 4 and 5), and
1.5% annual growth in agriculture, no WAP
11 5% Tourism + 1.5% agri + WAP 5% annual tourism growth (see strategies 4 and 5), and
1.5% annual growth in agriculture, with WAP
Each of these scenarios was evaluated between 1963 and 2020 with ten stochastic replications.
The stochastic replications allowed the representation of a measure of uncertainty around the
average values.
Figure 2 shows a small selection of the comprehensive results being produced by the MSE
application. The eleven scenarios produce around 500 time series of information. Some time
series contain around 21,000 daily results for a 57 year simulation. Figure 2 demonstrates the
MSE intermediate, fine-scale information. It shows an example of the output for three scenario
evaluations 1, 10 and 11 (see Table 1 for details).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 49 of 173
Extracted groundwater
Non-Indigenous employment
Groundwater level
Sooty Grunter juv., available optimal habitat
Figure 2: The four graphs provide an example of the detailed results produced by
the prototype Daly River MSE application. The coloured traces in the graphs
represent various scenarios: green = scenario 1, yellow = 10 and blue = 11. NOTE:
These results are for demonstration purposes only.
However, the fine-scale data is likely to be confusing and thus not aid the decision-making
process. To make this amount of data accessible, the fine-scale data is summarised into decision
support tables, a core product delivered by the MSE application.
Decision support tables allow the tradeoffs between the evaluated scenarios to be visualised in
a consistent and comprehensive matter. They consist of measures that represent the key
messages from the MSE results (performance indicators) for each scenario. In the example
presented here, the key messages are how economics, social and environmental indicators
perform under the eleven different economic scenarios for the region. The effects of the WAP
can be seen when comparing performance across scenarios.
For each of the eleven scenarios described in Table 1, the results for each of the performance
indicators are shown in the graph in Figure 3. Figure 3 shows an example of the tradeoffs
between the various performance indicators (economy, social, ecology and hydro-physics) that
can be used to help make choices between management scenarios. Each of the four indicators
is expressed as a percentage of the maximum values, thus allowing a single scale to be used to
facilitate comparison (and to express the preliminary nature of these results).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 50 of 173
Figure 3 Summary of results of the eleven scenarios to demonstrate the
capabilities of the Daly River MSE application. Uncertainty indicators have been
omitted in this example. NOTE: These results are for demonstration purposes
only.
Suitable performance indicators were chosen to represent the economic, social and
environmental performance to enable the costs and benefits of each of the scenarios to be
reported. For example, the average annual industry income (gross value added) was used as
the performance indicator for the economy. The social sector was represented by the annual
Indigenous employment expectations. The environment was represented by two indicators:
ecology and hydro-physics. The ecology is represented by the 10th quartile of the Sooty
Grunter Juvenile optimal habitat. Note that this is a habitat-based surrogate and often other
factors need to be taken into account to get a more direct ecological indicator. The hydro-
physics was represented by the minimum groundwater level.
The underlying numbers for the calculation of these indicators was drawn from the last five
years (2015-2020) of the simulations.
Results, such as shown in Figure 3, will often lead to a new round of (more detailed) scenarios being defined and evaluated, thus supporting an adaptive search of the most interesting
scenarios within the management options space.
o Groundwater workshop with a range of stakeholders and experts, November
2011
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.5%
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TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 51 of 173
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Publications
Bartolo, R., P. Bayliss, and R. van Dam (2008). Semi-quantitative Risk Assessments. In Ecological
risk assessments for Australia's Northern Tropical Rivers: Sub project 2 of Australia's Tropical Rivers
- an integrated data assessment and analysis (DET18). A report to Land & Water Australia. 2008. The Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist and the National
Centre for Tropical Wetland Research. Darwin, Australia, pp.162-270.
Chan, Hart, Kennard, Pusey, Shenton, Douglas, Valentin and Patel (2010). Bayesian network
models for environmental flow decision making in the Daly river, Northern Territory. Australia. River
res. Applic. (2010) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI:
10.1002/rra.1456
Chiew, F.H.S., Peel, M.C. & Western, A.W. (2002), Application and testing of the simple rainfall-
runoff model SIMHYD, In: V.P. Singh & D.K. Frevert (Eds.), Math. Models of Small Watershed
Hydrol. & Applications, Water Resour. Pub., Colorado, pp.335-367.
Larson, S. and Alexandridis, K. (2009). Socio-economic Profiling of Tropical Rivers. Canberra,
ACT: Land and Water Australia, Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) Research
Hub, pp. 70
Stoeckl, N., Esparon, M., Stanley, O., Farr, M., Delisle, A., and Altai, Z. (2010). Socio-Economic
Activity and Water Use in Australia‘s Tropical Rivers: A case Study in the Mitchell and Daly
River Catchments. Charles Darwin University, Darwin.
Tan, K. S., F.H.S. Chiew, R. B. Grayson, P. J. Scanlon, and L. Siriwardena (2005), Calibration of a
Daily Rainfall-Runoff Model to Estimate High Daily Flows.
Presentations
2-part seminar on TRaCK MSE and Daly River application, Australian River Institute, Griffith University, March/April 2011
Workshop with NRETAS on the implementation of the Tindall WAP in the MSE application
February 2011
TRaCK REC on progress of MSE development, February 2011
NRETAS February 2011
TRaCK Groundwater workshop November 2010
Software tools/models: new or updated versions
Daly River Catchment MSE prototype
Events
Workshop with NRETAS on the implementation of the Tindall WAP in the MSE application
February 2011
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 52 of 173
PROJECT 2.1 THE VALUE OF TROPICAL RIVERS
TRaCK Theme: Assets and Values
Project Number: 2.1
Project Title: The value of Tropical Rivers
Project Coordinator: Anna Straton
Key Partner Personnel:
Sue Jackson and Nick Abel (CSIRO); Stephen Garnett, Adam
Drucker and Kerstin Zander (CDU)
Research Organisation: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
1. Project Summary
The tropical river systems of northern Australia are of economic, social, cultural and
environmental importance and they provide for activities people value, such as fishing and
farming, and offer other benefits to people, such as enjoyment and relaxation. This project
assessed these values and how they have changed through time using two approaches.
First, the value of some features and uses of tropical rivers were measured in economic terms
through an economic valuation technique. Second, changes in the features and uses of tropical
rivers and their values were recorded to identify cycles, patterns, lock-in events so as to
project forward as to the likely systemic impacts of a set of development scenarios. This was
done through three case studies, the Mitchell catchment in Qld, the Fitzroy catchment in WA
and the Daly catchment in the NT.
2. Project Objectives
Consult and collaborate with community, Indigenous, industry and government groups to
develop an understanding of tropical river systems, their ecosystem services and their values and to define issues for management;
Develop appropriate methodologies and undertake case studies in three tropical river
systems in Qld, the NT and WA to estimate the economic value of some ecosystem
services and non-market uses of tropical rivers;
Develop an historical event map of how value and values have changed through time and
identify the trade-offs and irreversibilities associated with different scenarios (thus
identifying some qualitative costs and benefits and equity implications of the management options associated with each scenario) and the institutional factors (incentives, regulations
and culture) that guide and govern people's use of tropical rivers and impact on ecosystem
services;
Document, evaluate and communicate the usefulness of the ecosystem services approach to
maintaining values and to the management of tropical rivers to the community and to
government. Comment on the effectiveness of communication strategies.
3. Location
Fitzroy River catchment in WA, Daly River catchment in the NT, and Mitchell River catchment
in Qld.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 53 of 173
4. Target Audiences for the research
Community, Indigenous, industry and government groups relevant to each case study
catchment
TRaCK scientists and funding bodies
Broader scientific community, particularly those interested in understanding value and
improving decision-making
Australian public and policy makers
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project contributed to scientific and policy knowledge through understanding of the role
and usefulness of economic valuation in aiding decision-making, and assessed of the change in
the value of tropical rivers through time and in response to a variety of drivers and future
scenarios. It also included collaborations with community, Indigenous, industry and government
groups relevant to each case study catchment.
The project developed a valuation methodology and surveys for three tropical river systems
(one each in QLD, NT and WA) to estimate the economic value of some nonmarket uses of
tropical rivers. Three choice modeling questionnaires were developed, one for each river
system. Surveys were undertaken with each questionnaire through both mail-out and face-to-
face delivery. The economic values (willingness-to-pay) of improvements in four ecosystem
services were estimated for each of the river systems using two different models of choice –
the multinomial logit and the mixed logit. The analysis and results are reported in the report,
‗The value of Australia‘s tropical river ecosystem services‘.
The project also undertook an historical analyses of values, including identification of some
trade-offs and irreversibilities that may be associated with different development scenarios. The
historical analysis of values and value were undertaken using the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment framework and resilience theory and analysis. Insight was gained into key drivers
of conditions and dynamics in the tropical rivers region and how changes in the past may
contribute to potential trade-offs and irreversibilities in the future. The analysis and results
were reported in the report, ‗The value of Australia’s tropical river ecosystem services’.
The project found that on average, people were prepared to pay more for rivers with the best
possible outcomes for environmental, recreational and Aboriginal cultural ecosystem services.
When it came to the provision of production ecosystem services from Australia‘s tropical
rivers, people generally preferred moderate rather than large scale irrigated agriculture. This
finding is specific to the Daly, Mitchell and Fitzroy catchments.
This is important because assumptions of support for the development of Australia‘s tropical
rivers for agricultural purposes to the detriment of Aboriginal, environmental and recreational
values are to be questioned. Rather, respondents valued a balance of agricultural and other
values – they value the use of tropical rivers for agricultural production but not at the expense
of Aboriginal, environmental and recreational values.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 54 of 173
This project furthered knowledge shared about ‗value‘ and ‗ecosystem services‘, and
contributed to improving decision-making through understanding and estimation of the
economic value associated with tropical river ecosystem services and non-market uses.
A summary report was prepared for presentation of the results to stakeholders. Some key
stakeholders for each catchment were identified and contacted to talk through the main
findings, opportunities for further research and to evaluate the project.
The following summarises feedback received:
agreed that it was important to acknowledge that economic valuation had limitations and to include a greater breadth and depth of information about ecosystem services;
acknowledged the wide-spread support for Indigenous values;
highlighted the fact that the economic values estimated depended on the framing of
the choice modeling method, including the levels chosen for each of the attributes
stated that had this information been available at the time, it would definitely have
been used in water resource planning processes;
suggested that NRM bodies may be able to use these results to demonstrate the
benefit of their projects and to increase support within their communities;
stated that he would use the technical report as a ‗sounding board‘ for upcoming Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef resource planning processes and that this could
be an area of future research;
can see the usefulness of these results in demonstrating the benefits of projects
seeking funds from the Australian Government;
stated that the NRM Board of the NT is currently revising the Integrated NRM Plan for the NT based on priority-setting and these results may be useful in that process.
the potential usefulness of the project‘s findings in proposals for a new living rivers
Act for the Northern Territory.
the resilience analysis provides further scientific evidence for a focus on thresholds;
commented that these results are fundamental to moving forward in natural
resource planning.
Opportunities for further research were discussed in a report, ‗The value of Australia‘s tropical
river ecosystem services‘. These areas include:
further exploration of the datasets for insight into differences in willingness to pay
between people with different socio-economic backgrounds and the impact of the
different delivery techniques on willingness to pay;
the estimation of economic values for the use, indirect use and non-use components of ecosystem services to enable complete cost-benefit analyses of alternative
development proposals;
identification of the location of critical thresholds for the provision of ecosystem
services and/or indicators that critical thresholds are being approached;
identification of the location of critical thresholds for the value of ecosystem services and/or indicators that critical thresholds are being approached;
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 55 of 173
identification of slow moving variables (concept in resilience thinking related to
external shocks and the ability of variables such as demographics and climate to
withstand change) and management strategies;
identification of the qualitative and quantitative impacts of developments to enable multi-criteria analysis of alternative proposals;
further exploration of complementarities between different approaches to the
assessment of impacts;
assessment of the distribution of costs and benefits among stakeholders; and
identification of how to improve coordination between management agencies and
build institutional capacity to recognise and manage around thresholds and slow
moving variables.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Knowledge assets – estimates of economic value that did not previously exist; first
application of resilience theory to Australia‘s tropical rivers region
Key stakeholder participants: o Mitchell – Jason Douglas, Noelene Gross, Bill Sokolich, Adam West, Marceil
Lawrence, Steve Ryan, Viv Sinnamon
o Daly – Ian Lancaster, Fergal O‘Gara, Matt Darcey, John Childs, Stuart Blanch,
Melanie Bradley, Chris Makepeace, Tom Harris
o Fitzroy – Gary Scott, Susie Williams, John Silver, Anne Poelina, Jane Blackwood,
Gary Kairn, Chris Ham, Karen Dayman
2-page fact sheet written
Web content developed
Journal articles
7. Indigenous Engagement
Four Indigenous people were employed as research assistants for the face-to-face delivery
of questionnaires. These people helped establish contacts, set up interviews, facilitated
discussion, provided some interpretation where necessary, and guided the members of the
team with advice.
167 Indigenous people were surveyed for the valuation exercise.
Two articles for TRaCK Newsletter co-authored with Indigenous persons.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 56 of 173
PROJECT 2.2 INDIGENOUS SOCIO-ECONOMIC VALUES AND RIVER FLOWS
TRaCK Theme: Assets and Values
Project Number: 2.2
Project Title: Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows
Project Coordinator: Dr Sue Jackson
Research Organisation: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
1. Project Summary
Indigenous values associated with rivers are poorly understood by decision-makers, and some
are difficult to relate explicitly to particular flow regimes and incorporate in allocation
decisions. The project recorded Indigenous socio-cultural knowledge relating to water and
quantified the economic benefit to Indigenous people from water-dependent resource use in
two TRaCK focal catchments. The project assessed the impacts of altered flow regimes on
patterns of Indigenous resource use and recommend ways of maintaining valued patterns and
relationships to aquatic ecosystems. A participatory monitoring program, developed with four
Indigenous land management groups, trialed methods and considered indicators to monitor
outcomes of water management plans.
2. Project Objectives
The project had five objectives:
1. Document the significance of water and riverine systems to Indigenous communities in
two of TRaCK‘s focal catchments
2. Survey Aboriginal households to quantify the direct economic benefit derived from
Indigenous use of wild resources found in or reliant upon rivers and wetlands (in two
focal catchments).
3. Assess the impacts of changes to flow regime on Indigenous communities.
4. Collaborate with Indigenous land management agencies to develop and trial a
participatory monitoring program for flow regime changes and wild resource use.
5. Develop collaborations that will enhance the capacity of researchers and managers in
northern Australia to incorporate social assessments in water allocation decisions and
planning.
3. Location
Daly River (NT) and Fitzroy River (WA).
4. Target Audiences for the research
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 57 of 173
TRaCK 2.2 Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows was guided by a comprehensive
communications strategy and stakeholder database. As is evident from the preceding table, a
diverse array of communication techniques and strategies was implemented over the life of the
project to ensure maximum engagement with our key identified stakeholders as well as broader
interest groups – including the wider community.
Our primary stakeholders include the Indigenous communities we have worked intensively with
to: gather socio-economic data through a household survey, undertake a community-based
monitoring program, gather spatial data through resource use mapping, and document socio-
cultural attachment to water. In the early stages of the research the team conducted multiple
community meetings, as well as less formal discussions, with many individuals and groups in the
Daly and Fitzroy catchments. Some of the formal meetings are listed in the above table.
Once we had engaged with our research participants a ‗research update‘ newsletter was
created to feed information back to the communities on a regular basis – providing an overview
of what we had done on our previous visits and when we would be back again. The focus was
on providing a photo – story so that we could reach as many of our research participants and
other interested community members as possible, and ensuring there was little room for
miscommunication, but continually reminding people of the focus and purpose of the research.
Thirteen of these ‗research updates‘ were delivered to our target audience during the life of the
project.
Two full research newsletters, targeting water planners and other government agencies as well
as Indigenous organisations were distributed with another final research overview to be
produced at the end of the project.
Two webpages have continued to provide access to research updates and outputs as they have
been produced:
1. TRaCK web page http://www.track.gov.au/research.html
2. CSIRO web page http://www.csiro.au/science/IndigenousValuesRiverFlows.html
The project endeavoured to build strong networks with water-related government agencies in
an effort to maximise uptake of research findings into water planning. The projects research
advisory committee included representatives from the water-related agencies of the WA and
NT Governments, who were approached from the outset to elicit the type and form of
research information that would be most useful to them in water planning. Research updates
were sent regularly to multiple members of these agencies throughout the project.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
Throughout the life of the project CSIRO has produced the following outputs:
Communication products (introductory explanatory, e- newsletters, media stories, posters)
Four seasonal calendars representing Indigenous knowledge of five language groups
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 58 of 173
Report on pilot household survey
Report on social significance of water to Daly River Indigenous communities
Report on social significance of water to Fitzroy River Indigenous communities
Report on the social significance of fishing to Fitzroy Indigenous communities
Plan for developing a trial monitoring program
Report on socio-economic values and river flows
Draft technical report on a method for incorporating Indigenous values in environmental flow assessments and water allocation planning and guidelines for
assessing and monitoring Indigenous values (to be finalised following comment
from Land Councils and water agencies)
Four reports on results of monitoring trials (one for each participating community)
5 Scientific publications and 22 presentations
The project generated a systematic and comprehensive assessment of Indigenous socio-
economic values and an evaluation of the impacts of change to flow regime in two focal
catchments. It tested methods to assess, incorporate and monitor Indigenous values in water
planning. Indigenous participation in a trial monitoring program was encouraged to investigate
indicators for monitoring changes to aquatic ecosystem attributes valued by Indigenous people.
The project has contributed to an improved understanding of the social and economic
significance of water, rivers and wild resources to Indigenous people and has enhanced the
capacity of researchers, Indigenous communities and managers to incorporate social assessments in water allocation decisions and planning. Numerous presentations have been
made to water and NRM agencies, including SEWPAC and NWC, and publications have been
widely distributed. The full extent of this contribution will be known in coming months after
the MSE model has incorporated the data and following the completion of the technical report
for water planners.
Water planners and community reference groups are keen to receive the final report and
publications arising from the project to assist them to address Indigenous values in plans such as
the Oolloo (NT) and the Ord (WA). The Murray Darling Basin Authority has shown interest in
the methods employed during this project and may seek further advice from the project leader
in scoping out its proposed Indigenous research activities.
The seasonal calendars and other visual products generated by project team were very popular
with Indigenous communities and education institutions.
Key findings were that Aboriginal people harvest a variety of species many of which are not
targeted by other resource users. Many of these species are considered common and
widespread, of little current conservation concern, and therefore may not be included in the
suite of species encompassed by environmental flow assessments.
Using one method of valuation (replacement value), we estimate that more than 90% of the
total replacement value quantified during our household surveys can be accounted for by the
top 5 aquatic species. In contrast, the five sites with the highest replacement value accounted
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 59 of 173
for only 64% of the total replacement value in the Daly, and 30% of the total replacement value
in the Fitzroy. This suggests that the majority of the harvest and replacement value of species is
concentrated on (and can be represented by) a relatively small subset of species, while the value
drawn from specific sites is much more evenly spread across the landscape. This is important
information for water managers as it will assist in the prioritisation of research and management
effort.
The Freshwater Sawfish (Pristis microdon) in the Fitzroy River was third on the list of species in
order of replacement value. Freshwater Sawfish are listed as vulnerable under the EPBC Act.
The Fitzroy River is suspected to be a nursery for Freshwater Sawfish, and juveniles appear to
spend 5-7 years of their life in upstream freshwater areas before migrating back out to sea upon
maturity. While our research does not provide information on sustainable rates of harvest of
Freshwater Sawfish, its large contribution to Indigenous livelihoods provides another facet to
the significance of this iconic species.
A very distinct difference in habitat usage between the Daly River and Fitzroy River catchments
was unexpected, but informative. Habitat usage in the Daly River showed a quite significant
switch from the main river channel and flooded creeks during the wet season, to predominately
floodplain billabongs in the late dry season. This change in habitat usage was not seen in the
Fitzroy catchment. We attribute this difference in habitat usage to the much higher proportion
of floodplain billabong habitat in the Daly River catchment, and two focal species that are easily
captured from billabongs in the late dry season (Long-necked Turtle and Magpie Geese). While
this appears a logical link, it is interesting as it appears to validate the idea that flow regimes and
aquatic habitat availability will strongly structure Indigenous people‘s access to, and use of
aquatic resources.
The depth of Indigenous seasonal knowledge is most impressive and further efforts will be
made to apply this knowledge to hydrological models under development in the Fitzroy. There
are substantial differences in the way survey respondents in the Fitzroy and Daly river
catchments use aquatic habitats (discussed above in ―unexpected/interesting discovery).
The suite of species utilised in each catchment is different. The top 5 species by replacement
value in the Daly River catchment were Long-necked Turtle (Macrochelodina rugosa), Short-
necked Turtle (Emydura victoriae/tanybaraga), Barramundi (Lates calcarifer), Black Bream
(Hephaestus fuliginosus) and Magpie Goose (Anseranas semipalmata). The top 5 species by
replacement value in the Fitzroy River catchment were Black Bream (H. jenkinsi), Catfish (Arius
spp.), Freshwater Sawfish (P. microdon), Barramundi and Cherabin (Macrobrachium rosenbergii).
Our research should inform water planning in the Daly River and Fitzroy River catchments. It
provides a list of aquatic species for the catchments that provide a significant contribution to
Indigenous household incomes through harvest and consumption. It also discusses the flow
requirements of these high value species, and the potential impacts of future flow alterations.
A separate report covering guidelines for water managers will be produced after the team has
consulted with water planners over the final report, its results, insights and conclusions. A
journal article submitted to Ecosystems has been circulated to a number of water planners and
to DRMAC to inform current water planning processes (e.g. Oolloo and Ord).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 60 of 173
Hard copies of the TRaCK 2.2 data are held in locked filing cabinets as per our ethics approval.
Electronic copies of the data, and the project database, are held in a password protected folder
on the CSIRO network (Darwin).
The custodian for data relating to the household surveys and participatory monitoring components of the
project are held by Dr. Marcus Finn (Marcus.Finn@csiro.au). The custodian for data related to
Indigenous ecological knowledge documented for the compilation of seasonal calendars is held by Emma
Woodward (Emma.Woodward@csiro.au) Metadata for the project is shown in the table below.
It should be noted that much of the data collected under TRaCK 2.2 falls under specific
information sharing arrangements within our research agreements (with the KLC and NLC) and
human ethics approval obtained through Charles Darwin University. Data cannot be publically
released without specific approval of the research participants and the relevant Land Council.
6. Indigenous Engagement
The project has directly engaged 142 Indigenous participants in the research project through
the fulfillment of one or more of the following roles:
Brokering: senior community members have assisted on the ground to engage a
greater proportion of the community through introductions, championing the
research and/or translation assistance.
Participating in resource mapping to reveal spatial and temporal patterns of visitation to key river and wetland sites and the range of resources collected from these areas
Engagement in either the planning or recording of historical narratives (stories about
river use) and collection of ecological knowledge, such as the construction of
seasonal calendars.
Participation in household surveys on river and wetland resource use and harvesting effort.
Participating in the community-based river monitoring component of the project
Co-authoring presentations at conferences
In the Daly catchment we have engaged 32 households in the resource use survey and in the
Fitzroy catchment, approximately 50 households. Several groups in the Daly and Fitzroy regions
have also recently been engaged in the participatory monitoring program, with approximately
32 individuals involved to date.
During the project we engaged 144 Aboriginal informants and research assistants and made
approximately a number of cash payments. Informants were engaged within Nauiyu
Community, Kybrook Farm and the town camp at Pine Creek (the Compound) within the Daly
catchment and at Bayulu, Yungngora, Gillarong, Ngurtuwarta, Muludja, Darlngunaya and Junjuwa
communities within the Fitzroy catchment.
Indigenous participants involved in the participatory monitoring component of the research,
both in the Daly and Fitzroy catchments, have been paid a total of $24,285
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 61 of 173
All payments to informants and research assistants were in cash and were made immediately
after research participation. Informants have been very happy with this payment arrangement
and we believe that immediate reward for participation contributed significantly to people‘s
ongoing interest and participation in the research.
An agreement between the Kimberley Land Council and TRaCK was finalised on the 19/9/08.
The NLC research agreement with the Wagiman Association was signed by all parties in August
2009. Researchers have followed protocols to ensure that the Land Councils approve the
release of draft papers and presentations.
All communities continue to react positively to the project objectives and activities. The
Walmajarri and Gooniyandi language speakers that have recently participated in Indigenous
knowledge recording and the compilation of seasonal calendars have been particularly excited
at being given the opportunity to see their knowledge documented in this manner.
Marcus Finn co-authored a presentation with Indigenous research participants of the Daly River
and presented the findings to the River Symposium in Brisbane in 2009. He also co-authored a
poster with Indigenous research participants that was presented at the Australian Society for
Limnology Congress in Alice Springs in 2009.
7. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
The following Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities have been undertaken since the
commencement of the project
Description of activity
Journal Articles and book chapters
1. Finn, M and S. Jackson (submitted to Ecosystems) Protecting Indigenous instream values in water
management: a challenge to conventional environmental flow assessments.
2. Jackson, S., Stoeckl, N and S. Larson (In press) The social, cultural and economic significance of
tropical aquatic ecosystems: a diversity of values. In Aquatic Biodiversity of Australia’s Tropical North (Ed
Brad Pusey). Charles Darwin University Press.
3. Jackson, S., Douglas, M., Pusey, B. and J. Morrison (In press). In Aquatic Biodiversity of Australia’s Tropical
North (Ed Brad Pusey). Charles Darwin University Press.
4. Woodward, E. (In Press) Creating the Ngan‘gi Seasons calendar: Reflections on engaging Indigenous
knowledge authorities in research. Learning Communities: International Journal of Learning in Social
Contexts.
5. Woodward, E. (submitted to Action Learning and Action Research Journal.) Engaging with Indigenous
water values through participatory action research.
Visual products
1. Community research poster produced with preliminary results
Distributed throughout Fitzroy Crossing during June-July 2009
Displayed at Merrepen Arts Festival, Daly River, June 2009
Displayed at Science Week exhibit at Broome, August 2009
2. Ngan‘gi Seasons calendar produced and distributed to community participants, local schools and other
organisations as well as being promoted at the Merrepen Arts Festival, Daly River.
3. MalakMalak and Matngala plant knowledge – produced and distributed to community participants,
schools and organisations was well as being promoted at the Merrepen Arts Festival, Daly River.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 62 of 173
4. ‗A Snapshot of Nauiyu Nambiyu‘ – a photo-story banner produced as an output of a community
Photovoice project at the Daly River.
Research Newsletters
1. September 2009 Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows Newsletter no.1. First research
update for water planners, government agencies, other researchers, and Aboriginal participants
containing research findings.
2. November 2009 Aboriginal people and river flows – Plain English version of Newsletter no.1 –
distributed to Aboriginal research participants
3. October 2010 Indigenous socio-economic values and river flows Newsletter no.2. Second research
update for water planners, government agencies, other researchers, and Aboriginal participants
containing research findings.
Presentations
August 2008 Dr Sue Jackson Indigenous Interests in water management – an emerging
agenda. Paper presented to Coast to Coast Conference,
Darwin
August 2008 Dr Marcus Finn Presentation on project progress to Daly River
Management Advisory Committee, Darwin
February 2009 Dr Sue Jackson Presentation on project and wider TRaCK program to the
National Indigenous Water Forum, Adelaide. Event
organised by National Water Commission.
April 2009 Dr Jackson Incorporation of Indigenous values in water planning,
DEWHA policy meeting at the Bunker, Canberra.
April 2009 Dr Jackson Indigenous interests and the NWI, National Water
Commission Science seminar series.
May 2009 Dr Sue Jackson (with
Michael Douglas)
Environs Kimberley briefing organised by Kate Golson,
Broome.
July 2009 Ms Woodward Observations on the compilation and production of the
Ngan‘gi Seasons Calendar. Paper presented to Teaching
from Country International Seminar, Charles Darwin
University, Darwin.
September 2009 Dr Finn Finn, M., Jackson, S., Woodward, E., Featherston, P.,
Sullivan, E., Huddleston, McTaggart, P. and M. Baumann,
2009, ‗Indigenous values and water allocation research in
the Daly River region of Northern Australia‘, Paper
presented to River Symposium, Brisbane.
September 2009 Dr Finn Finn, M. and S. Jackson ‗Indigenous aquatic resource use in
the Daly River catchment Northern Territory‘, Paper
presented to the Australian Society for Limnologists, Alice
Springs.
November 2009 Ms Woodward Presentation of TRaCK ‗Indigenous socio-economic values
and river flows‘ project to National Climate Change
Adaptation Research Facility Adaptation College‘, Daly
River, NT
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 63 of 173
February 2010 Dr Finn Indigenous Water Facilitators Network Meeting, Darwin,
NT
April 2010 Dr Jackson Presentation to Daly River Traditional Owner group
about the Ooloo Aquifer Water Allocation Plan
April 2010 Ms Woodward Kimberley Aboriginal Rangers Conference, Home Valley
Station, Kimberley
May 2010 Dr Jackson CERF National Conference, Canberra
May 2010 Dr Jackson ANU Seminar Series delivered to DEWHA Water
Resources Group, Canberra
July 2010 Dr Finn Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation
(ATBC), Bali, Indonesia
July 2010 Ms Woodward International Climate Change Adaptation Conference,
Brisbane – drew from findings from TRaCK 2.2 to discuss
how Indigenous communities might be engaged in
questions of climate change.
August 2010 Dr Finn Fulbright Symposium, Cairns, QLD
September 2010 Ms Woodward ‗Engaging with Indigenous water values through
participatory action research‘. Paper presented at
Participatory Action Research and Action Learning World
Congress, Melbourne.
October 2010 Dr Finn TRaCK Conference, Brisbane
November 2010 Dr Jackson TRaCK Tropical Rivers Research Report, Darwin Forum,
Darwin, NT
March 2011 Dr Jackson Indigenous water requirements and cultural flows.
Presentation to the Daly River Management Advisory
Committee, Darwin.
Events
11 April 2008 Daly Regional Aboriginal Reference Group meeting,
Darwin
12 people
7 May 2008 Nauiyu Incorporated Meeting, Nauiyu Nambiyu 10 people
7 May 2008 Woolianna local landholders meeting 10 people
13 May 2008 Project briefing: CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems senior
managers
21 May 2008 Project briefing: NT Chief Minister and NT Minister for
Natural Resources and Environment
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 64 of 173
29 May 2008 Wagiman Aboriginal Corporation Meeting 10 people
2 – 19 June 2008 Fitzroy River Roadshow – Jarlmadangah, Looma,
Ngurtuwarta, Brooking Springs, Bayulu, Muludja and
Noonkanbah communities
80 people
4 June 2008 Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture, Fitzroy Crossing 2 people
4 June 2008 Karrayili Adult Education Centre 2 people
5 June 2008 Marra Worra Worra Executive meeting presentation,
Fitzroy Crossing
12 people
23 July 2008 Douglas Daly Research Farm presentation 10 people
23 July 2008 Project Briefing - NT Administrator
June 2009 Presentation to Noonkanbah School 25 people
July 2009 Monitoring presentation/workshop with Anne Poelina and
others from Balginjirr, Fitzroy
5 people
July 2009 Monitoring presentation/workshop with Frank and Gail
Smiler from Bidijul, Fitzroy
2 people
August 2009 Monitoring workshop with Wagiman Ranger group 12 people
August 2009 Monitoring workshop with Malak Malak Ranger group 6 people
Research visitors hosted
Dr Melanie Durette, Synexe Consulting Limited, New Zealand.
Dr Tom Hatton, Director, and Dr Bill Young, Theme leader, CSIRO Flagship, Water for a Healthy
Country
Assoc Prof Sandy Toussaint, Anthropologist, University of Western Australia
Prof Jon Altman, CAEPR, Australian National University
Dr Kelly Scheepers, Social Ecologist, South African Parks
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 65 of 173
PROJECT 3.1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION
TRaCK Theme: Riverscapes and Coastal Settings
Project Number: 3.1
Project Title: Socio-economic classification
Project Coordinator: Natalie Stoeckl (JCU)
Key Partner Personnel:
Owen Stanley (JCU) Dean Carson, Andrew Taylor (CDU), Silva
Larson, Kostas Alexandridis (CSIRO)
Research Organisation: James Cook University
1. Project Summary
Part I of the project has provided a socio-economic background and population projections for
each river catchment within the Tropical Rivers region. It has identified an economic model
that can be used to generate information that is useful to evaluating future scenarios.
Part II of the project has built on economic model to explore likely socio-economic and
possibly consumptive water-use impacts of changes identified as being important to the scenario
researchers.
2. Project Objectives
This project focused on the objective of seeking to improve understanding of the demographic,
socio-economic character of the human populations within catchments and their relationship
with the physical template.
Specific objectives were to:
Develop tourism and population profiles and projections of catchments within the Tropical
Rivers region, with the following sub-objectives
Develop population profiles and projections for TRaCK catchments
Develop tourism profiles for focal catchments and the TRaCK regions in each State/ Territory
Identify key issues affecting population (resident and tourism) growth 2006-
2015
Develop socio-economic profiles of catchments within the Tropical Rivers (TR) region, with the
following sub-objectives
Develop an integrated conceptual framework for the socio-economic
profiling
Update existing knowledge with data from the 2006 Census
Develop profiles of individual TR catchments based on their individual socio-
economic characteristics, and on their tourism and population profiles and
projections.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 66 of 173
Compare and contrast the TR catchments and to identify catchments which
are socio-economically ‗similar‘ or ‗dissimilar‘.
Identify an economic model(s) which can provide useful information to researchers in theme 1
(Evaluating Scenarios), with the following sub-objectives
Identify economic models that are capable of providing information about
the aggregate and distributional socio-economic impacts of population and
tourism changes.
Identify economic models that are capable of providing ‗useful‘ information
about likely aggregate and distributional socio-economic impacts of scenarios
being evaluated in theme 1.
Identify economic model(s) that are capable of providing information about
changes in consumptive water-demand that might occur.
Compile a list of economic models that (a) adequately model the types of
changes specified.
Collect data, build, and run the model (s) to make predictions about the likely changes that
could occur in response to changes in key socio-economic variables that relate to the scenarios
(e.g. in response to an increase in agricultural activity and/or in response to population growth)
within specific focal catchments. Use information to draw inferences about socio-economic
changes that could occur in other TR catchments which are ‗similar‘ to the focal catchments.
3. Location
The entire TRaCK geographic region.
4. Target Audiences for the Research
The primary target audience of this research is within the TRaCK consortium. Some of the
population and tourism projections developed were used as ‗scenarios‘ for evaluation in Theme
1. The economic model also provided essential economic modeling support to researchers in
scenario evaluations. In addition, the classification itself, as well as the classification method
developed in this project is an important contribution to regional NRM groups in northern
Australia and to the geomorphic community in terms of understanding of the diversity of rivers
in northern Australia.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project has achieved a better understanding of social and economic characteristics of
human populations within catchments across the TR region, and an ability to identify potential
future pressures that may arise via changes in the region‘s human population.
It has also produced aggregate and distributional socio-economic impacts of potential ‗changes‘
that may occur in the TR region, including (but not limited to) demographic changes and
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 67 of 173
industry changes (e.g. changes in the size or relative importance of different industries, such as
an increase in tourism or an expansion of the agricultural sector).
Major outputs from the project include:
Tourism and Population Projections for the region
Socio-economic profiles of the TRaCK catchments; groups of related catchments and key
determinants
Final report and fact-sheet on population and tourism projections
Final report and fact-sheets on socio-economic profiling
Final report and fact-sheets of outcomes from the economic modeling
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Publications
Stoeckl, N., Esparon, M., Stanley, O., Farr, M., Delisle, A., Altai, Z, (Oct 2010), Socio-
Economic Activity and Water Use in Australia’s Tropical Rivers: A Case Study in the Mitchell and
Daly River Catchments, Interim Report prepared for The Tropical Rivers and Coastal
Knowledge Research Consortium.
Stoeckl, N. ―Comparing multipliers from survey and non-survey based IO models: An
empirical investigation from Australia‖, International Regional Science Review
Stoeckl, N., ―Bridging the great divide: Background to and strategies for bridging the divide
between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous economies in Northern Australia‖, in Gerritsen
(editor), Northern Australia Political Economy, CDU Press.
Jackson, S., Stoeckl, N., Larson, S., ―The social, cultural and economic significance of tropical
aquatic ecosystems: a diversity of values‖, in Pussey, B., and Kennard, M. (editors), Northern
waters – aquatic biodiversity of the Australian wet-dry tropics, CDU Press.
Larson, S., Stoeckl, N., and Blanco-Martin, B., ―Use of socio-economic typologies for
improved integrated management of data-poor regions: explorations from the Australian
north‖
Presentations/ Media
Results from Activities A and B, together with preliminary findings from the prototype
models were presented at the CERF conference in Canberra, May 2010. This presentation
was attended by approximately 30 people.
Preliminary results of the Mitchell River Modeling exercise were discussed with members of
MRTCAG in August, 2010
Stoeckl, N., Esparon, M., Delisle, A., Farr, M., Stanley, O., Altai, Z. ―The great asymmetric
divide: an empirical investigation of the link between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 68 of 173
economic systems in Northern Australia‖, presentation given at JCU’s Fulbright Symposium,
Cairns, 2010. This presentation was attended by approximately 80 people.
E-connect put out a press-release describing some of the research, and Natalie was
subsequently contacted by Warrangari Radio, and the ABC Bush Telegraph for radio
interviews. The Koori Mail, and Western Cape bulletin ran newspaper articles on the
work.
7. Indigenous Engagement
In the upper and middle reaches of the Mitchell, Natalie Stoeckl and Owen Stanley worked
alongside four TO‘s associated with MRTCAG (Eddie Turpin, Sharon Brady, Eddie Thomas, and
John Grainer) to collect household expenditure and water use data from Indigenous families in
the Mitchell River catchment.
In the Daly Owen Stanley and Hmalan Hunter liaised with TO‘s from the Daly River to facilitate
data collection. They worked with three local TO‘s (Anges Page, Kathleen Perry and Bridget
Kikitin) to collect household expenditure and water use data from Indigenous families in the
Daly River catchment.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 69 of 173
PROJECT 3.2 BIOPHYSICAL CLASSIFICATION: CLASSIFYING RIVERSCAPES
ACROSS NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
TRaCK Theme: Riverscapes and Coastal Settings
Project Number: 3.2
Project Title:
Biophysical classification: Classifying Riverscapes across
Northern Australia
Project Coordinator: Andrew Brooks (GU
Key Partner Personnel: John Spencer (GU), Jon Knight (GU), Janet Stein (ANU
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
The project developed an objective method to quantitatively describe the similarities and
differences in riverscapes across northern Australia at three spatial scales: 1) geol-landscape provinces (i.e. broad geological provinces that provide an ultimate explanation for some of the
fundamental differences between for example, the eastern Gulf rivers and the Kimberley
rivers); 2) catchment scale; 3) sub-catchment/river reach scale.
The project also developed a tool to describe similarities and differences in riverscapes across
the tropical region at three spatial scales. The classification was based on a desktop GIS
modelling approach, using a three-tiered hierarchical classification to parameterise the physical
characteristics of regions, catchments and sub-catchments across northern Australia. A first-
order classification was based on geo-landscape provinces, while the 2nd and 3rd classification
were based on the topographic, geological and hydrological characteristics of catchments and
sub-catchments. For the 3rd tier classification, sub-catchments of approx equal area (e.g.
1000km2) were derived for portions of catchments conforming to theory on standard
convergent drainage network.
2. Project Objectives
Determine stakeholder and other theme end-use requirements for a riverscape
classification.
Based on the requirements of TRaCK stakeholders, develop a procedure for classifying riverscapes across northern Australia. This will be based on hydrological, geomorphic,
geologic and climatic variables. Variables selected will be those that best explain
riverscape formation, contemporary river and floodplain morphology and associated
habitat, as well as patterns of biodiversity.
Implement the classification at the three scales.
Distribute the output amongst TRaCK partners for comments and feedback
Validate the classification across at least 5% of the catchment area of the 1st order geo-
landscape provinces.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 70 of 173
3. Location
The entire TRaCK geographic region.
4. Target Audiences for the Research
The primary target audience of this research is within the TRaCK consortium, as this project
provides the basis for extrapolating some of the site specific data to other parts of northern
Australia. It also provides input data for various projects, including the biodiversity project
(5.8), the socio economic classification project (3.1) and the ecohydrological regionalisation
project (3.3).
In addition, the classification itself, as well as the classification method developed in this project
will be an important contribution to regional NRM groups in northern Australia and to the
geomorphic community in terms of understanding of the diversity of rivers in northern
Australia.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The final product from the project was an ArcGIS database, containing shape files and river
segments, as well as all data upon which the classification is derived. A variety of map products
were produced as outputs from this database. In addition, the statistical analyses demonstrating
the relationship between landscape units at the various resolutions were included, along with
the degree of validation for all output. Links were provided to scientific papers outlining the
methods and the rationale for the classification. This formed the basis for an interactive web-
based product.
Whilst the project originally aimed to develop a static classification at three scales, as the project developed it became apparent that this was a somewhat limited approach given that
classification had to be based on the lowest common denominator spatial data available at the
time. With early delays experienced in accessing new high resolution spatial data (e.g. the 1
arcsec DEM and 1:1m geology), efforts were redirected towards developing a flexible system
that could be readily updated as new spatial data became available. This meant that the system
developed would never become obsolete. The system is also designed so that it can easily
generate multiple riverscape classifications tailored to the specific applications. For example, a
classification aimed at identifying likely habitats for a specific fish, might be very different from
one that aims to generate a broad understanding of the similarities and differences between
rivers. The system we have developed can do both.
The following is a brief summary of key features of the classification tool:
a. A fully interactive GIS based classification tool that can be updated as better spatial
data becomes available.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 71 of 173
b. A tool that while specifically developed for classifying riverscapes across northern
Australia, can be applied anywhere and at any scale (provided the input data is
available).
c. The classification can be based on any combination of the 45 input variables
currently set up within the classification tool. An example of the selectable input
variables currently available within the tool are shown in Figure 1. These are
organised under the four broad headings of ―Landscape Variables‖ (i.e. topographic
variables); ―Catchment and Stream Substrate Variables‖ (these are generally a
function of catchment/stream network geology); ―Catchment and Water Balance‖ –
hydrological parameters; and ―Climatic Variables‖ – derived from the BOM 5 km
climate gridded data.
d. New input variables can be added with relative ease.
e. Input variables can be weighted by the user
Figure 1 – Input variable selection window showing the variables upon which the classification
tool is currently based.
Unlike most classification schemes, this tool doesn‘t generate a single fixed classification.
Instead the classification can be tailored to the needs of the individual user according to their
specific needs. (fig. 2)
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 72 of 173
Figure 2. An example of one 10 class classification generated from the 15 inputs shown.
Stream segments with the same colours have similar attributes, under this classification run.
Single variables can be selected to highlight particular riverscape characteristics of interest. (fig.
3) The tool has the ability to compare the similarity/difference between any one river segment
(i.e. a section of river between two nodes – tributaries) and all other river segments in
northern Australia.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 73 of 173
Figure 3. Example of a classification based on a single input variable – in this case carbonate
sedimentary rocks (in red) - a strong indicator of karst/groundwater dominated landscapes.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities
A final technical report was published which explains in detail how the classification tool works
and how it should be applied, which was followed with several presentations at public forums.
Conference Paper: Towards an objective approach for a regional - continental scale
geomorphic river classification Authors: Spencer, J, Brooks A, Knight J
Newsletter: GIS tool instrumental in river research Authors: TRaCK. An article outlining the
classification tool was featured in the ―On Track‖ magazine.
Conference Participation: The Delineation of Valley Margins as the basis for a valley
confinement index using different resolution DEM data: implications for continental scale
river classification approaches., Authors: Spencer, J, Brooks A, Knight J
Fact Sheet: Classifying river landscapes
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 74 of 173
PROJECT 3.3 CLASSIFICATION OF NORTHERN AUSTRALIAN RIVERINE
FLOW REGIMES.
TRaCK Theme: Riverscapes and Coastal Settings
Project Number: 3.3
Project Title: Classification of northern Australian riverine flow regimes
Project Coordinator: Brad Pusey (GU)
Key Partner Personnel:
Mark Kennard (GU); Janet Stein (ANU); Mike Hutchinson
(ANU)
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
The overall aim of the project was to provide an ecohydrological classification of Australia‘s
rivers (not just northern Australia). The project comprised two parallel research efforts. The
first used existing flow data whilst the second used remotely-sensed and GIS information to
model flow.
The empirical approach used flow series (>15 years record) from 830 recording gauges located
around the country to calculate a total of 130 flow metrics describing the six major
ecohydrological facets of the flow regime (i.e. magnitude, timing, duration, variability,
predictability and rates of change). A Bayesian Classification was used to group sites into
different flow regime classes. The deductive approach was based on a newly-developed
continent-wide digital stream network (consisting of approximately one million stream sections)
based on the revised nine second DEM.
2. Project Objectives
The project‘s aims were to categorise the stream flow regime into a valid spatial context to
inform future and ongoing research. It was also intended that comparison and concordance of
the outcomes of the empirical and deductive approaches would allow assessment of flow
regime in ungauged or poorly-gauged catchments. The classification(s) allows a hydrological
template to be developed that will facilitate quantitative examination of (such things) as the
spatial arrangement of biodiversity of aquatic organisms and ecological traits.
It will also be useful as an additional layer in studies of riverine landscapes and channel evolution
and of studies of waterhole persistence and food web variation between and within rivers. The
classification will also provide a mechanism for assessing the impacts of future climate change
and be essential in the formulation of flow rules in environmental flow studies. The data sets (flow metrics etc) developed as part of the project are another resource that will aid TRaCK
researchers. The digital stream network will be as essential aid to the description of study
areas and in the choice of field sites.
3. Location
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 75 of 173
This project is concerned with flow regimes in rivers across all of northern Australia.
4. Target Audiences for the research
The target audience of this research included:
other TRaCK researchers for which flow information is critical,
environmental managers for whom classifications are useful in defining conservation and management;
water resource managers and hydrographers.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
Project outputs included:
Development of a valid spatial context of flow regimes to inform future and ongoing research.
Development of methods to aid in assessment of flow regime in ungauged or poorly gauged
catchments.
A hydrological template to be developed that will facilitate quantitative examination of such things as the spatial arrangement of biodiversity of aquatic organisms and of ecological traits.
An additional layer in studies of riverine landscapes and channel evolution and of studies of
water hole persistence and food web variation between and within rivers.
A mechanism for assessing the impacts of future climate change and be essential in the
formulation of flow rules in environmental flow studies.
A readily available flow data set to aid TRaCK researchers. The digital stream network will be as essential aid to the description of study areas and in the choice of field sites.
A final project report was completed in April 2008, that included the following set of detailed
appendices:
Appendix 1 - Introduction to the project aims, design and data sources.
Appendix 2 - Review of hydrological classifications and their application in Australia
Appendix 3 - Issues associated with classification of contemporary flow data: do contemporary
flow regimes approximate the ‘natural flow regime’?
Appendix 4 - Quantifying uncertainty in estimation of hydrologic metrics – implications of
hydrologic record length and period of overlap
Appendix 5 - Ecohydrological classification of Australia’s flow regimes
Appendix 6 - Spatial variation in the ecohydrological classification
Appendix 7 - Development of the digital stream network
Appendix 8 - Ecohydrological classification based on landscape and climate data.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 76 of 173
Appendix 9 - Future development of project outcomes and limitations of the classification
approaches
Appendix 10 – Communications including planned journal articles
Appendix 11 – Xcel file containing hydrological metrics for each gauging station used in the
classification.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Two scientific papers:
1) Kennard, M.J., Pusey, B.J., Olden, J.D., Mackay, S.J., Stein, J.L. & Marsh, N. (submitted).
Ecohydrological classification of natural flow regimes to support environmental flow
assessments: an Australian case study. Freshwater Biology.
2) Kennard, M.J., Pusey, B.J., Mackay, S.J., Olden, J.D. & Marsh, N. (submitted). Quantifying
uncertainty in estimation of hydrologic metrics for ecohydrological studies. River Research
and Applications.
One project Fact Sheet was produced for the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK)
research hub.
Six conference presentations were given by members of the project team and steering
committee at national and international conferences (including Commonwealth Environmental
Research Facility (CERF) Conference, Canberra 2008; Australia New Guinea Fishes Association
National Convention Darwin 2007; Designing and Managing Protected Areas to Conserve
Freshwater Ecosystems and Biodiversity Symposium, South Africa 2006).
Nine workshop presentations were given by members of the project team and steering
committee at national and international workshops (including workshops run by: the U.S.
Geological Survey and The Nature Conservancy; Australian Greenhouse Office; Arthur Rylah
Institute). One University seminar was given by a member of the project steering committee
(University of Sweden).
Six national and international workshops were attended by members of the project team and
steering committee (including workshops run by: the Australian Greenhouse Office,
Department of the Environment and Water; Land and Water Australia).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 77 of 173
PROJECT 4.1 CATCHMENT WATER BUDGETS AND WATER RESOURCE
ASSESSMENT
TRaCK Theme: Material Budgets
Project Number: 4.1
Project Title: Catchment water budgets and water resource assessment
Project Coordinator: Richard Cresswell
Key Partner Personnel:
Rebecca Doble (CLW), Cuan Petheram (CLW), Glenn
Harrington (CLW), Guy Boggs (CDU), Lindsay Hutley (CDU),
Richard Weinmann (CDU) and Renee Bartolo (eriss)
Research Organisation: CSIRO/CDU/ERIS
1. Project Summary
This project examined groundwater and surface water budgets, and the interaction between
groundwater and surface water in the Daly, Fitzroy and Mitchell catchments. The project
initially focused in the Daly catchment, and quantified water fluxes at established and
instrumented sites with different vegetation management histories (uncleared, recently cleared,
long-term cleared, improved pastures). Evapotranspiration and soil moisture dynamics were
measured, and surface runoff and aquifer recharge calculated using a water balance model.
Remote sensing technologies were used to determine catchment-scale patterns of surface
water availability (including extent of inundation) and to calibrate the spatial components of the
model. These results fed into a coupled surface water – groundwater model which can be used
to predict the effects of land management changes on river flow, either via changes in surface
runoff or via changes in groundwater flows.
An initial investigation of surface water – groundwater interaction in the Fitzroy catchment was
undertaken, and numerical modeling assisted in understanding of surface water – groundwater
interaction processes. Remote sensing was used to map the extent of wet season inundation in
the Mitchell catchment.
2. Project Objectives
This project sought to develop catchment scale hydrological models to improve water
accounting and to predict the effects of land use change on tropical rivers. It also provided
information on water budgets to underpin sediment and nutrient load determinations. Specific
objectives were:
1. Determine the fate of rainfall falling on catchments, and partition this into
evapotranspiration, recharge and surface runoff.
2. Investigate historical patterns of surface water availability, particularly as they relate to
changes in inundation extent during the wet season.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 78 of 173
3. Develop simple models that can be used to predict changes in surface water and
groundwater availability that might result from changes in land use or climate change.
4. Assess the suitability of surface water – groundwater models for water resource
management.
3. Location
This project involved activities in the Daly, Fitzroy and Mitchell catchments, but not all activities
will take place in all catchments.
4. Target Audiences for the research
The target audience for the research includes: (i) international researchers with interests in
surface water – groundwater interaction and tropical ecohydrology, (ii) practicing hydrologists
who can use methods developed in this project, (iii) government policy staff, who will benefit
from increased understanding of the links between surface water and groundwater systems in
tropical environments, (iv) State and Territory Government staff and regional NRM groups and
Indigenous community groups who are faced with management of water resources in these
highly complex environments, (v) NGO‘s.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project found that changes in landcover significantly alter the seasonal and annual water
balance fluxes in the Daly River Catchment. Improved pasture increases the seasonality of
evapotranspiration, decreases annual total evapotranspiration, and results in increased deep
drainage, compared to native savanna. Dry season evapotranspiration is limited by vegetations
ability to access available moisture in the soil profile.
The native savanna woodland maintains dry season evapotranspiration by accessing soil
moisture deep into soil profile, and the high permeability of soils in the Daly river catchment
results in significant deep drainage through the soil profile. Remotely sensed
evapotranspiration products, from sensors like MODIS, are effective tools for monitoring and
mapping the distribution of evapotranspiration in these catchments.
Outputs can be related to the following activities undertaken under this project:
Catchment water balance accounting
The Daly catchment was chosen to develop an integrated water balance model, to be
developed to assess the impacts of land use change on the critical components of the water
cycle. The activity used a combination of detailed field trials, spatial weather and landscape integration and combined rainfall-runoff and deep-drainage models to generate spatially-explicit,
temporal water balance estimations under different land use scenarios. Three actions were
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 79 of 173
undertaken that allowed research to proceed in parallel, whilst developing the systematic
process necessary to combine the results from each sub-activity into a logical framework that
might be transposed to other catchments in the future.
Evapotranspiration measurements
The objective was to quantify the impacts of clearing on the evaporation and transpiration
fluxes using the eddy-covariance method at three sites in the Douglas-Daly sub-catchment. The sites were: a native uncleared savanna; a 28 year-old improved pasture and a unmanaged
pasture cleared in 2000. In addition to eddy-covariance measurements, basic meteorology and
soil moisture measurements were made at all sites.
This study clearly showed that the clearing of native savanna in northern Australia results in a
change in the diurnal and seasonal evapotranspiration patterns. These changes in
evapotranspiration change daily evapotranspiration rates, increase the seasonal variability of
evapotranspiration fluxes and ultimately decrease the net annual evapotranspiration, altering
rainfall partitioning at the sites, resulting in a change in the site‘s water balance. On an annual
timescale, we observed that clearing significantly decreases evapotranspiration, thereby
increasing the amount of free water available for drainage and overland flow, when compared
to uncleared native savanna.
Water balance modeling
The objective of this activity was to quantify the impacts of clearing on recharge. This required
partitioning of the excess water component of rainfall into potential recharge and overland
flow. To do this we used the soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer (SVAT) model, WAVES, and
undertook extensive field work to support a robust calibration of the model at the Uncleared
and Pasture sites.
We demonstrated that the WAVES model can successfully reproduce the one dimensional flux
of water for uncleared and pasture systems in wet-dry tropical landscapes, and this enables the
different components of the water balance to be quantified. For Kandolsol soils potential
recharge under pasture is about twice the potential recharge under uncleared vegetation (i.e.
native vegetation).
Spatial Mapping of Water Balances
The Daly River catchment of northern Australia is largely uncleared native savanna. Increasing
pressure to clear it for agriculture is likely to result in the deep-rooted native trees being
replaced with shallow rooted pasture species. These changes in land cover will impact
hydrological processes across the catchment, altering spatial patterns in the catchment water
balance.
The average amount of excess water available as potential recharge across the Daly catchment
under native vegetation conditions was predicted to be approximately 210 mm (21% of MAR).
This estimate is higher than expected and is likely to be associated with high infiltration rates
recorded in surface soils leading to low predictions of overland flow. The distribution of
predicted excess water indicates high zones in the north eastern and north western regions of
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 80 of 173
the catchment, with the southern half of the catchment experiencing less than half the
catchment average.
Figure: WAVES predicted recharge for the Daly catchment based on native vegetation parameters (inset: equivalent estimation made for the NASY project at
~25km2 resolution).
The WAVES model has been successfully calibrated for pasture and savanna land cover
conditions and used to examine clearing impacts on water balance across the Daly River Catchment. The approach used existing soil and climate information to run the model for 3500
unique hydrogeomorphic units (HGUs) across the catchment.
Flood Inundation Mapping (Daly River and Mitchell Catchments)
Defining the extent of wet season inundation in floodplain and riverine environments is an
important component of the annual catchment surface and groundwater budgeting process.
This sub-project reports on a project to map the flood inundation extent of the Daly River
catchment (Northern Territory) and the Mitchell River catchment (Queensland). Determining
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 81 of 173
the extent of flooding in tropical catchments using remote sensing is dependent on a number of
factors: local conditions at the time of image acquisition (e.g.: cloud cover and flooding under
vegetation); sensor selection (e.g.: optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar [SAR]); and definition
of flood extent (interannual and intraannual analysis).
The methodology for reliable and robust flood inundation mapping in Australia, and in particular
northern Australia, is still in its developmental phase. The type of satellite sensors used are
critical for mapping flood classes in northern Australia, due to ubiquitous cloud cover during
the wet season, coverage of floodplains by grasses and aquatic plants etc following rain,
followed by fire and associated smoke in the dry season. The effect of cloud cover and smoke
in optical imagery is not the only limiting factor. Fire scars from early dry season burning (as
early as May) can result in class confusion with flooded classes, in particular flooded vegetation
(even with the inclusion of SAR data). The findings from this sub-project are that combining L-
band SAR data with optical data substantially improves the ability to map flooded classes during
the wet season. Flooded Melaleuca swamp areas are particularly well distinguished in the SAR
data.
Surface –groundwater interactions
When this project was originally developed, it was proposed to construct and calibrate a
groundwater – surface water model of the Fitzroy region. It soon became apparent, however,
that there was not enough field data to construct a reliable model of this region.
Groundwater inflow to the Fitzroy River was assessed by measuring surface water chemistry
between Fitzroy Crossing and Willare in May 2008. A helicopter was used for river sampling, as
this allowed for sampling of the river over a distance of more than 300 km in one day. Changes
is river chemistry around the Cunningham Anabranch confluence indicate that groundwater
flows into the river in this area, and this is most likely due to interaction between alluvial and
Blina Shale aquifers. A decrease in salinity was observed downstream of the confluence, but the
groundwater salinity concentrations were observed to be higher than those found in the river
suggesting that return flows from bank storage of wet season floods may be occurring.
Drilling on Noonkanbah station during October 2009 resulted in the completion of 10 new
groundwater monitoring wells located at different distances from the Fitzroy River and at
different depths into the aquifer. Subsequent sampling of these wells in November 2009 for
groundwater chemistry analysis has provided more detailed models of how groundwater from
each of the different aquifer systems flows towards (and ultimately discharges into) the Fitzroy
River. Groundwater dating with chlorofluorocarbons has indicated that most of the shallow
groundwater beneath the floodplain is less than 40 years old, although there is some evidence
of deep, regional groundwater flowing into the river.
Conceptual surface water - groundwater modeling has focussed on simulation of interactions
through bank storage under sloping river bank conditions, and this work has been submitted as
a paper to the journal ‗Ground Water‘. It was found that the rate at which the bank storage
volume was returned to the river varied depending on the slope of the bank and the inclusion
of an unsaturated zone. In this case, the bank storage volume was returned to the river more
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 82 of 173
slowly for flatter river banks. It is thought that as the water is deposited further away from the
river where banks are more sloping, it will take longer for this flow to return.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities
Throughout the project, team members have presented the on-going findings at a number of
workshops, conferences and other meetings. In addition, a series of scientific papers have been
generated, both from conference proceedings and peer-reviewed journals.
Bartolo, R.E., Forner, J. and McGinley, B., 2005, Mapping inundation limits on tropical floodplains for
biodiversity conservation, North Australian Remote Sensing and GIS Conference, Charles Darwin
University, Darwin, 4-7 July.
Benz, U.C., Hofman, P., Willhauck, G., Lingenfelder, I. and Heynen, M., 2004, Multi-resolution,
object-oriented fuzzy analysis of remote sensing data for GIS-ready information. ISPRS
Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 58, pp. 239-258.
Cecil, L.D., and Green, J.R. (2000). Radon-222. in 'Environmental Tracers in Subsurface
Hydrology.' (Eds Cook, P. and Herczeg, A.L.) pp. 175-94. (Kluwer Academic Publishers:
USA.)
Cook, P.G., Lamontagne, S., Berhane, D. and Clark, J.F. (2006). Quantifying groundwater
discharge to Cockburn River, southeastern Australia, using dissolved gas tracers 222Rn and
SF6. Water Resources Research 42, W10411.
Coplen, T.B., Herczeg, A.L. and Barnes, C. (2000). Isotope Engineering - Using Stable Isotopes
of the Water Molecule to Solve Practical Problems. in 'Environmental Tracers in
Subsurface Hydrology.' (Eds Cook, P. and Herczeg, A.L.) pp. 79-110. (Kluwer Academic
Publishers: USA.)
Edmeades B.F.F. (in prep) Soils of the Douglas Daly Carbon Water Study. Natural Resources
Division, Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport.
Palmerston, Northern Territory.
Fensham, R. J. and Holman, J. E., 1999, Temporal and spatial patterns in drought-related tree
dieback in Australian savanna. Journal of Applied Ecology, 36, pp.1035-1050.
Foley, J. C., 1957, Droughts in Australia. Review of records from earliest years of settlement to 1955.
Bureau of Meteorology, Commonwealth of Australia, Melbourne, Australia.
Guerschman JP, Van Dijk A, Mattersdorf G, Beringer J, Hutley LB, Leuning R, Pipunic RC,
Sherman BS (2009) Scaling of potential evapotranspiration with MODIS data reproduces
flux observations and catchment water balance observations across Australia. Journal of
Hydrology 369:107-119
Jeffrey, S. J., Carter, J. O., Moodie, K. B. and Beswick, A. R. (2001), Using spatial interpolation to
construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data, Environmental Modelling & Software, 16, 309-330.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 83 of 173
Laugier, O., Felleh, K., Tholey, N., Meyer, C. and Fraipont, P., 2004, High temporal detection
and monitoring of flood zone dynamics using ERS data around catastrophic natural events:
The 1993 and 1994 Camargue flood events. http://earth.esa.int:80/symposia/papers/laugier
Lindsay, R.P. and Commander, D.P. (2005). Hydrological assessment of the Fitzroy alluvium.
Department of Water, Hydrological Record Series HG 16. Western Australia.
McFeeters, S.K., 1996, The use of the normalized difference water index (NDWI) in the delineation of open water features. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 17, pp. 1425-
1432.
Littleboy M, Herron N, Barnett P (2003) Applying unsaturated zone modelling to develop
recharge maps for the Murray-Darling Basin in New South Wales, Australia. MODSIM03
- International Congress on Modelling and Simulation. Modelling and Simulation Society of
Australia and New Zealand, Townsville, Australia
Petheram, Weinnman, Hutley, Kemei (in prep) Simulating the waterblance of a tropical savanna
in northern Australia.
Salama R, Hatton T, Dawes W (1999) Predicting land use impacts on regional scale
groundwater recharge and discharge. Journal of Environmental Quality 28:446-460
Schultz, G.A. and Engman, E.T., 2000, Remote Sensing in Hydrology and Water Management. (Springer,
Verlag Berlin Heidelberg: New York).
van Leeuwen, H., Martin. M T., Haque, I., Hassan, A., Werle, D., and Tittley, B., 2004, Flood
monitoring study in the Jamuna and Amp Ganges Floodplain in Bangladesh using ERS-1,
http://earth.esa.int:80/symposia/papers/vanleeuwen1
Xu, H.Q., 2006, Modification of normalised difference water index (NDWI) to enhance open
water features in remotely sensed imagery. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 27, pp.
3025-3033.
Zhang, L. and Dawes, W.R. (Eds.), WAVES - An Integrated Energy and Water Balance Model.
Technical Report No. 31/98, CSIRO Land and Water, 1998
7. Indigenous Engagement
As part of the Fitzroy River activities, the Noonkanbah community allowed drilling on their
land. Kulkarriya School and Fitzroy Crossing District School collected water samples which are
sent to CSIRO for analysis.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 84 of 173
PROJECT 4.2 REGIONAL SCALE SEDIMENT AND NUTRIENTS BUDGETS
TRaCK Theme: Material Budgets
Project Number: 4.2
Project Title: Regional scale sediment and nutrients budgets
Project Coordinator: Gary Caitcheon
Key Partner Personnel: Eric Valentine, CDU
Research Organisation: CSIRO
1. Project Summary
Fine suspended sediment and associated nutrient loads impact on the water quality and
ecosystem functions of rivers. Understanding the impacts of current land uses, and potential
land-use changes on sediment and nutrients delivery is an essential part of planning and decision
making associated with tropical catchment management. Budgets will be developed using the
SedNet model to predict suspended and bedload sediments, and nutrients (nitrogen and
phosphorus) sources, loads, and storage, and these outcomes will be mapped to provide whole-
of-catchment overviews of suspended sediment and nutrients sources in the Daly River
catchment.
The model‘s predictions will be iteratively tested and calibrated with; i) sediment tracing
methods that determine relative loads at major river junctions; ii) loads estimations using flow
and water quality data; and iii) measurements of the erosion processes responsible for
generating the sediment. The budgets will inform planning and decision making processes about
the impacts of current land uses and the likely outcomes of future land use and climate changes.
2. Project Objectives
Assess existing knowledge and collate existing data about sediment generation, transport
and storage within the catchment.
Develop sediment (suspended and bedload) and nutrients budgets using the SedNet model to predict sediment and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) sources, transport
and storage.
Test the model‘s sediment loads predictions at major river junctions using geochemical
sediment tracing to determine relative suspended sediment loads.
Test the model‘s erosion process (hillslope and channel erosion) loads predictions using
surface soil tracing radionuclides to estimate relative contributions from hillslope and
channel (stream banks and gullies) erosion.
Measure and/or model floodplain sedimentation and re-suspension processes.
Where possible obtain flow and suspended sediment and nutrients concentration data to estimate loads at gauging stations to further test model predictions.
Iteratively calibrate the model based on the outcomes of the tracing and load estimates.
Map (suspended and bed) sediment and nutrients sources, transport and storage at a
whole-of-catchment scale.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 85 of 173
Provide the budgets in a form that will inform planning and decision making processes
about the impacts of current land uses and the likely outcomes of future changes.
3. Location
Daly River and Mitchell River catchments.
4. Target Audiences for the research
NRM managers in Federal and State governments involved in land use and water quality
management. Local stakeholders involved in land management and use of freshwater and
estuarine habitats.
5. Milestone Achievements and Outputs
In topical Australia we need to understand the potential impacts of land use change in order to avoid the negative effects these changes have had on the natural environment in southern parts
of the continent. In the Daly and Mitchell catchments, we found that approximately 90% of the
fine suspended sediment delivered to the lower Daly and Mitchell Rivers originates from subsoil
erosion. In the Mitchell catchment riparian zone gully erosion is probably the main subsoil
sediment source, while in the Daly catchment channel bank erosion is more significant.
Vegetation management on grazing and riparian lands can contribute to reducing storm runoff
and peak flows that cause most gully and stream bank erosion, but the potential impact of
climate change on storm runoff also needs to be factored into land management strategies to
reduce erosion.
Whole-of-catchment sediment budget modeling has been used to predict where in the
catchments most erosion is occurring, and which areas to target remedial action to reduce
sediment delivery to the main rivers. The results will allow those who manage on-ground
remedial works in these tropical catchments to more effectively plan and implement their
activities.
The fine sediment budget in the Mitchell catchment is dominated by material sourced from
alluvial gullies. Approximately two thirds of the estimated average 3M t of fine sediment load
that is exported from the catchment outlet each year is sourced from these gullies. Associated
TRaCK research, for the first time identified these features as a distinct type of gully erosion
that differs significantly from the existing colluvial hillslope gully model. As Jeff Shellberg‘s work
shows (through proj 4.4), it would appear that most alluvial gullies were initiated around the
same time that cattle grazing was introduced to these savanna landscapes in the latter half of
the nineteenth century. Initial estimates, based solely on the increase in sediment production
from alluvial gullies, are that the fine sediment load at the Mitchell outlet has doubled since the
shift in the dominant land use from Indigenous management to cattle grazing.
It is not known to what extent other sediment sources have increased since European
settlement. Furthermore, it is presently not known what the implications of this increase in fine
sediment loads has been on the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, it is hypothesised
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 86 of 173
that the increased turbidity of overbank flows could significantly reduce light penetration and
hence influence primary productivity during the critically important overbank flows. There are
also potential implications for the ongoing persistence of floodplain water bodies during the dry
season, as many of these off-stream features are being directly impacted by alluvial gullies.
There is evidence that some of these permanent water bodies, of which there are few on the
Mitchell megafan, have reduced in area by 30-40% over the last few decades as a result of
sedimentation. If these examples are more widespread, this potentially has significant
implications for biodiversity on the Mitchell mega fan - and more broadly across the Gulf plains.
Many of these floodplain water bodies also have significant cultural value.
For the Daly River, we predict 503 kilo-tonnes per year of fine sediment export from the
catchment. Bank erosion is predicted to be the main sediment source, exceeding the combined
estimates of hillslope and gully erosion. Geochemical tracer data indicate a very strong sub-soil
sediment source but cannot at present differentiate gully from river bank input. Sediment
deposition upon floodplains accounts for approximately 81% of the catchment sediment supply.
Areas strongly contributing to sediment export from the catchment are predominantly located
in the north-west of the catchment (including the Douglas River) and along the stems of the major channels. The upper Dry River and Katherine Rivers are predicted to contribute
relatively modestly to the catchment export. The high rate of bank erosion is likely a product of
a shift to wetter conditions since 1996, with runoff estimated to be 66% higher than the mean
for previous decades, resulting in systematic channel widening along at least the main stem of
the Daly River, however this remains to be confirmed by more detailed field investigations.
The spatial pattern of nutrient contribution to catchment export is again dominated by input
from the north-west of the catchment.
Hillslope erosion contributes 14% or less of the total load at the catchment outlet in the
Mitchell. However, initial SedNet runs, based on the standard model formulation, indicated it
was the dominant source, over-estimating the hillslope-erosion contribution by more than an
order of magnitude. On the evidence from this study it would appear that the RUSLE-based
hillslope erosion sub-model systematically over-predicts hillslope erosion rates in wet-dry
tropical landscapes. This RUSLE based hillslope erosion sub-model has been used as the basis
for other sediment budget studies within similar wet-dry tropical savanna landscapes in
Australia, which consequently predict hillslope erosion as the dominant sediment source (e.g.
McKergow et al 2004, Marine Pollution Bulletin). Correct identification of the relative
contributions of sediment from the key processes (hillslope, bank, colluvial and alluvial gully
erosion) is critical for enabling the appropriate management response should the current
sediment loads be deemed to be sufficiently elevated above background levels to warrant
mitigation measures. A similar conclusion about over-prediction of hillslope erosion rates by
the RUSLE model was also obtained in the Daly River.
The reports present outcomes in several ways, including data tabulations and maps. Modeled
GIS data can also be made available to stakeholders as required. The project has provided
sediment budgets in a form that will inform planning and decision making processes about the
impacts of current land uses and the likely outcomes of future changes. SedNet model
outcomes from the Daly River have been made available to Project 1.4 for integration into
other TRaCK outcomes.
Outputs include:
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 87 of 173
Sediment (suspended and bedload) and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) budgets for
the Daly and Mitchell River catchments that predict the sources, transport and storage
sediment and nutrients.
Independent testing of the models‘ sediment loads predictions at major river junctions using geochemical sediment tracing to determine relative suspended sediment loads.
Independent testing of the models‘ erosion process (hillslope and channel erosion) loads
predictions using surface soil tracing radionuclides to estimate relative contributions from
hillslope and channel (stream banks and gullies) erosion.
Measurement and/or modeling of floodplain sedimentation and re-suspension processes to verify model predictions.
Estimates of sediment and nutrients loads at gauging stations to further test model
predictions using flow and suspended sediment and nutrients concentration data.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Preparation of a paper on the sediment tracing component of the project is almost
complete.
Attended DRMAC meeting to present project outcomes for the Daly River.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 88 of 173
PROJECT 4.3 TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACTS OF LAND
MANAGEMENT ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE DALY RIVER
TRaCK Theme: Material Budgets
Project Number: 4.3
Project Title:
Towards understanding the impacts of land
management on productivity in the Daly River
Project Coordinator: Barbara Robson
Key Partner Personnel:
Andy Revill, Michele Burford, Simon Townsend, Ralf Haese, Julia
Schult
Research Organisation: CSIRO Land & Water
1. Project Summary
This project has developed an understanding of primary production, plants, nutrients,
sediments, and organic matter in the Daly River, and of nutrients and pelagic production in
waterholes in the Flinders River catchment. This has included development of conceptual
models and nutrient budgets for both rivers and numerical models for the Daly River,
demonstrating that both rivers are likely to be sensitive to any increase in nutrient
concentrations associated with land use change. The work has generated new hypotheses about
how the rivers will respond to changes in flows and material fluxes, and has identified key
remaining knowledge gaps.
2. Project Objectives
For the Daly River:
a) To collate and assess state of knowledge of nutrient and sediment measurements. b) To develop an understanding of the transport and fate of carbon and nutrients associated
with fine sediments.
c) To develop an understanding of the relationships between nutrient availability, light and
rates of primary production.
d) To develop a budget and modeling framework for the transport and fate of nutrients and
fine sediments
e) Together with other TRACK projects in the Daly to understand the links between
management and ecological outcomes.
For the Flinders River:
a) To conduct a pilot study paralleling the work conducted in the Daly River, to develop a
preliminary understanding of nutrients and primary production in a seasonal tropical river.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 89 of 173
3. Location
The work was undertaken in the Daly River and in waterholes of the Cloncurry River in the
Flinders River catchment. Water quality monitoring locations in the Daly River are shown in
Figure 4. Detailed dry-season studies were conducted within a 10km stretch between sampling
sites 13 and 14.
Figure 4 The Daly River and major tributaries. Dry season water quality sample sites are indicated
with numbers 1-17 (round dots), wet season sample sites with letters A-D (triangles).
Work in the Flinders River catchment was conducted at five waterholes, located as shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 5 Sampling sites on Flinders River, as seen in a Google Earth screen shot.
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project results provide a basis for predicting how the Daly and Flinders Rivers (and similar
rivers in tropical north Australia) will respond to changes in flow, nutrient and sediment loads
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 90 of 173
that may occur if catchment land use or water management changes. The results provide new
conceptual models for these systems and insight into likely responses in terms of water quality,
plant coverage and system productivity.
The Daly River is adapted to low nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) concentrations in the dry
season. Any increase in dry-season nutrient loads is likely to increase the production of fast-
growing algae such as Spirogyra at the expense of slower-growing aquatic plants (such as
Vallisneria) that are believed to be valuable for habitat and in the food web. Increases in nutrient
loads to rivers is a common result of catchment developments such as irrigation of agricultural
crops, increased grazing intensity, or urban development. This finding might also apply to other
perennial tropical rivers, especially if groundwater-fed
Photosynthesis as measured by diurnal oxygen curves substantially over-estimates primary
production (production of algal biomass) in nutrient-limited tropical rivers. Photosynthesis is
not inhibited at high light intensities in the Daly River, though carbon assimilation into plant
biomass is subject to photoinhibition. Diurnal oxygen curves are therefore not an effective way
to measure production in clear, low nutrient low-nutrient tropical rivers.
The Flinders and Daly Rivers contrast strongly, with most differences related to the perennial
flow of the Daly and seasonal flow of the Flinders River. Primary production in the Daly River is
primarily benthic and is strongly nutrient limited during the dry season. In the Flinders River,
there is significant pelagic primary production and higher nutrient concentrations during the dry
season, but algal biomass is limited by nitrogen. In both rivers, though for different reasons,
total nutrient stores in appear to be relatively constant over the duration of the dry season. In
Flinders River waterholes
The Daly River can also be compared with the Ord River, which we have studied previously.
The Daly River is naturally perennial due to groundwater inputs, while the lower Ord River is
now perennial due to regulation. Nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the lower Ord
River are higher than in the Daly River during the dry season, in part due to the influence of
regulation and development in the catchment. Water clarity and photosynthesis are both
higher in the Daly River than in the lower Ord River due to higher light penetration, however it
is likely that algal production is higher in the Ord River.
Recommendations for monitoring include:
Diurnal oxygen curves do not provide a good measure of primary production in low-nutrient tropical rivers such as the Daly River, and may not be sufficient to detect
changes such as increases in algal biomass.
Nutrient loads should be routinely monitored in the Daly River so that any increase due
to catchment changes can be detected early. Monitoring of nutrients in the Daly River
should include both organic and inorganic species, and the end of the dry season (as
flow recedes following the last rainfall events) may be a critical period for monitoring
nutrient loads.
Monitoring of water quality in seasonally flowing rivers such as the Flinders River must include an estimate of waterhole volume as well as nutrient concentrations.
Key project outputs include:
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 91 of 173
a. A technical report describing the Daly River study and its results (submitted alongside
this report), which includes as specific outputs:
i. Nitrogen and phosphorus budgets for the Daly River and Flinders catchment
waterholes, plus a sediment budget for the Daly River.
ii. A conceptual model for sediment, nutrient and primary production processes in
the Daly River.
iii. A numerical model to predict dry-season depth and water velocity as a function
of flow.
iv. A numerical model to simulate the response of plants and algae in the Daly River
to variations or changes in flow and nutrient concentrations.
v. Descriptions of process studies and sampling, including physical and geochemical
properties of sediments and organic matter, evidence for nitrogen and
phosphorus co-limitation of primary production, estimates of whole-system
metabolism and production, and more.
b. A technical report describing the Flinders River study and its results which includes:
i. Dry-season nutrient budgets for the study sites. ii. Results of process studies and sampling, including fish population and grazing
impacts on phytoplankton, nitrogen limitation of phytoplankton, and nutrient
processes.
5. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Refereed Conference Paper (and presentation): Robson, B.J. 2010. A Dynamic Model of
Primary Production and Plant Coverage in an Oligotropic Tropical River. International
Environmental Modeling and Software Society (iEMSs) 2010 International Congress on
Environmental Modeling and Software Modeling for Environment‘s Sake, Fifth Biennial Meeting,
Ottawa, Canada. David A. Swayne, Wanhong Yang, A. A. Voinov, A. Rizzoli, T. Filatova (Eds.).
Conference Abstract and Presentation: Robson, B.J. 2010. How Flow and Nutrients
Affect Plants and Algae In The Daly River, N.T. River Symposium, Perth, October 2010.
Presentation, University of Waikato, New Zealand, July 2010. Understanding and
modeling flow, nutrients and benthic plants in a perennial tropical river.
Presentation, CSIRO Land and Water, Black Mountain, ACT, March 2010. Robson,
B.J. Understanding and modeling flow, nutrients and benthic plants in a perennial tropical river.
NRETAS is a key stakeholder and has participated actively in the project through team
members, Julia Schult and Simon Townsend and through NRETAS‘ contribution of flow data
and water quality monitoring effort.
On TRaCK newsletter article: Dixon, 2010. Threatened pig-nosed turtle depends on
nutrient cycles in northern rivers.
Fact Sheet: Nutrients in Rivers: Towards understanding the impacts of land management and
productivity in the Daly and Flinders Rivers (Materials Budgets Fact Sheet 3)
Publications
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 92 of 173
o Technical Report: Robson, B.J., Schult, J., Smith, J., Webster, I., Burford, M., Revill,
A., Townsend, S., Haese, R. and Holdsworth, D. 2010. Water quality, evaporation
and primary production in waterholes of the Flinders River catchment. Anticipated
publication: February 2011.
o Journal Paper: Schult, J. and Townsend, T. (in prep.). Nutrient and sediment loads
in the Daly River catchment.
o Journal Paper: Townsend, T. et al. (in prep.) Phytoplankton assemblages and
constraints to biomass in the middle reaches of an Australian tropical river during
base flow conditions
o Journal Paper: Townsend, T. et al. (in prep.) Metabolism in a groundwater fed
river system in the Australian wet/dry tropics: the tight coupling of photosynthesis
and respiration
o Journal Paper: Robson et al. (in prep). A Dynamic Model of Benthic Algae and
Aquatic Plants in a Low-Nutrient Tropical River
o Honors thesis: Faggotter, S. (in prep.), Griffith University. To be submitted by
November 2010. o Journal Paper: Faggotter, S. et al. (in concept). Top-down versus bottom-up
control of primary production in a seasonal tropical river.
o Journal Paper: Burford et al. (in concept). Nutrients, primary production and fish
in a seasonal tropical river: a conceptual model.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 93 of 173
PROJECT 4.4 BEDLOAD TRANSPORT IN LARGE TROPICAL RIVERS AND ITS
EFFECT ON DRY-SEASON POOL HABITAT DYNAMICS
TRaCK Theme: Theme 4
Project Number: 4.4
Project Title:
Bedload transport in large tropical rivers and its effect
on dry-season pool habitat dynamics
Project Coordinator: Andrew Brooks (GU
Key Partner Personnel:
John Spencer (GU), Jon Knight (GU), Jeffrey Shellberg (GU),
David Williams (NRETA), Eric Valentine (CDU), Post-doc
(CDU), Tim Pietsch (CSIRO)
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
This project has developed a first order understanding of bedload transport rates and sources
in two large northern Australian tropical rivers - the Mitchell and Daly Rivers. The primary aim
of the project was to assess whether there is evidence for sustained in-filling of pools on the
mainstream channels of the two focal catchments and as such whether excessive bedload
transport represents a threat to the viability of dry season pool habitat on these rivers. The
considerable lags in the movement of bedload from source to sink in large rivers, and the
changing distribution of bed material storage as a function of annual and decadal flow regimes,
necessitate the adoption of a multi-temporal and multi-pronged approach to assessing bedload
transport.
The project incorporated remote sensing to assess decadal patterns of sediment accumulation;
high flow monitoring of bedload transport using an Acoustic Doppler Profiler (ADP); and
hydrodynamic modeling utilising the gauge flow duration data to estimate annual bedload
transport in the two main-stem river channels. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating
of bed storage deposits will also be undertaken at selected sites to determine residence times
for in-channel storage units as well as maximum scour depths for the mobile bed fraction.
2. Project Objectives
Develop a key component of the sediment budget for two of the focal catchments, and
thereby form an important building block for developing models of how land-use change
will affect sediment budgets in northern Australia.
Assess the historical evidence for increased in-channel bedload storage (and hence loss
of dry-season pool habitat) within the main stem channels of the two focal catchments.
Using an ADP, measure contemporary bedload transport (+ discharge and suspended
sediment concentration) during at least one high flow event in each catchment.
Develop a reach scale (i.e. several 10s of km associated with a gauge reach) hydrodynamic model within the main stem channel of each river and model sediment
transport using the flow duration curve from the associated gauge.
Determine maximum depth of the mobile bed fraction using OSL dating.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 94 of 173
Determine the residence time of different in-channel storage units within a
representative cross section of the modeled reach in each river.
3. Location
Mitchell River Qld; Daly River NT
4. Target Audiences for the research
The primary target audience of this research is the TRaCK program partners themselves, as
this project provides the basis for extrapolating some of the site specific data to other parts of
northern Australia. It also provides input data for various projects, including the biodiversity
project, the socio economic classification project and the hydrological regionalisation project.
In addition to this, the classification and the classification method developed in this project will
be an important contribution to regional NRM groups in northern Australia as well as an
important contribution to the geomorphic community in terms of understanding of the
diversity of rivers in northern Australia.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
This project developed an quantitative understanding of bedload transport rates in the Mitchell
and Daly Rivers with the aim of assessing whether there is evidence for sustained in-filling of
pools on the mainstream channels and whether excessive bedload transport represents a threat
to the viability of dry season pool habitat.
For the Daly River remote sensing analysis (i.e. using historical aerial photography and satellite
imagery) showed that the Daly River between Oolloo and Daly River crossing has not
experienced sustained net sand accumulation in the river bed between 1972 and the present.
However, the same analysis also showed that this section of the river has experienced
substantial channel expansion (bank erosion on both banks) over this period. The grainsize of
the sediment eroded from the banks is significantly finer than the bed material load in the
adjacent channel suggesting the source of this material is from higher in the catchment. Further
study is required to identify the source areas of these coarse sands. The remote sensing
analysis also showed that the Daly River estuary has undergone significant channel widening
over the same period (1972 – present), with a net annual increase in estuary area (i.e. net bank
erosion) in the order of 19 ha/yr for this period. This extent of channel expansion could be
contributing as much as 250000t/yr of sand to the estuary, which in combination with the
altered tidal dynamics that would accompany such changes, could explain a proportion of the
shoaling that has been observed in the Daly estuary over recent decades.
For the Mitchell River satellite remote sensing analysis of channel dynamics in the main-stem
channels indicated that there was evidence for sustained sand accumulation between 1988 and
2008. However, further analysis at shorter time steps indicates that the river channel is in fact
highly dynamic, and that net change is highly dependent on the start and end dates of any
analysis. Looking at multiple time steps over the two decades 1988 - 2008, our analysis shows
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 95 of 173
that there is indeed no evidence for net channel aggradation (or sand accumulation) over this
period. There are extensive volumes of sand accumulated in some years that are then
apparently eroded the next. Pools that might be several kilometers long and several hundred
meters wide, with an average depth of several meters at low flow, are completely infilled in a
single wet season. Also documented was the fact that an equivalent sized pool to the one
infilled can reform in a new location. These findings have important implications for identifying
the appropriate observational scale when undertaking monitoring activities, whether they are
looking at geomorphic or ecological processes.
The situation over longer timescales (50 – 150 years) is far less clear, with aerial photography
suggesting the Mitchell main-stem channel has transformed from a more braided channel in the
1940s through to a more sinuous single thread migrating channel through the 70s – 90s, and
back to a more braiding channel in recent years. Such observations are consistent with major
fluctuations in sediment supply as well as changes in the discharge regime, or more likely both.
Associated modeling work in project 4.2 suggest that perturbations in bed material supply in
the upper catchment may take more the 100 years to fully work their way through the stream
network. The implications of this, if it can be verified, is that increased sediment supply associated with the early settlement (e.g. mining and the introduction of cattle) may yet to be
fully experienced in the Mitchell delta.
Our analysis shows that the Mitchell channel has migrated laterally by more than one km in
places over 20 years, and that on average, > 50M t of sediment are turned over per year (i.e.
net bank erosion + net deposition in the channel) over a ~ 1600km stretch of the Mitchell main
stem channel and its main tributaries. The Landsat analysis coupled with LiDar data allowed us
to derive an estimate of bank erosion inputs from this part of the channel network of about
600 000 t/year. These estimates of sediment contributed via bank erosion did not accord well
with the predictions of bank erosion using SedNet for the same part of the stream network.
This inconsistency highlights the need for more empirical data on bank erosion rates and
processes in these large savanna rivers , and potentially for the development of new models to
predict bank erosion as part of a sediment budgeting procedure.
Accompanying these channel changes, approximately 72 km2 of riparian forest were eroded
over the 20 year period of the analysis across the same 1600 linear km of river channel outlined
above. This had the effect of contributing around 15000 trees to the channel per year, most of
which contribute snags to the large pools that tend to be associated with the eroding outer
banks. These results raise interesting questions about the importance of wood recruitment and
decay in the carbon budget of large dynamic tropical rivers like the Mitchell.
Daly and/or Mitchell Rivers wet season bed velocity monitoring
In the Daly River, 13 separate measurements of bedload velocity were undertaken using an RDI
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) at 5 sites over six separate occasions during the
2007-08 and 2008-09 wet seasons. On the Mitchell River, measurements of bedload velocity
were undertaken using the same instrument and methods as used in the Daly.
The upper limit on the Daly relationship reflects the lower channel capacity in the Daly channel
than the Mitchell and hence the lower bankfull discharge. Flows greater than bankfull dissipate
the additional energy overbank and often result in lower in-channel velocities and shear stresses
and hence lower sediment transport rates.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 96 of 173
Figure 1 – Map showing the locations of key sites along the 350km traverse of the lower Mitchell River during the
major flood of February 2009.
Remote Sensing Analysis
The use of remotely sensed Landsat data to derive an understanding of channel dynamics and
bedload turnover rates within the Mitchell channel proved to be an extremely useful approach,
particularly when combined with good field observational data and high resolution LiDAR data.
Given that the primary objective of this project was to ascertain whether there is evidence for
sustained infilling of pools within the Mitchell river system, this method has proved integral to
enabling us to answer this question. As shown in Figure 4 & 5, accompanying these channel
changes huge volumes of stored bedload sediment are remobilised and deposited.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 97 of 173
Figure 2 – Cumulative channel change from 1988 – 2007 along the lower Mitchell River near Koolatah Crossing
from analysis of Landsat data. The image shows extensive areas of lateral channel migration (~1km in some
locations) over this 20 year period, which represent extensive volumes of sediment turnover.
Figure 3 - Timelapse photographs pre-, during and post the 2008-09 wet season. Camera is located at the arrow
in figure 6 and shows a large pool becoming completely infilled during the course of a single wet season. Image
dates from left to right are 29/11/2008; 13/2/2009; 29/5/2009. Discharge respectively (cumecs) are 40; 3800; 50
The net outcome from the change detection analysis across the period of the Landsat archive is
that there appears to be no net trend towards channel aggradation, at least on this timescale.
This highlights the fact that if undertaking such an analysis it maters a great deal as to what your
start and end points are. Commencing the analysis in 1988 and ending in 2005 (as the first
iteration of this analysis did) would indicate that there has been net accretion with the river
over this time interval. Analysis across a further two years sees the situation reversed, with net
scour resulting.
The analysis highlights the fact that this is a highly dynamic river system, within which there can
be profound changes from year to year, depending on the magnitude of flows experienced
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 98 of 173
during each wet season. Some wet seasons result in net accretion and others net scour.
Understanding the longer term trend requires us to use other types of data and different
approaches, in order to gain a true picture of the longer term patterns of change.
Mitchell Catchment Alluvial Gully Erosion Rates
Remote sensing based mapping within the 31,000 km2 Mitchell River fluvial megafan has
identified that active gullying into alluvium occupies at least ~ 0.4% (129 km2) of the lower Mitchell catchment . These alluvial gullies are concentrated along main drainage channels and
their scarp heights are highly correlated to the local relief between the floodplain and river
thalweg. A critical question that we are trying to unravel as part of this research, is whether
these gullies are simply a natural process within this landscape, or whether their extent and
rates of activity have increased in response to land use pressures over the last 160 years. To
address this question, rates of alluvial gully erosion were measured over different time scales
using recent GPS surveys, historical air photograph analysis, tree ring analysis, and optical
stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of buried sand grains.
These results of post-European settlement gully initiation suggest the contribution of land use
intensification (cattle grazing and fire regime changes) to either gully initiation or acceleration.
Figure 4- Alluvial gully distribution and density (m2/km2) across the Mitchell fluvial megafan. The density grid
resolution is 1 km2 pixels. Dashed line is the Palmerville fault.
Outputs included:
A remote sensing based analysis of changing dry-season bed material storage deposits -
for the period of record of the available remote sensing imagery (AP, Landsat).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 99 of 173
Field measurements (using an ADP) of contemporary bedload transport rates (+
discharge and suspended sediment concentration) during at least one high flow event in
each catchment.
A reach scale hydrodynamic model within the main stem channel of each river to provide reach averaged estimates of bed material transport within the mainstream
channel of each river. These will be based on the flow duration curve from the
associated gauges.
A chronostratigraphic analysis (using OSL dating) of channel and channel marginal bed-
material storage units – to determine residence times of bed storage units and
maximum scour depths, within representative sections of the mainstream channel in
each river.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Brooks, A.P., Spencer, J., Shellberg, J.G., Knight, J., and Lymburner, L., 2008. Using remote
sensing to quantify sediment budget components in a large tropical river - Mitchell River, Gulf
of Carpentaria, Sediment Dynamics in Changing Environments (Proceedings of a symposium
held in Christchurch, New Zealand, December 2008). IAHS Publ. 325, pp. 225 - 236.
Brooks, A.P., Shellberg, J.G., Spencer, J. and Knight, J., 2009. Alluvial gully erosion: an example
from the Mitchell fluvial megafan, Queensland, Australia. Earth Surface Processes and
Landforms, 34: 1951-1969. With 2010 Erratum, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 35: 242–245.
Shellberg, J., Brooks, A. and Spencer, J., 2010. Land-use change from Indigenous management to
cattle grazing initiates the gullying of alluvial soils in northern Australia, 19th World Congress of
Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World. 1 - 6 August 2010. Published on CDROM.,
Brisbane, Australia, pp. 59-62.
Shellberg, J.G., Brooks, A.P., Spencer, J., Knight, J., Pietsch, T., 2010. Alluvial gully erosion rates
and processes in Northern Queensland: an example from the Mitchell River fluvial megafan.
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University; Produced for The Caring for Our Country
(CfoC) Initiative; Managed by the Northern Gulf Natural Resource Management Group and
Land & Water Australia, January 2010, Nathan, Queensland, Australia, 91 pp.
Poster Presentation in River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics conference, Santa Fe,
Argentina, 2009.
A paper was presented at Asia Pacific Division - IAHR conference, Auckland, 2010.
7. Indigenous Engagement
This project has contributed to several workshops organised by the Mitchell River group,
focusing on the impacts of mining in the Mitchell catchment, an issue which is of major concern
to traditional owners in the Mitchell catchment. This project has also contributed to two
presentations to the DRMAC and has developed a good relationship with Indigenous interests
through DRMAC.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 100 of 173
PROJECT 5.1 BOTTOM-UP AND TOP-DOWN CONTROL OF RIVERINE FOOD
WEBS
TRaCK Theme: Food webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.1
Project Title:
Bottom-up and Top-down Control of Riverine Food
Webs
Project Coordinator: Michael Douglas (CDU)
Key Partner Personnel:
Danielle Warfe, Simon Townsend, Erica Garcia, Peter Kyne.
Peter Novak, Andrew Raith (CDU), Stuart Bunn, Tim Jardine,
Mark Kennard, Brad Pusey (GU), Peter Davies, Neil Pettit
(UWA)
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary
Human activities in catchments affect aquatic food web structure and important ecosystem processes. In tropical systems, the sources, fate and controls of primary production supporting
aquatic food webs and the important links to higher trophic levels are largely unknown. An
essential prerequisite for the sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems is the identification
of the terrestrial and autochthonous sources of organic matter that drive food webs. Despite
the complexity of tropical river ecosystems, a relatively small number of possible trophic
interactions may account for most of the transfer of nutrients and carbon.
The unique features of tropical rivers (e.g. greater flow variability, groundwater dependence)
are likely to modify the structure and response of biological communities to anthropogenic
and/or climate -induced changes. This project will use small-scale, controlled manipulative
experiments and stable isotope analysis to identify the sources of organic carbon underpinning
riverine food webs and will determine the specific trophic interactions that have a strong
influence on carbon and nutrient flow to higher trophic levels (e.g. fish).
2. Project Objectives
Identify the sources of organic carbon driving the food web
Determine the degree of reliance of aquatic food webs on riparian inputs and vice versa
Determine the factors that have the greatest influence on the production of these sources
Identify the trophic interactions that have a strong influence on carbon and nutrient flow to higher trophic levels
3. Location
This project was conducted in the Daly River catchment in the NT, the Flinders and Mitchell
River catchments in Queensland, and in the Fitzroy River catchment in WA.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 101 of 173
4. Target Audience(s) for the research
State, Territory and Australian Government water resources and management agencies, e.g.
QDNRW, WA DoW, NT NRETA, DEWHA, NWC
Regional NRM and planning groups, e.g. NT NRMB, Mitchell River Watershed Management
Group, Daly River Management Advisory Group,
Indigenous groups, e.g. Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group, Indigenous Water
Facilitators Network
Conservation NGO‘s e.g. WWF, regional environnent centres
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project has produced:
Better understanding of the sources of carbon and nutrients that underpin tropical river food webs and the factors that limit production.
Improved conceptual understanding of the trophic interactions in tropical rivers including
the interactions between rivers and riparian zones and the role of flow and riverscape.
Improved theoretical underpinning for the more applied aspects of flow research.
Better information for setting environmental flows based on an understanding of the role of
flows.
Results from the major food web survey conducted in the Daly, Mitchell and Fitzroy River
catchments during 2008 and 2009 indicate that generally, benthic algal carbon is a major food
source supporting aquatic food webs across tropical river landscapes. In the Fitzroy, which is an
intermittent river, fish appear to rely strongly on local algal sources. But the reliance of fish on
local algal carbon appears to decrease as rivers have shorter periods of no flow, and particularly
in perennial reaches. We believe this is because perennial rivers allow fish to move over larger
areas and consumer from a wider, and more continuous, range of locations. Thus there is a
greater movement of carbon signatures throughout these perennial systems and it is more
difficult to identify the dominant food source supporting fish biomass.
We initially proposed three hypotheses to explain what carbon source is supporting fish
biomass in the Daly:
1. Terrestrial insects being consumed by fish.
2. Marine-derived carbon via migrating crayfish being consumed by fish.
3. Floodplain-derived carbon via fish feeding on the inundated floodplain during the wet
season.
Carbon signatures of fish in the Mitchell River, a river of ―intermediate‖ intermittency, indicate
that fish are supported by floodplain-derived carbon (hypothesis 3). Fish feed on benthic algae
during the wet season and then move upstream for the dry season. This finding, suggesting that
floodplain resources can subsidise upstream food aquatic food webs and highlighting the
importance of hydrological connectivity, has been written up and is currently in review (Jardine
et al, in review, High food web connectivity in the lower reaches of a wet-dry tropical floodplain river).
Carbon sources in the Daly River were more difficult to resolve. While we think that floodplain
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 102 of 173
sources are important for supporting fish biomass in the Daly River, especially considering the
Daly floodplain is often flooded for relatively long periods compared to the Mitchell and Fitzroy,
we also think our other hypothesized mechanisms may be important in this catchment.
The perennial nature of the Daly means that upstream migration of prawns during the late wet
season could be important in bringing marine sources into the freshwater reaches. Also, the
perennial flows means that there is continuous contact between the riparian and aquatic zones,
so terrestrial arthropod prey could be a more important food source for fish in the Daly. The
latter hypothesis is also supported by evidence from the seasonal flux sampling which indicates
terrestrial resources are consumed by a range of fish species.
Results from the Edith River top-down and bottom-up experiment revealed that there was a
significant impact of increased nutrients (both nitrogen and phosphorus) on biomass of benthic
algae (measured as chlorophyll a). There was not a significant top-down effect by fish and
shrimp on benthic algae but there was a significant effect on the benthic macroinvertebrate
assemblages. These results were presented in at the 2010 ASL conference and a manuscript is
in preparation.
The project has also contributed to updating the conceptual models which illustrate the important abiotic and biotic processes and interactions that occur from the uplands to the
estuaries of northern tropical rivers. These models were first developed at the start of TRaCK
and the final versions have been updated with data gathered from multiple TRaCK projects.
Stephen Faggotter has completed his Honors project titled ―Assessing the effect of top-down
control on primary productivity in a dryland-tropical river‖ through Griffith University
(supervisor: Dr. Michelle Burford) and received 1st class honors. He is currently working on two
manuscripts based on his project and some of his data has been used by Dr. Tim Jardine for a
manuscript (Jardine, Hunt, Faggotter, Valdez, Burford, & Bunn. In review. Carbon from benthic
algae supports fish biomass in waterholes of a wet-dry tropical river, Limnology and
Oceanography).
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities
A paper authored by Douglas, Garcia, Warfe et al on context-dependent top-down control by
macroconsumers in tropical streams is being prepared by the project team and is nearing
submission in a general ecological journal. This paper provides some of the background for the
Edith River top down and bottom up experiment.
A paper authored by Garcia, Townsend and Douglas on the relative importance of top down
and bottom up control in the Edith River is being prepared by the project team and will be
submitted later this year 2011.
Papers on the stable isotopes and terrestrial macroinvertebrate data from the seasonal flux experiment are currently being prepared. These include: Garcia, Pettit, Warfe, Douglas, Bunn,
Davies. In prep. Seasonal invertebrate exchange across the aquatic-riparian interface; Garcia,
Douglas, Warfe, Pettit, Kyne, Jardine, Bunn. In prep. Aquatic production supporting terrestrial
food webs in the tropics.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 103 of 173
A paper authored by Kyne, Warfe and Pettit on riparian bird assemblages of Australia‘s wet dry
tropics is currently being prepared and is planned to be submitted before the end of the year
2011.
A paper authored by Warfe, Pettit, Pusey, Davies, Douglas and Bunn has been submitted to
Ecological Applications and is currently under peer review. This paper is based on the
assemblage (taxonomic) data obtained during the course of the major food web survey
conducted across the Daly and Fitzroy catchments in 2008, and shows that riparian and aquatic
vegetation, fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages show striking concordance in their spatial
variation across river landscapes. It also shows that these assemblages are structured primarily
by environmental filters, rather than random, spatial or dispersal dynamics and that flow regime
and channel width (an indicator of ecosystem size) are major factors explaining assemblage
variation.
Papers on the stable isotopes data from major food web survey are currently being prepared.
These include:
Jardine, T.D., Pettit, N.E., Warfe, D.M., Pusey, B.J., Ward, D.P., Davies, P.M., Douglas, M.M., and
Bunn, S.E. In prep. Consumer resource coupling in wet-dry tropical rivers. To be
submitted to Journal of Animal Ecology.
Warfe, D.M., Jardine, T.D., Pettit, N.E., Hamilton, S.K., Pusey, B.J., Bunn, S.E., Davies, P.M.,
Douglas, M.M. In prep. Spatial variation and drivers of trophic structure in tropical
riverscapes. To be submitted to Ecology.
Michael Douglas, Erica Garcia, and Simon Townsend attended the Australian Society for
Limnology annual symposium in Thredbo, NSW, in late November 2010. Michael presented a
talk on ―Key Drivers of river and wetland food webs in Australia‘s wet-dry tropics‖ a
revisitation of the original hypotheses around food webs proposed in Douglas et al. 2005,
Marine and Freshwater Research. Erica presented the results from the top down/bottom up
experiment conducted in the Edith River in the dry season of 2009 with Michael and Simon as
co-authors on the presentation.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 104 of 173
PROJECT 5.2 IMPORTANCE OF WATERHOLES AS AQUATIC REFUGIA AND
THE BIOPHYSICAL PROCESSES THAT SUSTAIN THEM
TRaCK Theme: Food Webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.2
Project Title:
Importance of waterholes as aquatic refugia and the
biophysical processes that sustain them
Project Coordinator: Prof Stuart Bunn
Key Partner Personnel:
Prof Peter Davies (UWA), A/Prof Michael Douglas (CDU), Dr
Stephen Hamilton (MSU), Dr Jon Marshall (NRW), Dr Richard
Hunt (NRW), Dr Joel Huey (NRW), Dr Simon Townsend
(CDU), Dr Ian Webster (CSIRO L&W), Dr Damien Burrows
(JCU), Dr Andrew Brooks (GU), Dr Michele Burford (GU)
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
Waterholes are critically important refugia for plants and animals to survive the annual dry
season in the wet-dry tropics. This project sought to understand key ecological processes that
support or limit consumers in these habitats. Results from several broad-scale stable surveys
show strong dependence of consumers on benthic algae from within waterholes and from
adjacent floodplains. Conditions in waterholes deteriorate towards the end of the dry season,
with high turbidity and extreme fluctuations in dissolved oxygen, with shallow waterholes that
are visited heavily by large mammals in the worst condition. Nitrogen appears to be the
primary limiting nutrient in these waterholes, and many sites are eutrophic by the end of the
dry season.
2. Project Objectives
Waterholes in ephemerally-flowing rivers are critical refugia for aquatic biodiversity and are
highly valued by local communities, particularly Indigenous communities in northern Australia.
Yet they are vulnerable to increasing demands for ground- and surface water extraction and
climate change. In many river systems, these refugia also come under considerable pressure
from stock and feral animals during drought as surface waters become depleted. Some are also
subject to strong fishing pressure during the dry season. The objectives of this project fall
under four main headings:
Spatial and temporal dynamics of waterholes
Determine the spatial and temporal pattern of persistence of waterholes and their
importance as aquatic refugia using field and remote sensing techniques.
Determine the relative importance of surface and groundwater to the physical
persistence of important aquatic refugia.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 105 of 173
Predict how the physical persistence of waterholes will be affected by water resource
development and climate change.
Factors that influence primary production and food webs in waterholes
Determine the major sources of aquatic carbon that sustain aquatic biota in waterholes.
Determine the factors that limit primary production, with particular focus on primary
sources that sustain aquatic food webs and biodiversity.
Impacts of stock and predation
Understand the impacts of uncontrolled access of domestic and feral animals.
Determine the influence of fishing pressure on food webs and potential cascading effects on aquatic ecosystem health.
Tools for monitoring and assessment
Develop cost-effective remote sensing tools for mapping the spatial and temporal dynamics of waterholes.
Develop guidelines for conservation and management of key aquatic refugia.
3. Location
Research was conducted principally in the Mitchell and Flinders River, Queensland, with
additional sampling for a food web survey in the Daly River, Northern Territory and the Fitzroy
River, Western Australia.
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
Mapping of waterhole presence has been successfully completed and regression models relating
on-ground measurements of turbidity to remotely-sensed images will be a cost-effective tool to
monitor changes in waterhole characteristics with land-use patterns (e.g. water extraction,
stocking density).
Visual observations suggest that sites with high cattle densities have waterholes that are in
poorer condition. Expected effects of stock are higher nutrients, increased turbidity, and lower
plant biomass. The project was unable to document effects of fishing on waterholes mainly
because fisheries statistics for most locations were unavailable. The remoteness of many of the
sites suggests that fishing pressure is likely to be low.
The project identified benthic algae as the main driver of fish biomass in the waterholes studied,
although many fish appear to derive a considerable portion of their biomass from floodplains.
Newly developed regression models relating remotely-sensed spectral characteristics and
ground-truthed turbidity will be an important tool in determining changes in light penetration
and resultant primary productivity in waterholes. This tool can be used to measure differences
in turbidity and productivity across the landscape, within a season (wet to dry), and over time
(i.e. the past 25 years).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 106 of 173
While benthic algae remain the most likely primary production source supporting food webs,
there is ample evidence that algae grown on the floodplain during the wet season is used heavily
by consumers, and this production source is transported back to dry season refugia
(waterholes, river channels, coastal areas). Waterholes, particularly those in the lower
floodplain, are highly productive by global standards (eutrophic), however the strong limitations
imposed by seasonal dry down (crowding, competition, predation, highly fluctuating dissolved
oxygen levels) likely favors behavioural mechanisms in fish that reduce activity until the arrival
of the first wet season flows. This latter feature may explain why the floodplain ―signal‖ is so
prevalent in fish body tissue and why benthic and planktonic algal concentrations tend to
increase (from reduced grazing) as the dry season progresses.
Seasonal effects on water quality and primary production appear to be as strong as ecological
effects. That is, waterholes in the late dry season have vastly different physical (e.g. turbidity)
and chemical (e.g. nutrients, chlorophyll) properties compared to the same waterholes early in
the dry season after floodwaters recede. This is true for sites with and without major
disturbances from cattle and feral pigs, so any efforts to quantify the effects of these introduced
animals or other pressures must take into account the large seasonal variation that is in part natural.
Flinders River waterholes appear very similar to those in inland Australia (i.e. Cooper Creek) as
they have comparable geomorphology (steep banks, fine sediment) and sources of primary
production are relatively simple with only benthic algae, phytoplankton and terrestrial detritus.
As such, Flinders waterholes contained fish with a strong local algal signal (similar to Cooper
Creek). Mitchell River waterholes, on the other hand, have different geomorphology (shallow
banks, sand bottom) and also have extensive macrophyte communities (lilies, grasses, sedges,
submerged and floating plants) making the determination of source carbon for consumers more
challenging.
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this important
from a stakeholder/ end-user
perspective
Waterholes in the tropical catchments under
study tend to be less turbid than those in
central Australia (e.g., Cooper Creek), where
most previous waterhole research has been
conducted.
Tropical north Primary productivity (mainly algal
growth) in waterholes is potentially less
limited by light (and therefore may be
more limited by nutrients and grazing) in
northern rivers
Waterholes located on the lower floodplain
have far higher nutrients and productivity
(based on chlorophyll concentrations) than
those located further upriver
Mitchell Nutrients added in the headwaters will
likely be transported and deposited
downstream, leading to even higher
productivity than is currently observed
Food chains are of typical length
(approximately four trophic levels, based on
stable nitrogen isotopes), but fish communities
are often dominated by omnivores/herbivores
(e.g. small catfish, bony bream)
Tropical north Top-down control of primary
productivity (i.e. plant production limited
by herbivores) is highly likely, and this
may be partly due to introduced animals
Macrophytes (aquatic vascular plants) are
heavily grazed by late in the dry season,
Mitchell Impacts of cattle, pigs, wallabies may be
severe; suppression of macrophytes may
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 107 of 173
apparently due to terrestrial animals (cattle,
pigs, wallabies) as well as aquatic consumers.
enhance the relative importance of algal
growth in sustaining aquatic food webs
Turbidity generally increases over the course
of the dry season as a consequence of
increased phytoplankton growth and wind
action and animal access that disturbs sediment
as water becomes shallow.
Mitchell,
Flinders
Our understanding of any external effects
must take into account the strong effect
of seasonal changes in water quantity and
quality
There is little evidence for the importance of
groundwater inputs in sustaining waterholes
through the dry season (except possibly
waterholes situated in large sand bed channels)
Tropical north
except the Daly
River
Surface flows are necessary for sustaining
waterholes as refugia (i.e., local inputs of
water are not enough)
Waterholes with higher turbidity tend to have
fewer macrophytes and turbidity is high
enough to limit light penetration (end resultant
benthic algal growth) in some locations
Mitchell,
Flinders
Increased sediment inputs could reduce
overall system productivity
Waterhole food webs supporting important
biodiversity ‗assets‘ are algal driven, but some
of this algae comes from the floodplain
More likely benthic or attached algae rather
than plankton
Tropical north Factors that influence algal production
and composition are extremely
important:
• Light (turbidity, sediment inputs)
• Nutrients
Many small but culturally important waterholes
dry up completely just prior to the onset of
wet season flows
Mitchell Reduced filling from wet season flows
will increase the frequency of years of full
drying and possibly lead to more
waterholes experiencing full drying in
dryer years
The spatial and temporal patterns of
persistence of waterholes can be cost
effectively mapped at catchment to region
scales using Landsat TM data
Tropical north The influence of water resource
development and climate change on the
physical persistence of waterholes can be
assessed at catchment to regional scales
The seasonal dynamics of turbidity and aquatic
vegetation cover can be cost effectively
mapped at catchment to region scales using
Landsat TM data combined with site based
information on waterhole turbidity and
macrophyte cover
Tropical north The influence of turbidity on aquatic
productivity can potentially be assessed
at catchment to regional scales
Stable isotope data from dry season surveys in the Mitchell, Fitzroy, Daly and Flinders rivers
were compiled. The current custodian for this data is Tim Jardine (Griffith University) and these
files have been entered in the relevant TRaCK metadata forms.
5. Indigenous Engagement
The project worked closely with the Kowanyama Aboriginal Land and Natural Resource
Management Office (KALNRMO). This has resulted in joint activities (e.g. field work), funding
proposals (e.g. two failed Caring for our Country projects and one ARC Linkage proposal
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 108 of 173
currently in review) and eventually will yield co-authored manuscripts. TRaCK is an official
member of the Kowanyama Wetlands Technical Advisory Group that seeks to understand
environmental and cultural values on Kowanyama Lands and how these might best be protected
and monitored.
Several individuals from KALNRMO have been involved with this TRaCK project, including Viv
Sinnamon (Manager – KALNRMO), Anzac Frank (Senior Ranger) and Raven Greenwool
(Cultural Heritage Officer). This involvement has been in both planning and operation of joint
TRaCK/KALNRMO initiatives, including a study designed to understand the effects of pigs and
cattle on waterholes.
Terms of reference have been developed for the Kowanyama Wetlands TAG, and KALNRMO
is a signatory on the Indigenous research protocols agreed upon between TRaCK and the
Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group (MRTCAG).
Researchers Bunn, Jardine, and Valdez have completed cultural awareness training (offered by
MRTCAG). Informal presentations about TRaCK‘s research have been given to staff at
KALNRMO during field visits.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Manuscripts
Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Pusey, B.J., and Bunn, S.E. In review. A non-lethal sampling method for
stable isotope studies of tropical fishes. Marine and Freshwater Research (submitted
August 2010).
Jardine, T.D., and Bunn, S.E. 2010. Northern Australia, whither the mercury? Marine and
Freshwater Research 61: 451-463.
Jardine, T.D., Pettit, N.E., Warfe, D.M., Davies, P.M., Douglas, M.M., and Bunn, S.E. In prep.
Consumer resource coupling in wet-dry tropical rivers. To be submitted to Oecologia.
Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Valdez, D., Faggotter, S., Burford, M.A., and Bunn, S.E. In prep. Food
web patterns in waterholes of a wet-dry tropical river. To be submitted to Freshwater
Biology.
Warfe, D.M., Jardine, T.D., Pettit, N.E., Hamilton, S.K., Pusey, B.J., Bunn, S.E., Davies, P.M.,
Douglas, M.M. In prep. Spatial variation and drivers of trophic structure in tropical
riverscapes. To be submitted to Ecology.
Pettit, N.E., Jardine, T.D., Sinnamon, V., Hamilton, S.K., and Bunn, S.E. In prep. Seasonal changes
in water quality and plant biomass of tropical waterholes, and impacts of cattle. To be
submitted to Wetlands.
Ward, D.P., Marshall, J., Jardine, T.D., Hamilton, S.K., Tews, K. In prep. Assessing seasonal
variability in waterbody productivity using remotely sensed turbidity-light relationships
and waterbody morphology. To be submitted to Limnology and Oceanography
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 109 of 173
Oral presentations
Pettit, N.E., Jardine, T.D., Warfe, D.M., Douglas, M.M., Hamilton, S.K., Bunn, S.E., and Davies,
P.M. 2010. Key drivers of river and wetland food webs in Australia‘s wet-dry tropics.
58th Annual Meeting of the North American Benthological Society, June 6-11. Santa Fe,
NM.
Hamilton, S.K., Celi, J., Jardine, T.D., Ward, D.P, and Bunn, S.E. 2010. Major solute chemistry as an indicator of hydrology in tropical floodplains. 58th Annual Meeting of the North
American Benthological Society, June 6-11. Santa Fe, NM.
Jardine, T.D. 2009. Food webs of the Mitchell River. Mitchell River Traditional Custodian
Advisory Meeting, November 24, Cairns, QLD.
Jardine, T.D. 2009. Water, soil, plants and animals: TRaCK‘s research in the Mitchell River and
beyond. Chillagoe Post Office Hotel, November 1, Chillagoe, QLD.
Jardine, T.D., Warfe, D.M., Pettit, N.E., Pusey, B.J., Hamilton, S.K., Davies, P.M., Douglas, M.M.,
and Bunn, S.E. 2009. The length of food chains in northern floodplain rivers. Australian
Society for Limnology 48th Annual Congress. September 28-October 2, Alice Springs,
NT.
Warfe, D.M., Pettit, N.E., Jardine T.D., Hamilton, S.K., Pusey, B.J., Bunn, S.E., Davies, P.M., and
Douglas, M.M. 2009. Spatial variation in food web structure across tropical riverine
landscapes. International Society for River Science 1st biennial meeting, July 12-17, St.
Petersburg, FL.
Ward, D.P, Hamilton, S., Marshall, J., Jardine, T. and Bunn, S.E. 2010, Water budgets –
floodplain inundation in the Mitchell, Research Findings: Department of Environmental
and Resource Management, Mareeba, September 2nd 2010.
Poster presentations
Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Pusey, B.J., Fry, V.M., and Bunn, S.E. 2010. Fin tissue as an alternative to
muscle tissue in stable isotope studies of tropical fishes. 7th International Conference on
Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to Ecological Studies. August 7-13. Fairbanks,
AK.
Jardine, T.D., Warfe, D.M., Pettit, N.E., Pusey, B.J., Hamilton, S.K., Davies, P.M., Douglas, M.M.,
and Bunn, S.E. 2009. The length of food chains in floodplain rivers of northern Australia.
The 10th International Congress of Ecology, August 16-21, Brisbane, QLD.
Jardine, T.D., Halliday, I.A., Sinnamon, V., and Bunn, S.E. 2009. Mercury in aquatic ecosystems of
northern Australia. 9th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant, June
7-12, Guiyang, China.
Well-known tropical researcher Prof. Kirk Winemiller (Texas A&M University) visited with
TRaCK in both Darwin and Brisbane in June.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 110 of 173
5.3 RIVER-FLOODPLAIN FOOD WEB SUBSIDIES
TRaCK Theme: Food Webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.3
Project Title: River-floodplain food web subsidies
Project Coordinator: Prof Stuart Bunn
Key Partner Personnel:
Prof Peter Davies (UWA), Dr Neil Pettit (UWA), A/Prof
Michael Douglas (CDU), Dr Peter Bayliss (eriss), Dr Ian
Webster (CSIRO L&W), Dr Andrew Brooks (GU), Dr Michele
Burford (GU), Dr Brad Pusey (GU)
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
Tropical floodplains are dynamic systems that support high species biomass and biodiversity,
and natural connectivity between rivers and their floodplains in northern Australia remains high.
Our findings suggest that the lower reaches of rivers with extensive salt flats support algal
growth that is fed on by small fish and invertebrates that are consumed by larger fish which
then retreat to waterholes and river channels as floodwaters recede. While many of these
floodplains do not support vast areas of rooted aquatic plants because of short inundation
periods and high turbidity, they do appear to provide a seasonally available food resource
(algae) that contributes substantially to fish biomass.
2. Project Objectives
There were four key elements to the project:
Summarize current understanding of the sources and fate of the building blocks of food webs (carbon and nutrients). This will drew on work previously undertaken in the Alligator
Rivers region (Northern Territory) and the Ord River (Western Australia).
Investigate the use of remote sensing methods to estimate levels of primary production
(plant growth). Development of such techniques allowed the team to estimate levels of
primary production for the entire floodplain based on measurements taken on the ground
in different habitats. It also enabled production estimates over different stages of the
flooding and drying cycle when it can be difficult to access sampling sites.
Measure and analyse key components of the food web. Plant life, fish and waterbirds were
all be measured as well as carbon and nutrients in the water as it flows between river and
floodplain. Stable isotope methods were used to identify the major sources of organic
carbon that support aquatic consumers such as invertebrates, fish, turtles and waterbirds
feeding on inundated floodplains.
Identify how floodplain weeds and altered fire regimes may influence the river-floodplain
food webs and subsidies. The productivity of native floodplain plants were compared with invasive weeds as well as their use by birds and fish. The consequences of weed invasion on
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 111 of 173
fire regime were examined focusing on consequences for some targeted floodplain animals
(e.g. turtles) and how fire changes quantities of carbon and nutrients moving through
floodplain ecosystems.
3. Location
Field sampling occurred in the lower Mitchell River and Flinders River, QLD, and the Daly River
and Magela Creek, NT
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
This project has demonstrated the variability in the duration of flooding across northern
Australia, with some rivers (e.g. Fitzroy, WA) showing very short inundation periods, others
moderate (e.g. Mitchell, QLD) and others of long duration (e.g. Daly and Magela, NT). This
variability in flood duration has important implications for the amount and types of primary
productivity to be expected (e.g. macrophytes vs. algae) and was underappreciated prior to the
beginning of TRaCK, as we expected all rivers to behave similar to Magela Creek where most
prior floodplain work was conducted.
Detailed analysis of flood inundation patterns for the three TRaCK focal catchments (Mitchell,
Daly and the Fitzroy) and broad scale (1:250,000) analysis of inundation frequency across
Northern Australia revealed widely varying flood inundation, extent, duration patterns for the
TRaCK study area. The flood characteristics in Western Cape York rivers are dominated by
large distributary fan systems that have low inundation frequency, with the Archer river
systems having the largest inundation frequency. Similarly, the vast flood plains of the Southern
Gulf have extensive floods occurring across complex anabranching drainage networks but with
short inundation periods. The Fitzroy floodplain is the most dominant floodplain in the western
part of the TRaCK study area and has large but short duration floods.
The areas of highest inundation frequency and longest flood residence times in the TRaCK
study area occur across the northernmost parts of the Northern Territory and include
Alligator (Kakadu wetlands), Goyder (Arafura Swamp), and Daly-Douglas river systems. This is
important because these systems all behave differently and thus would respond differently to
extraction, impoundment, and flow diversion.
The major differences among the three focal catchments appear to be in the length of the
inundation period and the way in which flood events recede. Floods on the Mitchell river are of
short duration (in the order of 2 months for a wet year) and because the floodplain is a
distributary fan system the flood recedes in a ‗wedge‘ type manner such that waterbodies in the
upper fan are inundated for a relatively short period compared to the lower more coastal part of the distributary fan.
The Fitzroy river also has short duration floods (less that 2 months for a wet year) but flood
inundation is more confined to the areas adjacent to the main channel and the flood events
occur as ‗pulse‘ such that most waterbodies on the floodplain are inundated for approximately
the same period regardless of catchment position.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 112 of 173
The Daly floodplain differs significantly from the Mitchell and the Fitzroy with long flood
residence times (greater than 6 months) with the majority of the floodplain being dominated by
aquatic vegetation, and floods recede gradually back to large perennial waterbodies. We believe
that this feature has flow-on implications for food webs, with those catchments having longer
flood and flow periods (e.g. Daly, Magela) having more connected food webs (through the
movement of fish) than those catchments with moderate (e.g. Mitchell) or extremely brief (e.g.
Fitzroy) floods.
Fish captured throughout the lower half of the river have a floodplain isotope ―signal‖ even
during the dry season, suggesting that the floodplain is a net exporter of organic matter to the
remainder of the system.
Higher order climatic drivers over 20-25 year decadal time scales influences landscape-scale fire
and hydrological processes, which in turn influence ecosystem dynamics such as food web
structure and biodiversity.
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this
important from a stakeholder/
end-user perspective
Coastal floodplains (e.g. Mitchell
River delta) appear to have lower
primary productivity (plant
production in areas underwater)
than expected
Mitchell &
Flinders/Norm
an
Benthic algae growing in shallow
areas, rather than vast stands of
rooted vascular plants and grasses,
are likely the sites of primary
production for invertebrates and fish.
Seawater intrusion in combination
with the strong dry season limits
plant productivity on floodplains in
the coastal plain, in extreme cases
producing extensive barrens
Southern &
Northern Gulf
rivers
Climate change (sea-level rise) and
changes in flow regime may affect the
ability of seawater to penetrate
further inland:
―Every year it (the tide) comes in, it
goes a bit further up….once it hits
the swamps, that will kill all the plant
life, and the waterways.‖ Stanley
Budby, KALNRMO Ranger
Large numbers of predominantly
estuarine fish were present in
freshwater reaches of floodplains
during inundation.
Mitchell Despite low apparent productivity,
there must be sufficient food in
inundated reaches during floods to
attract large numbers of predatory
and herbivorous fishes
Small fish transfer floodplain energy
to higher predators
Mitchell Seemingly unimportant species (e.g.
mullet, bony bream, eel-tailed catfish)
serve as key prey items for more
valued species (barramundi, fork-
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 113 of 173
tailed catfish)
Between 30 and 40% of all
barramundi biomass comes from
the floodplain, despite less than a
two month flood
Mitchell Large predators do most of their
growing in a short period of time on
the floodplain. Longer and broader
floods should lead to more and
bigger fish
Middle reaches of river have large
fish with floodplain signal; system
metabolism measures indicate
respiration exceeds productivity at
these sites
Mitchell Upstream movement after the flood
by large predators; net import
(subsidy) of organic matter from
floodplain to river
Carbon source for consumers is
microalgae whether aquatic plant
community is dominated by native
species or weeds
Magela Creek Grasses and macrophytes
unattractive to grazers allowing high
biomass to be attained
Remotely sensed flood inundation
mapping for wet and dry years for
the 3 TRaCK focal catchments
(Mitchell, Daly, Fitzroy) reviled
significantly different inundation
durations or flood residence times. The Daly floodplain has residence
times in the order of greater than 6
months. The Mitchell and Fitzroy
floodplains have flood residence
times in the order of less than 2 to
3 months.
Tropical
north?
The residence time of floods has
significant influence on the extent
and duration of connectivity between
the riverine environments and the
floodplain. Flood residence times
appear to control the type of floodplain vegetation such that short
residence times floodplains (e.g.
Mitchell and the Fitzroy) have almost
exclusively terrestrial vegetation
while long residence time floodplains
(eg. Daly) are dominated by aquatic
vegetation.
Tissues reflective of short- and
long-term diet in young barramundi
collected on the floodplain suggest
that in the first four months of life
the floodplain is its sole source of
nutrition
Mitchell Floodplain production is used by this
fish during the most vulnerable
period in its life
Tissues reflective of short- and
long-term diet in catfish (N.
graeffei) collected on the floodplain
suggest that the floodplain is the
sole source of nutrition in this fish
Mitchell Floodplain production is used by this
fish that is perhaps the most
common species in the lower end of
the system.
Tissues reflective of short- and
long-term diet in bony bream Mitchell Floodplain production is used by this
fish during the critical reproductive
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 114 of 173
suggest that most body tissue is
made during the dry season in
lagoons and estuaries, but during
spawning adults are feeding on
floodplain production
phase
Stable isotope data from the Mitchell, Flinders and Daly floodplains can be found in a series of
excel spreadsheets. The current custodian for this data is Tim Jardine (Griffith University).
These files have been entered in the relevant TRaCK metadata forms. All vegetation map data
and associated imagery or the Magela floodplain are currently held by Renee Bartolo (ERISS).
Peter Bayliss (CSIRO) holds copies of all ground-based data. Flood-mapping imagery (MODIS)
for the Fitzroy (WA), Daly (NT) and Mitchell (QLD) is held by Doug Ward (GU).
5. Indigenous Engagement
Throughout the life of this project we have worked closely with the Kowanyama Aboriginal
Land and Natural Resource Management Office (KALNRMO). This has resulted in joint
activities (e.g. field work), funding proposals (e.g. one failed Caring for our Country project) and
eventually will yield co-authored manuscripts. TRaCK is an official member of the Kowanyama
Wetlands Technical Advisory Group that seeks to understand environmental and cultural
values on Kowanyama Lands and how these might best be protected and monitored.
Several individuals from KALNRMO have been involved with this TRaCK project, including Viv
Sinnamon (Manager – KALNRMO), Anzac Frank (Senior Ranger) and Raven Greenwool
(Cultural Heritage Officer). This involvement has been in both planning and operation of joint
TRaCK/KALNRMO initiatives. Informal presentations about TRaCK‘s research have been given
to staff at KALNRMO during field visits.
Terms of reference have been developed for the Kowanyama Wetlands TAG, and KALNRMO is a signatory on the Indigenous research protocols agreed upon between TRaCK and the
Mitchell River Traditional Custodians Advisory Group (MRTCAG).
Researchers Bunn, Jardine, and Valdez have completed cultural awareness training (offered by
MRTCAG).
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Manuscripts
Bayliss, P., Pettit, N., Warfe, D and Douglas, M. In prep. Assessing the impacts of fire and
weeds on food webs of tropical floodplains in Australia using qualitative feedback
models and Bayesian Networks. To be submitted to Ecology.
Bayliss, P., Bunn, S., Douglas, M. and Davies, P. In prep. Decadal trends in rainfall, river flow and aquatic ecosystems in northern Australia in relation to the ENSO-IPO interaction:
implications for long-term natural resource management. To be submitted to Nature.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 115 of 173
Bayliss, P., Douglas, M. and Setterfield, S. In prep. Integrating bioeconomic models for aquatic
weed control into Bayesian Networks: a decision support tool for managing waterbird
habitats on tropical floodplains in Australia. To be submitted to Journal of Wildlife
Management.
Bayliss, P., Bartolo, R. and Pettit, N. In prep. Estimating the standing biomass of emergent
macrophytes on tropical floodplains in Australia using a Bayesian approach that
combines disparate data sources. For Wetlands Ecology and Management.
Hamilton, S.K. 2010. Biogeochemical implications of climate change for tropical rivers and
floodplains. Hydrobiologia 657: 19-35.
Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Pusey, B.J., and Bunn, S.E. In review. A non-lethal sampling method for
stable isotope studies of tropical fishes. Marine and Freshwater Research (submitted
August 2010).
Jardine, T.D., Pusey, B.J., Pettit, N.E., Hamilton, S.K., Sinnamon, V., Halliday, I.A, and Bunn, S.E.
In prep. Food web connectivity in the lower reaches of a wet-dry tropical floodplain
river. To be submitted to Ecology.
Jardine, T.D., Halliday, I.A., Sinnamon, V., and Bunn, S.E. In prep. Mercury concentrations in a
fish of commercial, recreational and cultural importance: barramundi Lates calcarifer, in
tropical north Queensland, Australia. To be submitted to Science of the Total
Environment.
Jardine, T.D., Pettit, N.E., Warfe, D.M., Davies, P.M., Douglas, M.M., and Bunn, S.E. In prep.
Consumer resource coupling in wet-dry tropical rivers. To be submitted to Oecologia.
Pettit N.E., Bayliss P., Davies P.M., Hamilton S.K., Warfe D.M., Bunn S.E. and Douglas M.M. (in
review) Seasonal contrasts in carbon resources and ecological processes on a tropical
floodplain. Freshwater Biology (submitted).
Ward, D.P. Pettit, N.E., Hamilton, S.K., Jardine, T.D., Bunn, S.E., Davies, P.M., and Douglas, M.M.
In prep. Variability in extent and duration of flooding in Australian tropical floodplains
and implications for primary productivity. To be submitted to Ecohydrology
Oral presentations
Jardine, T.D., Pusey, B.J., Pettit, N.E., Hamilton, S.K., Sinnamon, V., Halliday, I.A., and Bunn, S.E.
2010. Using multiple tissues and isotopes to resolve a complex tropical floodplain food
web. 7th International Conference on Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to
Ecological Studies. August 7-13. Fairbanks, AK.
Hamilton, S.K., Celi, J., Jardine, T.D., Ward, D.M., and Bunn, S.E. 2010. Major solute chemistry
as an indicator of hydrology in tropical floodplains. 58th Annual Meeting of the North
American Benthological Society, June 6-11. Santa Fe, NM.
Jardine, T.D. 2009. Food webs of the Mitchell River. Mitchell River Traditional Custodian
Advisory Meeting, November 24, Cairns, QLD.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 116 of 173
Jardine, T.D. 2009. Water, soil, plants and animals: TRaCK‘s research in the Mitchell River and
beyond. Chillagoe Post Office Hotel, November 1, Chillagoe, QLD.
Pettit, N.E., Jardine, T.D., Warfe, D.M., Douglas, M.M., Hamilton, S.K., Bunn, S.E., and Davies,
P.M. 2010. Key drivers of river and wetland food webs in Australia‘s wet-dry tropics.
58th Annual Meeting of the North American Benthological Society, June 6-11. Santa Fe,
NM.
Pettit N.E., Bayliss P., Davies P.M., Hamilton S. and Warfe D.M. (2009) Carbon budgets and
trophic dynamics on Magela Creek floodplain in tropical Northern Australia. Oral
presentation, Rivers Conference ISRS - First Triennial Meeting July 12-17, 2009 St
Petersburg Florida.
Pettit N.E., Warfe D.M., Davies P.M., Bayliss P., Douglas M.M. and Bunn S.E. (2008) Seasonal
contrasts in carbon budgets on a tropical river floodplain. Oral presentation Coast to
Coast conference 18th to 20th July 2008, Darwin Australia.
Ward, D.P, Pettit, N., Hamilton, S., Jardine, T., And Bunn, S.E. 2010, Remote Sensing Flood
Inundation Patterns in Northern Australia, Research Findings: FitzCAM, Fitzroy
Crossing, May, 2010.
Ward, D.P, Pettit, N., Hamilton, S., Jardine, T. And Bunn, S.E. 2010, Remote Sensing Flood
Inundation Patterns in Northern Australia, Research Findings: Australian Wildlife
Conservancy, Mornington Station, Kimberly‘s, May, 2010.
Poster presentations
Jardine, T.D., Hunt, R.J., Pusey, B.J., Fry, V.M., and Bunn, S.E. 2010. Fin tissue as an alternative to
muscle tissue in stable isotope studies of tropical fishes. 7th International Conference on
Applications of Stable Isotope Techniques to Ecological Studies. August 7-13. Fairbanks,
AK.
Popular media
Jardine, T., Pusey, B., Halliday, I. 2010. Big floods = big barra. Australasian Science Magazine
October issue.
Several print and radio stories about floodplains and barramundi (late May/early April 2010)
including: The Cairns Weekend Post, The Tablelander, and ABC Radio.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 117 of 173
PROJECT 5.4 ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF URBANISATION AND
CATCHMENT DEVELOPMENT ON ECOSYSTEM HEALTH IN ESTUARIES
TRaCK Theme: Food Webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.4
Project Title:
Assessing the effect of urbanisation and catchment
development on ecosystem health in estuaries
Project Coordinator: Dr Michele Burford
Key Partner Personnel:
Dr Jodie Smith (GA), Dr Andy Revill (CSIRO), Prof David Parry
(CDU), Prof Eric Valentine (CDU), Ms Julia Fortune (NRETA),
Dr Dan Alongi (AIMS)
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
This project had two main components: assessing the effects of catchment nutrients and
sediment on water quality and productivity of a tropical estuary (Darwin Harbour); and
determining the effect of freshwater flow on estuarine productivity in the wet-dry tropics
(Norman R. estuary, southern Gulf of Carpentaria).
The first component of the study found that catchment nutrient loads were minimal on a
whole-of-harbour scale, but in some tidal creeks, sewage inputs had major effects. A model of a
creek receiving sewage was developed. The source of sediments to the harbour was also
quantified.
The second component of the study found that freshwater flow reduces estuarine productivity
in the short term with increased nutrient loads likely to stimulate coastal productivity. Coastal
saltflats also were found to be a significant source of nutrients and carbon, via algal production,
into the coastal zone.
2. Project Objectives
Darwin Harbour
The objectives were to:
Synthesize the existing knowledge of the ecosystem functioning and habitats of the
Darwin Harbour ecosystem
Quantify key processes and habitats in Darwin Harbour relevant to developing quantitative ecosystem models
Assess the effect of urban nutrient inputs on ecosystem function, principally mudflats in
Darwin Harbour
Identify a suite of potential bio-indicators for assessing ecosystem health in Darwin Harbour
Gulf of Carpentaria estuary
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 118 of 173
The objectives were to:
Determine the importance of river inputs in driving estuarine productivity and species of
commercial interest
Assess the likely impacts of changes in river flow and nutrient/sediment inputs on estuarine productivity and species of commercial interest
3. Location
Focus Catchment - Darwin Harbour
Focus Catchment – southern Gulf of Carpentaria
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
Gulf of Carpentaria
The project found that:
Wet season flow is critical to causing floodplain and saltflat inundation, resulting in
quantified increased nutrient and carbon loads to the coastal zone
Since the coastal zone is likely to be an area of high productivity, reduction in flow will
reduce nutrient loads and hence coastal productivity
Both the magnitude and duration of flooding are key elements, and either a reduction in
wet season flows, or regulation of flow, will affect the productivity of the system.
The Norman R. estuary (140.82 °E, 17.463 °S) is a tide-dominated estuary in the southeast Gulf
of Carpentaria. It is approximately 100 km long, reaching up to Glenore Weir, approximately
20 km upstream of the township of Normanton. The tidal range of the estuary is ~3-4 m with a
diurnal tidal period. It has a relatively simple morphology, with a main river channel fringed by
intertidal mudflats, above which is a narrow strip of mangrove forest (total area is 55.24 km²,
Avicennia-dominated). Beyond the mangroves are saltflats (356 km2) which contain salt-
impregnated bare earth with patches of typical saltflat vegetation such as salt couch and
samphire. The saltflats are rarely inundated in the dry season but become flooded during the
wet season.
The Norman River is a tropical dryland river with a mean annual rainfall of 913 mm (at Normanton), with almost all the rainfall occurring in the summer wet season. The Norman
River has a mean annual discharge of 2,346,000 ML (Smith et al. 2005). In the dry season the
river is a series of disconnected waterholes, typical of southern Gulf rivers. There is little
freshwater flow from the river to the estuary at this time of year. In the wet season, there is a
dramatic increase in flow, which can result in extensive flooding of the catchment and coastal
areas.
Nutrients and algal biomass
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 119 of 173
Salinity was used as a measure of freshwater flow in the Norman R. estuary. From October to
December each year, the upstream sites in the estuary became hypersaline. In the first year
(2008/09), salinity dropped rapidly between the last sampling in December 2008 and the first
sampling in January 2009, when the wet season began. Salinity remained at zero at all sites,
irrespective of the tidal cycle, until late March 2009, when it began to increase again.
In the second six month season, the situation was similar. Salinity reached zero at the upstream
site CQ3 for an extended period from late December 2009, and for a lesser duration CQ2
(outgoing tide). Salinity at CQ1 (incoming tide) was lower than seawater but only reached zero
on one sampling occasion. This shows that tidal exchange was occurring in the second year.
Measurement of primary productivity and nutrient responses
In addition to measures of algal biomass, as chlorophyll a concentrations, primary production
was also measured in the water column (13C-uptake method) and sediment (oxygen chamber
flux method) at a range of sites and sampling occasions. This information provides a means of
assessing the relative productivity of this system compared with other tropical estuaries, and
whether algal production is affected by freshwater inputs.
Primary productivity in the water column was highest in the dry season (November 2009) and
the second wet season (February 2010) and was much lower in the first wet season (January
2009). This probably reflects the scale of the freshwater flow – in the first year the period of
freshwater flow was much longer and the volumes of water involved were much greater,
compared with the second wet season. Therefore there appears to be a threshold beyond
which primary productivity is affected.
Quantifying nutrient budgets in the Norman R. estuary
Nutrient budgets were developed for the Norman R estuary to determine how important
freshwater inputs were to promoting productivity within and beyond the estuary. Integrated
across the hydrograph, the flows down the estuary during the 2008-2009 wet season are
estimated to have delivered 4300 T of N and 800 KT of P. Over a period of 90 days, the
average rate of delivery would be 48 and 8 T d-1 of N and P which is two orders of magnitude
larger than the delivery of particulate nutrients during the dry and three orders of magnitude
larger than the rate of delivery of dissolved nutrients. Similar calculations were undertaken for
the 2009-2010 wet season with an estimated load across the 4 months of the wet season of
2500 and 400 T of N and P, respectively. These loads are of the order of half those delivered
through the previous wet season. This is comparable to another dryland tropical river, the
Fitzroy R. in Queensland, where 2450 T of N was transported out of the estuary during the
summer wet season (Webster et al. 2005).
Algal production and nutrient release on inundated saltflats
Saltflats make up a large area of the coastal habitat in the southern Gulf. In the Norman R.
system, they make up 356 km2. These saltflats are dry most of the time with flooding only
occurring on the highest astronomical tides or storm surges. There is therefore considerable
potential for these habitats to provide a food source for estuarine/freshwater organisms during
flooding. A series of experiments were conducted to determine whether inundation of coastal
saltflats resulted in algal growth and nutrient release.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 120 of 173
The experiments showed that there was a high degree of spatial variability in algal growth and
nutrient release across the Norman R. estuary saltflats. However, there was a trend of
increasing algal biomass (chlorophyll a concentrations) across the nine days of the experiment.
Microscopic analysis showed that the algal community was two cyanobacterial genera highly
adapted to extreme environments, i.e. Phormidium and Schizothrix.
Water quality in the adjacent Flinders R. estuary
A sampling trip was undertaken to the Flinders R. estuary in the wet season of 2010 (February
2010). This estuary system is also in the southern Gulf and contributes juvenile prawns to the
southeast banana prawn fishery (NPF). The study aimed to determine how comparable the
water quality was between the Norman and Flinders R. estuaries during the wet season, and
whether inferences can be made about the effect of freshwater flows on the Flinders, and other
southern Gulf rivers, based on our understanding of the Norman River. Water quality sampling,
including TN, TP, NH4, NO2/NO3, PO4 and TSS, was undertaken in and beyond the estuary as a
comparison with the Norman R. estuary. TN, NH4, and TSS concentrations were similar
between the Flinders R. and Norman R. estuaries (samples taken within one week of each
other). However, TP, NO2/NO3 and PO4 concentrations were higher in the Flinders R. estuary
than the Norman R. estuary. This may also explain why higher TP and PO4 concentrations were
measured at the mouth of Russell Creek on the Norman R. estuary in the previous wet season.
Effect of freshwater flow on mudflat production in the Norman R. estuary
Melissa Duggan is undertaking a PhD project on the effect on freshwater flow on primary and
secondary production on intertidal mudflats in the Norman R. estuary. Previous studies have
found that meiofauna (small animals living in marine and estuarine sediments) are an important
food source for juvenile prawns (Wassenberg and Hill 1993), and her work has focussed on this
group of animals. The study aim was to examine the role benthic productivity plays in
supporting juvenile commercial prawn biomass in the estuary, and how seasonal changes to
freshwater inflow affect benthic communities.
The first year of sampling coincided with one of the largest floods on record for the Norman
River, resulting in a sudden decrease in estuarine salinity from hyper saline to freshwater in a
matter of days, and staying this way for almost three months. Such conditions had a drastic
impact on meiofauna and microphytobenthos (as measured by sediment chlorophyll a
concentrations), the two most important food sources of juvenile commercial prawns (Figs. 22,
23). Prior to flooding of the estuary, meiofauna abundance in the estuary had been declining and
microphytobenthic biomass increasing. This may be a result of juvenile commercial prawn diets
switching from mostly microphytobenthos to mostly meiofauna as they grew from juvenile to
adult size. It is also possible that steadily increasing salinity (>40) and air and water
temperatures may have had negative impacts on meiofauna and not microphytobenthos. Flooding of the estuary, on the other hand, resulted in a sudden drop in meiofauna numbers to
zero, as well as a significant drop in microphytobenthic biomass, thought to be a result of the
sudden and prolonged reduction in salinity. Experiments conducted on a number of sediment
cores where salinity was altered supports this theory.
Analysis of data from the second year of sampling shows that both meiofauna abundance and
microphytobenthic biomass peaks post-flood, possibly as a result of nutrients entering the
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 121 of 173
estuary on incoming tides after being transported through the estuary and off-shore during the
flood. High microphytobenthic biomass continues well into the dry season, with only small
reductions during estuarine flooding compared to the previous year.
These findings are significant in terms of the implications for food availability for banana prawns.
A contributing factor to prawn emigration from the estuary may, in fact, be the reduced food
availability in the estuary as salinities increased, then decreased during the wet season.
However, the negative effect of flooding is likely to be related to scale of flooding from year-to-
year as in the second year there was less evidence of a negative effect on estuarine productivity.
The implications of this research are that:
Flow resulted in increased nutrient loads originating from the catchment and saltflats. This is transported to the coastal zone and is likely to play a critical role in
promoting productivity. A proportion of these nutrients are likely to re-enter the
estuary on spring tides, supplementing estuarine productivity
Lack of food may be a key driver in causing prawn emigration, in addition to the
physiological cue of low salinity. As a result, prawns enter a zone of increased
productivity in the coastal zone. However, the degree to which catchment nutrients
stimulate productivity in the coastal zone remains unknown
Wet season flow is critical to causing floodplain and saltflat inundation, resulting in quantified increased nutrient and carbon loads to the coastal zone
Since the coastal zone is likely to be an area of high productivity, reduction in flow
will reduce nutrient loads and hence coastal productivity
Both the magnitude and duration of flooding are key elements, and either a reduction in wet season flows, or regulation of flow, will affect the productivity of
the system
Diagrammatic representation of the effect of freshwater flow on processes within the estuary and the
flow-on effects on the banana prawn
Wet season flow
Water volume
Flooding of
saltflats
Nutrient load
Catchment
nutrients
Nearshore
prim. Prod.
Food sources
(meiofauna)
Low salinity
Prawn physiol.
Prawn migration
+ve
+ve +ve
+ve
+ve -ve -ve
+ve
+vePrawns accessing
increased
nearshore prodn
+ve+ve
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 122 of 173
Effects of future catchment development
The southern Gulf of Carpentaria has been flagged by the Queensland State Government as a
region likely to have future agricultural development, including irrigated agriculture and the
potential for ponded pastures (Smith et al. 2005, Northern Australia Land and Water Science
Review 2009). The State Government has also developed a Water Resource (Gulf) Plan (2007).
An ecological assessment of the rivers for the Water Resource Plan found that the river basins
of the Gulf have had only limited development of water resources and contain an almost
negligible area of intensive land use (Smith et al. 2005). There has been, however, a range of
impacts associated with extensive land uses (predominantly rangeland cattle grazing), ecological
threats (predominantly weeds) and limited areas of intensive land and water resource use.
However, overall the rivers maintain a high level of natural integrity.
Future development of the southern Gulf could result in the following potential effects on the
river-estuary system:
Water flow regulation by building dams on or off the river system would reduce the
hydrological variability in flow essential to maintain the freshwater and estuarine
ecosystems
Water abstraction for agriculture, mining, etc. would reduce the scale of flooding during the wet season, and hence reduce the productivity of the system. Additionally, it would
reduce the refugial areas for freshwater ecosystems in the dry season
Increased intensity of agriculture would increase erosion and fertilizer application,
increasing nutrients and suspended sediment loads entering the rivers and transported
into the estuarine zones
Darwin Harbour - Buffalo Creek Hydrodynamic Model
The Buffalo Creek hydrodynamic model mesh has been redeveloped and extended to the south
of the Leanyer settlement ponds. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was created by interpolating
survey data, which is limited due to field difficulties. Chart datum has been used for the model.
Fig.1 shows the Buffalo Creek model mesh.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 123 of 173
Fig.1 Buffalo Creek model mesh.
Model results show that there is considerable build up of phosphorus in poorly flushed areas
close to the outfall. However the results show an artificial, radial dispersion pattern of the
contaminant.
The project quantified and ranked the biogeochemical processes most affected by sewage
nutrients in tidal creeks in Darwin Harbour. This is relevant to understanding the mechanisms underlying a reduction in water quality with sewage addition, and thresholds under which a
reduction in water quality occurs. Additionally it highlights that the compounding effect of the
biogeochemical responses, i.e. nutrients promote algal growth, which causes increased
sediment organic and nutrient loads, reducing oxygen levels, and resulting in nutrient releases
which promote algal growth.
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this
important? from a stakeholder/
end-user perspective
The effect of sewage on the
ecological health of the tidal creeks
in Darwin Harbour depended both
on how much sewage was entering
the creek and how well flushed the
creeks were.
Tropical
urban centres
with sewage
discharges
into creeks
Further expansion planned for
sewage plants in Darwin is likely to
deteriorate ecological processes and
have flow-on effects to the animals
and plants living in the creek.
In Buffalo Creek, sewage had major
impacts on ecological health
Buffalo Ck,
Darwin
Provides key measures/indicators of
the effect of sewage
Model boundary
Leanyer settlement ponds
Waste water outfall and
approximate tide gauge
location.
Lee Point
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 124 of 173
of the system, as measured by a
range of biogeochemical processes
and markers.
Harbour
Major sustained flooding in the
southern Gulf of Carpentaria
dropped the salinity dramatically and resulted in migration of all
banana prawns out of the estuary.
This coincided with a reduction in
algae and meiofauna (an important
food source) on the tidal mudflats
Norman River Low salinity stress may not be the
only reason why banana prawns
emigrate out of the estuary. Reduction in food availability may
also play a role.
Saltflat experiments have shown
substantial release of nutrients as a
result of saltflat inundation, and
significant concentrations of
chlorophyll a
Norman River Maintaining floods that inundate
saltflats in important in affecting
coastal productivity. Therefore
diversion of flow/climate change may
negatively impact on inundation.
Much of the nutrient load into
Darwin Harbour as a whole is from
the ocean, due to the large tidal
exchange, rather than from river or
urban inputs. This is because the
rivers that flow into Darwin have
low nutrient concentrations with
little human impact.
Darwin
Harbour
Human impacts on nutrients in
Darwin Harbour are small on a
whole-of-harbour basis but important
in tidal creeks where there is less
flushing.
5. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Media Reports
Press Releases
Darwin Harbour November 2007
Buffalo Creek, Darwin Harbour October 2009
Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria study November 2009
Television Interviews
ABC News Darwin March 2008
Network 10 December 2009
Topic: Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria study
Radio Interviews
ABC Darwin
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 125 of 173
Topic: Darwin Harbour biogeochemistry November 2007
Territory News FM November 2007
Topic: Darwin Harbour biogeochemistry
ABC Alice Springs March 2008
Territory News FM October 2009
Topic: Buffalo Creek & Darwin Harbour
Three ABC radio stations November 2009
Topic: Norman River, Gulf of Carpentaria research
Print/Newspaper
Northern Territory News November 2007
Northern Territory News November 2009
Topic: Buffalo Creek research
On-line
ABC News March 2008
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/19/2194004.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/20/2195192.htm
Presentations (Meetings/Conferences/Seminars)
Marine and Coastal Environment Day, 2008, A presentation was given at the Marine and
Coastal Environment Day at Geoscience Australia on the Darwin Harbour project. The
presentation included a brief outline of the project objectives, methods used and some
initial results. The Marine and Coastal Environment Day was held to inform GA staff of
research activities being undertaken in this field.
Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee, March 2008, Public forum - Charles Darwin University hosted by the Darwin Harbour Advisory Committee. Jodie Smith presented
initial results from Geoscience Australia, Griffith University and CSIRO from the dry
season survey. Michele Burford presented the results of a whole-of-system study done
in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science. They studied the
nutrient and carbon fluxes in Darwin Harbour.
Australian Rivers Institute, May 2008, Michele Burford gave a seminar at the Australian
Rivers Institute, Griffith University seminar series on the research conducted in Darwin
Harbour.
Coast to Coast Conference, August 2008, Michele Burford gave a synthesis talk on the
effect of rivers on tropical estuarine productivity at the TRaCK and MFSEF symposium
during the Coast to Coast conference in Darwin.
Horn Pt Laboratories, June 2009, Michele Burford gave a presentation at Horn Pt
Laboratories, University of Maryland, USA on Darwin Harbour research.
Australian Marine Sciences Association conference, July 2009, Jodie Smith gave a presentation on the Darwin Harbour studies at the Australian Marine Sciences
Association conference in Adelaide.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 126 of 173
Raptis and Sons, August 2009, Michele Burford shared results on studies in the Norman
River estuary with Mike O‘Brien and Phil Robson of Raptis & Sons, industry
collaborators in FRDC/TRACK southern Gulf project.
Northern Gulf Resource Management Group, August 2009, Michele Burford conducted a conference call with Debbie Hanson, Northern Gulf Resource Management Group, to
provide advice and information on algal blooms in southern Gulf Rivers.
Northern Gulf Resource Management Group, October 2009, Michele Burford gave a
presentation on research in the Norman River estuary and Flinders River to the
Northern Gulf Resource Management Group AGM meeting in Mareeba (project 4.3).
Northern Prawn Fishery Management Committee, November 2009, Michele Burford gave a presentation in Brisbane on TRaCK research to the Resource Advisory Group,
Northern Prawn Fishery Management Committee (NORMAC).
River Symposium, September 2009, Michele Burford gave a presentation on the Darwin
Harbour study at River Symposium.
River Symposium, September 2009, Melissa Duggan (PhD student) gave a poster presentation on meiofaunal research in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria at River
Symposium.
MICE (Models of Intermediate Complexity Ecosystems) Workshop, March 2010.
Michele Burford and Melissa Duggan attended the MICE workshop at CSIRO Marine
and Atmospheric Research to aid in developing simple models linking flow with
foodwebs in the Norman River estuary.
Marine and Freshwater Student Symposium, May 2010, Melissa Duggan presented on meiofaunal research conducted in the Norman River estuary at the Marine and
Freshwater Student Symposium, Stradbroke Island.
American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, June 2010, Michele Burford
presented the Darwin Harbour research at the American Society of Limnology and
Oceanography conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
International Meiofauna conference, July 2010, Melissa Duggan presented at the 14th International Meiofauna conference in Ghent, Belgium on meiofaunal research being
conducted in the Norman River estuary.
North Queensland Community Groups, September 2010, Michele Burford presented on
the southern Gulf study to DERM and North Queensland community groups.
Raptis and Sons, August 2010, Michele Burford presented on the southern Gulf study to Raptis & Sons, industry collaborators in FRDC/TRACK southern Gulf project.
Scientific Publications/theses/reports
Burford, M.A., Alongi, D.M., McKinnon, A.D., Trott, L.J. 2008. Primary production and nutrients in a tropical macrotidal estuary, Darwin Harbour,
Australia. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 79, 440-448
Smith, J., Burford, M.A., Revill, A.T., Haese, R.R., Fortune, J. 201… Effect of nutrient
loading on biogeochemical processes in tropical tidal creeks. Biogeochemistry, in review.
Muhammad Nawaz 201… Sediment Sources near the Extreme Ends of Catchment Continuum and Topographic Dependence of Denudation in a Global Context. PhD
thesis, submitted. Charles Darwin University.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 127 of 173
Burford, M.A. Kenyon, R., Whittle, M., Curwen, G. 2010. River flow impacts on
estuarine prawns in the Gulf of Carpentaria. 2007/003. Fisheries Research and
Development Corporation Final Report, in review.
Other publications
Publication by Jodie Smith and Ralf Haese in the AusGeo News (Geoscience Australia) magazine, September, 2009, on the Darwin Harbour studies.
Article in The Gulf Chronicle written by Michele Burford, on the TRaCK project
activities on the Norman River published on 14 January 2009
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 128 of 173
PROJECT 5.5 FLOW-ECOLOGY RELATIONSHIPS FOR BIODIVERSITY AND
ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES.
TRaCK Theme: Food webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.5
Project Title:
Flow-ecology relationships for biodiversity and ecosystem
processes
Project Coordinator: Peter Davies (UWA)
Key Partner Personnel:
Danielle Warfe, Simon Townsend, Eric Valentine, Michael
Douglas (CDU), Stuart Bunn, Mark Kennard, Brad Pusey (GU),
Neil Pettit (UWA)
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary
There is increasing interest in developing the water resources of northern Australia. However,
the ecological impacts of associated changes in flow regimes are poorly-understood for most tropical river ecosystems and this constrains the successful determination of environmental
water requirements. This project has investigated flow-ecology relationships for aquatic
biodiversity (fish) and ecosystem processes (primary productivity, carbon consumption and
food webs) across a natural flow regime gradient within three TRaCK focal catchments. This
information will be used to develop models to predict the impact of different water allocation
scenarios on aquatic biodiversity and fundamental ecosystem processes.
2. Project Objectives
Improve understanding of the relationship between key attributes of the natural flow regime
and the protection and maintenance of important natural assets.
Evaluate the environmental consequences of flow alteration scenarios using risk-based assessment approaches.
Contribute to the development of environmental flow tools for northern Australian rivers.
3. Location
This project was undertaken in three of the TRaCK focal catchments: Initially in the Daly River,
and then in the Mitchell River and the Fitzroy River. It also undertook research in the Howard
River which is part of the Darwin Water Control District.
4. Target Audience(s)
State, Territory and Australian Government water resource and management agencies, e.g. QDNRW, WA DoW, NT NRETA, DEWHA, NWC
Regional NRM and planning groups, e.g. NT NRMB, Mitchell River Watershed Management
Group, Daly River Management Advisory Committee
Indigenous groups, e.g. Daly River Aboriginal Reference Group, Indigenous Water Facilitators Network
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 129 of 173
Conservation NGO‘s e.g. WWF, regional environmental centres
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
Seasonal food web sampling was conducted in three tributaries of the Daly River to investigate
how food webs change in response to changing flows over the seasonal hydrograph. These
rivers vary in their hydrology (from ephemeral to perennial) which provided an opportunity to
investigate how food webs and biotic assemblages change over a gradient of flow permanence,
and over the course of the annual hydrograph (i.e. over the wet and dry seasons).
Sampling was conducted in December 2008 (early wet), February 2009 (mid-wet), April-May
2009 (late-wet early-dry transition) and July 2009 (mid-dry), September 2009 (late dry),
December 2009 (early wet) and February 2010 (mid-wet). The sampling conducted during the
wet season (February 2009 and 2010) was logistically very challenging and not all sampling was
completed due to storm events and rapidly-changing water levels. Limited sampling was
conducted, focusing specifically on sampling fish movement, algal biomass, and food webs for
stable isotopes.
This research had two components: one aiming to quantify primary and secondary production
and identify times of the year where there might be peaks or troughs in this production. It
appears that the transition periods between the wet and the dry season are peak times for algal
growth, with greater biomass of benthic algae present at these periods. Invertebrate samples
were processed by CENRM (Albany, WA) and it seems that macroinvertebrate abundance also
peaks during these transition periods, but with a slight lag. Primary productivity is estimated from measurements of the metabolism (oxygen production and respiration) of benthic algae,
and appears to be highest in the late dry season, particularly in isolated waterholes – this finding
may be related to either flow isolation or may be a result of less shading at these sites.
Secondary production is estimated from the biomass (or weight) of macroinvertebrates, and
the collection of these data is completed, but analysis has not yet commenced.
The second component was to investigate patterns in the longitudinal movement of biota,
predominantly fish, that might be triggered by flow events and seasonal hydrology. It appears
that the transition periods between the wet and the dry seasons are key times for the
movement of fish, and that there is little movement during the mid-dry or mid-wet seasons.
Fish were found to move upstream in very high numbers at the beginning of the wet season,
and downstream in high numbers at the end of the wet season. This latter pattern was much
more marked in rivers which stopped flowing during the dry season. Together, these fish
movement data suggest that in tributaries, fish are able to move between refugia and habitats as
they are connected by flows.
In addition the project has achieved the following outcomes.
Workshop and report on agreed methodology for environmental flows
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 130 of 173
Conceptual and predictive models of the major factors (particularly flow regime) influencing
variation in fish assemblages in the Daly, Fitzroy and Mitchell rivers
Scientific publications on: the role of flow in determining fish communities in tropical rivers, and the role of flow in determining ecosystems processes in tropical rivers
Final workshop and report on methods, flow allocation rules
Increased knowledge on how flows influence in-stream primary production.
More comprehensive understanding of ecological water requirements of fish in the wet-dry
tropical rivers, and waterbirds on river-floodplains
Improved scientific basis for water allocation
Enhanced capacity for determining environmental water requirements for tropical rivers
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is
it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this
important from a stakeholder/
end-user perspective
90 species of fish have been
recorded from the Daly River: no
exotic species have been found, and
there are high conservation species
found on the escarpment, as well as
in downstream reaches of the main
channel. Predatory species are a
major and important component of
fish assemblages.
Daly River Fish assemblages in the Daly River are
intact and have high conservation
value.
Fish assemblages vary across the
catchment and are structured by
the interaction of landscape,
instream habitat and flow regime.
Daly River Modifications to existing flow regimes
and land-use may alter habitat diversity
and fish assemblage structure.
Habitat availability, particularly
water depth, is a key factor
structuring fish assemblages: deeper
reaches in waterholes and main
channels support large individuals
and larger species (e.g. barramundi),
whereas shallow riffle reaches
support juveniles of numerous
species (especially terapontids, e.g.
black bream)
Daly River Modifications to existing flow regimes
can affect habitat availability and water
depth, and can alter fish assemblages.
Reductions in water depth can remove
key riffle habitats for juveniles, and can
reduce species diversity in deep
reaches.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 131 of 173
Fish assemblages in intermittent
rivers and reaches are a subset of
assemblages found in perennial
reaches; intermittent reaches have
fewer species, fewer large-bodied
species, fewer large individuals and
fewer predators.
Daly River Modifications to existing flow regimes
which introduce or increase the
occurrence and/or duration of
intermittency will reduce fish diversity.
Many fish species need to move
between riverine reaches for
migration, spawning and dispersal:
one third of species recorded need
to move between estuarine and
freshwater reaches for spawning
(e.g. barramundi, freshwater sole),
and one third need to move
between different freshwater
reaches for spawning (e.g. black
bream, plotosid catfish).
Daly River Structure and barriers which
disconnect river reaches and impede
the movement of fish along river
corridors will affect fish recruitment
and reduce fish abundance and
diversity.
The distance of upstream
movement by fish appears to be
limited only by flow intermittency.
Daly River Modifications to flow regimes which
introduce or increase the occurrence
and/or duration of intermittency, will restrict the movement of fish and
negatively impact on spawning and
recruitment.
Seasonal hydrology is important for
fish migration and spawning. There
are four migration ―guilds‖ of fish:
1) fish species whose juveniles
migrate upstream from estuaries
during the wet season (e.g.
barramundi, freshwater sole), 2)
species who migrate between
freshwater reaches to spawning
sites (e.g. black bream, plotosid
catfish), 3) species who migrate
between freshwater reaches during
the dry season (e.g. longtom, bony
bream), and 4) species that move
and spawn all year round (e.g.
rainbowfish, hardyheads).
Daly River Modifications to flow regimes which
introduce or increase the occurrence
and/or duration of intermittency, will
restrict the movement of fish and
negatively impact on spawning and
recruitment.
Structure and barriers which
disconnect river reaches and impede
the movement of fish along river
corridors will affect fish recruitment
and reduce fish abundance and
diversity.
Sampling over longer time periods
(i.e. more years) provides a far
more complete picture of
Daly River Multiple years of sampling are required
to properly understand fish assemblage
structure and how it varies over time
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 132 of 173
interannual changes in fish
assemblages: for example, the
abundance of predators has been
considerably greater in years 3 and
4 of sampling compared to the first
two years. Possible that fish
assemblages are returning to pre-
flood conditions after major
flooding in 2006.
and space.
Qualitative modeling of fish habitat
under future water use scenarios
indicates that water extraction will
increase the risk of habitat loss for
40 species, although some species
are at considerably higher risk than
others (e.g. black bream,
barramundi, both of which are
species of socioeconomic
importance).
Daly River Qualitative modeling of relative risk to
different species under future flow
scenarios is a useful tool for identifying
species most at risk. It is based on
available habitat-use information and
modeled flow and habitat from
selected river reaches.
Modification of flow regimes which
reduces fish habitat availability,
spawning and recruitment success,
and/or ability to move along river
corridors has the highest risk to
socioeconomically important species
such as black bream and barramundi.
Modeling of future water use
scenarios indicates that flow
reduction during the dry season will
double the risk of ―extremely low‖
abundances of black bream and
barramundi.
Daly River Scenario-evaluation modeling can
predict the risk of altered flows on
specific fish species.
Dry season flow reduction will
increase the risk of reduced
abundance of black bream and
barramundi (two socioeconomically
important species).
Wet season flows move large
amounts of woody debris,
redistributing around 50% of
aggregated wood, resulting in a high
degree of habitat turnover and
heterogeneity for instream biota
(e.g. fish, birds and crocodiles) from
year to year.
Daly River Wet season flows play an important
role in structuring habitat for instream
biota; modifications to wet season
flows can alter the turnover and
abundance of instream habitat.
The movement of fish in tributaries
is dependent on seasonal hydrology and flow regime: fish move
Daly River
tributaries
Upstream movement of fish during the
early wet season is potentially related to finding favourable habitat after the
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 133 of 173
upstream during the early wet
season, and downstream in the late-
wet/early-dry season. The
abundance of fish moving
downstream during the late-wet
season is greater in intermittent
tributaries without permanent
water, suggesting the movement is
related to finding refuge for the dry
season.
dry season. Instream barriers can
impede this movement, and
modifications to flow regimes which
delay the onset of upstream
movement, may both negatively affect
fish abundance and diversity by
reducing habitat availability.
Flows in perennial reaches go
through a clearwater phase during
the transition periods between the
wet and the dry seasons (and vice
versa) due to groundwater inputs,
particularly from calcareous
aquifers.
Daly River Clearwater phases in perennial
reaches is important for allowing the
growth of benthic algae and other
aquatic plants which provide food for
aquatic fauna including fish,
invertebrates and turtles.
The timing of the clearwater phase
depends on the ratio between the
volume of surface water and the
volume of groundwater.
Benthic algal biomass (chlorophyll a)
shows distinct seasonal peaks over
the transition periods between the
wet and the dry seasons (April) and
again between the dry and the wet
seasons (December). Algal biomass
was lowest during the mid-wet
season. Algal biomass was also
greater and sustained for longer in
perennial compared to intermittent
tributaries.
Daly
tributaries
Flowing water appears to be an
important factor regulating algal
production, which in turn is the
dominant energy source supporting
aquatic food webs. Periods of
transition between wet and dry
seasons (and vice versa) are critical
times of high algal productivity due to
clearwater phases and high light
availability. But when flows are high
and turbid during the wet season, algal
productivity is lowered.
Algal production is sustained for
longer in perennial reaches, so flow
modifications which introduce, or
increase, the occurrence of
intermittency will have negative effects
on algal production.
Benthic algal biomass is highly
variable over different current
velocities, resulting in
heterogeneous patchiness of
Daly River Benthic algae is an important energy
source for aquatic fauna. Flow
modifications which result in
narrowing of the range of current
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 134 of 173
growth over the riverbed, which
has been shown to support high
abundance and diversity of instream
fauna.
velocities (e.g. irrigation releases,
instream barriers, reduced flows) are
likely to decrease the patchiness, and
possibly the production, of benthic
algae in rivers.
Macroinvertebrate assemblages differ between patches of low and
high current velocity, with high
velocity areas (about 0.8 m/s)
supporting unique species which are
not found in other areas. However,
once velocities increase beyond
1m/s, there appears to be a decline
in macroinvertebrate abundance
and diversity.
Daly River Aquatic invertebrate fauna are sustained at high abundance and
diversity by a patchiness, or
heterogeneity, in current velocity.
Flow modifications which narrow the
range, reduce, or increase, current
velocities (e.g. irrigation releases,
instream barriers) can negatively
impact the abundance and diversity of
aquatic invertebrate fauna.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
A number of papers on this project are currently being written up:
Warfe DM, Pettit NE, Garcia EA, Kyne P, Pusey BJ and Douglas MM. Seasonal hydrology and
the longitudinal movement of biota in streams of the wet-dry tropics.
Warfe DM, Pettit NE, Garcia EA, Kyne P, Douglas MM and Davies PM. Seasonal shifts in food
web structure in streams of the wet-dry tropics.
Pettit NE, Warfe DM, Garcia EA, Davies PM and Douglas MM. Shifts in benthic communities
and benthic production as a result of changing hydrology.
Pettit NE, Warfe DM, Garcia EA, Kyne P, Davies PM and Douglas MM. Material fluxes in
streams of the wet-dry tropics.
Garcia EA, Pettit NE, Warfe DM, and Douglas MM. Aquatic production supports terrestrial
food webs in the wet-dry tropics. (under Project 5.1)
Garcia EA, Warfe DM, Pettit NE, Novak P and Douglas MM. Seasonal invertebrate exchange
across the riparian-aquatic interface. (under Project 5.1)
Kyne P, Pettit NE, Warfe DM and Douglas MM. Seasonal shifts in riparian bird assemblages and
dependence on aquatic resources.
Pettit NE, Davies T, Fellman JB, Grierson PF, Warfe DM and Davies PM. Leaf litter breakdown
and the effect on stream biota and food web structure in two Australian tropical streams
(submitted to Marine and Freshwater Research).
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 135 of 173
Two visiting academics accompanied the project team on the June field trip to sample fish
assemblages in the Daly, providing a great opportunity to get insights from researchers in
related fields. Professor Kirk Winemiller (A&M University, Texas, USA) is a researcher with
many years experience in tropical rivers and floodplains in South America, and he presented
seminars at both CDU and Griffith Uni. Associate Professor Keith Gido (Kansas State
University, Kansas, USA) is a fish ecologist interested in the role of fish in riverine food webs,
and he spent two months at CDU and one month at Griffith University as part of his sabbatical.
7. Indigenous Engagement
In May 2010 a meeting took place with Kimberley Land Council field rangers in Derby to
discuss research results (see above) and possible future cooperation with the ranger groups. A
meeting was also held in Fitzroy Crossing with representatives of the Muludja, Bayulu, Bunuba
and Yiyili communities to discuss our work. Team members also presented their findings from
field surveys of the Fitzroy River to school children at the Kulkarriya Community School on
Nookanbah station in the Fitzroy River valley.
Project team members (Danielle Warfe, Doug Ward and Neil Pettit) conducted a ―roadshow‖ in the Fitzroy River catchment in May 2010, presenting the findings of the food web surveys
conducted in 2008 and the wet season 2009 as well as preliminary work on the Fitzroy River
floodplain inundation extent and duration. They presented their results to the communities
who assisted with this work including presentations to school children at Noonkanbah station,
to Australian Wildlife Conservancy field staff at Mornington Station, Kimberley Land Council
field rangers in Derby and to representatives of the Muludja, Bayulu, Bunuba and Yiyili
communities in Fitzroy Crossing.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 136 of 173
PROJECT 5.6 FLOW IMPACTS ON ESTUARINE FINFISH OF THE GULF OF
CARPENTARIA
TRaCK Theme: Food Webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.6
Project Title:
Flow impacts on estuarine finfish of the Gulf of
Carpentaria
Project Coordinator: Ian Halliday
Key Partner Personnel:
QDPI&F (John Russell, Julie Robins) NT DPIFM (Blair Grace)
Griffith University (Michele Burford)
Research Organisation: Queensland DPI&F
1. Project Summary
The estuaries of Australia‘s tropical rivers support commercial fisheries for finfish and shellfish
valued at over $220 million per annum. There are also significant tourism-related and local
recreational and Indigenous fisheries for icon species such as barramundi. Development of water resources in Australia‘s Tropical Rivers region is being considered for the Flinders,
Mitchell, McArthur, Roper, Daly and Victoria catchments.
Greater knowledge of the freshwater requirements of tropical aquatic ecosystems, including
estuaries is crucial, so that the communities of catchments where water resource development
occurs can be assured that the downstream effects of such development are considered and
managed based on the best available knowledge.
Most research into the role of freshwater flows in aquatic ecosystems that support fish and
fisheries has occurred in freshwater reaches of southern Australian rivers, except for that in the
Fitzroy River Queensland, (a large dry tropical river). Conceptual models of the role of
freshwater in estuaries of the Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC) and the effects on estuarine-
dependent fisheries is based on available knowledge gained from research in the Fitzroy River
(Qld). However, these conceptual models lack confirmation of the underlying mechanisms,
mostly as a consequence of a lack of process understanding as it occurs in wet-dry tropical
estuaries. Greater knowledge of the role of freshwater flow in estuarine-dependent fisheries
production across northern Australia will allow for informed sustainable development of
tropical water resources, with minimal impacts on fisheries resources.
2. Project Objectives
Analyse available datasets relevant to conceptual models, linking freshwater flow and
estuarine-dependent finfish fisheries for key catchments in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Conduct targeted research that will contribute to determining the role of freshwater in
supporting estuarine-dependent finfish fisheries in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Provide refined conceptual models and supporting information of the role of freshwater
flow in supporting estuarine-dependent finfish fisheries production to the integration
project.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 137 of 173
Provide recommendations to water and fisheries managers on appropriate methods of
assessing the effects of flows on estuarine finfish production
3. Location
Biological samples were collected from the Flinders and Mitchell River estuaries in Queensland and the Daly and Roper River estuaries in the Northern Territory.
4. Target Audiences for the research
Queensland and Northern Territory water resources and fisheries managers ,
Regional NRM groups
Participants in the water allocation and management planning advisory panels,
Fishing and seafood industry representatives,
Scientists,
The wider community
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The project found consistency amongst estuaries of higher freshwater flows being positively
correlated with fisheries catch and recruitment. This extends current research in Australian
estuaries showing the relationship to be consistent from tropical to temperate estuaries using a
number of different species.
Collections of barramundi and king threadfin have been made from the Daly, Roper, Flinders
and Mitchell rivers. Fisheries data has been fitted to hydrological data for all focus catchments.
Significant positive correlations between early wet season river flow (rainfall) and the year class
strength are evident for barramundi in the Daly River.
The project improved understanding of the influence river flows have on estuarine fish production; improved capacity to undertake valuations of the ecological assets of estuarine
reaches and freshwater related processes; and improved capacity for more sustainable water
and fisheries resource management for tropical rivers.
Outputs include conceptual models linking freshwater flow and estuarine-dependent finfish
fisheries for key catchments, and recommendations on appropriate methods of assessing the
effects of flows on estuarine finfish production.
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this
important from a stakeholder/
end-user perspective
Coastal finfish production in terms
of catch is positively correlated with
flow through increased catchability
Tropical
north
Altered flow regimes through
anthropogenic effects such as water
infrastructure development may
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 138 of 173
within the year of the flow. impact of estuarine fisheries
resources
Recruitment of barramundi is
positively influenced by the timing of
flows.
Tropical
north
Altered timing of flow (for whatever
reason) may decrease the potential
recruitment strength of barramundi.
Early wet season flows (during
December) in the Flinders River
catchment provide the right
conditions for strong recruitment of
juvenile Barramundi spawned near
the end of the previous dry season.
Flinders Altered timing of flow (for whatever
reason) may decrease the potential
recruitment strength of barramundi.
Significant positive correlations
between early wet season river flow
(rainfall) and the year class strength
are evident for barramundi in the
Daly River.
Daly High flow events linked to increased
barramundi recruitment
No correlation was found for the
king threadfin year class strength in
the Daly River estuary.
Daly
Mercury levels from barramundi and
king threadfin from the Mitchell and
Flinders Rivers are below
recommended levels for food.
Mitchell and
Flinders
Rivers
Risk of high levels in the Mitchell
estuary due to historic gold mining.
Low levels of Hg indicates that these
concerns are currently not evident in
fish flesh.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Ian Halliday has given the following presentations:
July 2010 Presentation to water managers on climate change and barramundi populations of
the Fitzroy River with project update on Gulf of Carpentaria TRaCK project
July 2010 Australian Society of Fish Biology meeting Melbourne Wasted or Not?
August 2010 Mitchell River Traditional Custodian Advisory Group Kondaparinga, ―Flow
impacts on tropical estuarine finfish‖ 50 attendees
September 2010 Gulf of Carpentaria Commercial Fishermen Inc. Annual meeting Karumba
General Project update, 50 attendees.
November 2010 Northern Gulf Natural Resource Management Group Karumba, ―Flow
impacts on tropical estuarine finfish‖
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 139 of 173
An article ―Big Floods = Big Barras‖ on food webs and the connections to barramundi has been
printed in Australasian Science (Tim Jardine, Brad Pusey, Ian Halliday). Thor Saunders presented
project information to the NT Seafood Industry Council meeting in October 2010.
7. Indigenous Engagement
August 2010 Mitchell River Traditional Custodian Advisory Group Kondaparinga, ―Flow impacts
on tropical estuarine finfish‖ 50 attendees. This presentation was well received with many
attendees approaching me to discuss the methods (which were of most interest) and results of
the project.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 140 of 173
PROJECT 5.7 ENVIRONMENTAL FLOW TOOLS FOR NORTHERN RIVERS
TRaCK Theme: Foodwebs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.7
Project Title: Environmental flow tools for northern rivers
Project Coordinator: Peter Davies (UWA) and Danielle Warfe (CDU)
Key Partner Personnel: Project leaders from Projects 2.2, 4.1-4.3, 5.1-5.7
Research Organisation: University of Western Australia
1. Project Summary
A significant focus of the biophysical research in TRaCK is to improve understanding of the
influence of natural flow regimes on natural and cultural assets and important ecosystem
processes in northern Australia‘s rivers and coasts. This project will co-ordinate and capture
data and outcomes from flow-related research across the TRaCK program. Workshops at the
outset of this project outlined approaches used in flow-related components of other projects. Regular meetings ensured ongoing co-ordination and consequently the outcomes from all
relevant TRaCK projects will be used to develop practical tools for setting environmental flows
for northern Australian rivers.
2. Project Objectives
Improve understanding of the relationship between key attributes of the natural flow regime
and the protection and maintenance of important assets in tropical rivers and estuaries.
Develop practical tools for setting environmental flows for northern Australian rivers.
3. Location
This project has synthesised research from all case study catchments (Mitchell, Flinders, Daly,
Fitzroy rivers) and estuaries used in TRaCK projects, as well as drawing on information from
previous environmental flows studies in the region (e.g. Ord River EFI Project).
4. Target Audience(s) for the research
Territory and Federal government water management agencies, e.g. NRETA, DEH, DoW
Regional water planners, e.g. NRM, Caring For Our Country
Indigenous groups, e.g. Caring For Country, Ranger programs
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 141 of 173
This project is a synthesis project and due to similarities with synthesis and integration Projects
1.4 and 7, is included in a ―project cluster‖ with these projects. The project cluster was
designed to streamline the objectives of all three projects and prevent repetition by any one
project. The intended flow-tools of Project 5.7 were :
1. A map-based database of TRaCK flows-related work to allow access to metadata
and data by local and government agencies, NGOs and community groups. The map-
based database is being constructed under Project 1.4, and will be available as a
digital atlas which includes the locations of TRaCK work, the raw datasets, and the
metadata of all datasets to allow follow-up on individual research projects.
2. Conceptual models encapsulating the flow-ecology knowledge gained through the
TRaCK research. Initial conceptual models were designed at the beginning of the
TRaCK program, and updated at a workshop in Brisbane in December 2009, hosted
by Project 1.4. At that workshop, there was acknowledgement that flow-ecology
relationships vary according to season and position in the riverine landscape.
Consequently, the models were revised and separate models were constructed
according to season (wet season, wet-to-dry season, dry season, and dry-to-wet
season), particularly highlighting the transition periods between seasons. The models
were further split according to their spatial realm, whether they were representing
riverine reaches, floodplain reaches, or estuarine reaches. Splitting the models
allowed more information, specifically seasonal information, to be incorporated.
These models were updated at a final workshop in September 2010 (in Brisbane),
and Project 1.4 is currently readying them for delivery to end-users. Much of the
information from these workshops has been incorporated into a paper submitted to
Freshwater Biology (see below).
3. A brief statement of flows ―guidelines‖, to distill the flow-related TRaCK findings for
accessibility and use by water management and planning agencies. The major harvest of TRaCK findings, conducted by Project 7 during August 2010, was used as the
means for obtaining flow guidelines. As part of the harvest document, TRaCK
researchers were asked to translate their findings as if providing them to a water
management planning stakeholder panel. The intention here was to ensure clear-
English and correct translation of findings, and particularly, their relevance to
predictions of flow alteration. It is anticipated that these guidelines will assist water
scientists, managers and planners in appropriately addressing the ecological flow
requirements for tropical Australian rivers. The flows findings are being harvested
and will be compiled into a single document which will be accessible on the website
and in the digital atlas.
4. The ecological limits of hydrological alteration process (ELOHA) has been
determined as our integrative e-flows methods. For project 5.7, we had a workshop
in Brisbane in September 2010 on e-flows. We produced a template to facilitate
showing flow-hydrology linkages.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 142 of 173
Much of the knowledge gained through the synthesis and integration activities of Project 5.7 has
been included in a paper describing the role of flow regimes in structuring tropical rivers and
their ecology. This paper has been reviewed and tentatively accepted by Freshwater Biology
(pending revisions).
Warfe DM, Pettit NE, Davies PE, Pusey BJ, Hamilton SK, Kennard MJ, Townsend SA, Bayliss P,
Ward DP, Douglas MM, Burford MA, Finn M, Bunn SE and Halliday IA. The ―wet-dry‖ in the
wet-dry tropics drives ecosystem structure and function of north Australian rivers.
Other publications on e-flows which have been published/submitted are:
Davies, P.M. (2010). Climate Change Implications for River Restoration in Global Biodiversity
Hotspots. Journal Restoration Ecology 18: 261-268.
Warfe D.M, Pettit N.E, Pusey B.J, Douglas M.M., Davies P.M., and Bunn S.E. (2010).
Environmental filters underpin strong spatial concordance among multiple species in tropical
Australian riverscapes. Ecosystems. Submitted September 2010.
Peter M. Davies, Stuart E. Bunn and Angela Arthington (2010). A building block approach for
environmental flows: the translation of methods. Submitted to River Research and Applications.
Danielle Warfe, Neil Pettit, Tim Jardine, Steven Hamilton, Brad Pusey, Stuart Bunn, Peter Davies and Michael Douglas (2010). Spatial variation in aquatic food web structure across
tropical riverine landscapes. Submitted to Ecology.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 143 of 173
PROJECT 5.8 BIODIVERSITY AND HCVAE. BIOREGIONALISATION,
CONSERVATION PRIORITIES AND PREDICTIVE MODELS OF AQUATIC
BIODIVERSITY
TRaCK Theme: Food Webs and Biodiversity
Project Number: 5.8
Project Title:
Biodiversity and HCVAE. Bioregionalisation,
conservation priorities and predictive models of aquatic
biodiversity.
Project Coordinator: Jane Hughes
Key Partner Personnel: Brad Pusey, Mark Kennard, Arthur Georges, Damien Burrows,
Satish Choy, Damien Pinder, Chris Humphrey, Michael Douglas
Research Organisation: Griffith University
1. Project Summary
Strong, cryptic patterns of biodiversity were detected in freshwater biota throughout northern Australia. In some cases these strong biodiversity patterns relate to new species our research
has discovered, whereas in other cases it relates to very genetically divergent populations
within species that have been isolated from one another for millions of years. These patterns
have been found within various species of fish, shrimp and mollusc. This means that the levels
of biodiversity, including endemism, in this region are much higher than previously recognised
and in many cases species distributions are narrower than previously recognised.
We have proposed modified freshwater bioregions for northern Australia, based on the
distribution of boundaries identified from genetic work, as well as distributional data. The
genetic approach offers the best possibilities as it informs about the amount of time that
biodiversity of particular river systems has been evolving independently.
We have assembled a comprehensive database with spatially explicit information on species
occurrence across northern Australia for a range of freshwater-dependent taxonomic groups
using data sourced from government agencies, the scientific literature, research scientists and
on-line databases. Using this data we have built predictive models of distributions of fish,
turtles, waterbirds and macro-invertebrates across northern Australia. This freshwater
biodiversity data has been used to assess conservation priorities across northern Australia.
Both the genetic and the distribution data have identified a number of areas with important
biodiversity values (e.g. high richness. endemism, genetic distinctness) which should be
prioritised for management to protect these values.
2. Project Objectives
Identify indices and patterns of aquatic biodiversity
Determine the relationship between riverscape setting and patterns of biodiversity
Develop explanatory and predictive models of environmental drivers of natural patterns
of biodiversity
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 144 of 173
Produce a bioregionalisation based on aquatic vertebrate species distributions (fish and
turtles) and molecular analyses of selected vertebrates and invertebrates
Identify areas of high conservation value on the basis of biodiversity attributes
Identify the role of contemporary versus historical factors in determining patterns of
biodiversity
3. Location
This is a broad scale project that has covered as many catchments as possible across northern
Australia. For example, information on freshwater fish diversity is available for almost all major
catchments from the Kimberley to Cape York Peninsula.
4. Target Audiences for the research
National State and Territory government policy and program managers, Regional NRM groups,
regional water planners.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
This project has developed a more sensible approach to bioregionalisation of northern
Australian rivers, based on aquatic biodiversity, for use by policy makers. It has identified
regions and rivers of high conservation value, on the basis of aquatic biodiversity, particularly high profile assets, such as turtles and fish, and developed models linking patterns of biodiversity
with environmental drivers.
The fish model has been be used in a conservation priority assessment of the Daly River (using
systematic conservation planning methods) and contributed to a river health assessment
(through FARWH)
Insights developed through the project fed into the Department of the Environment, Water,
Heritage and the Arts (Natural Heritage West), Workshop on Natural National Heritage
Values of Wetlands in Northern Australia, 22-23 March 2010, Darwin.
Species distribution data collated as part of this project is being used by the Queensland
Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) for an Aquatic Conservation
Assessment (ACA), using AquaBAMM and the Queensland Wetland Mapping, to assess
conservation priorities for focal catchments in the Gulf of Carpentaria Drainage Division.
A summary of findings is outlined in the table below:
Finding observation Where is it
applicable?
Implications/ why is this
important?
Freshwater biodiversity attributes identified
using molecular methods indicate stronger
patterns of alpha and beta diversity than
currently appreciated (alpha diversity = no. species in an area, beta diversity = change in
Across
northern
Australia
Proposals to transfer water
among some catchments
represent extremely high
risks to biodiversity Potential impacts - significant
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 145 of 173
species diversity between ecosystems). In
some cases this cryptic biodiversity reflects
new species that our research has
discovered, whereas in other cases is
represents very genetically divergent
populations within species. Cryptic species
have been found within mouth almighty,
sooty grunter, hyrtl‘s catfish, glass shrimp
and mussels. Highly divergent populations
have been found within mouth almighty,
sleepy cod, spotted blue eyes, macculloch;s
rainbow fish.
loss of biodiversity through
hybridization (loss of
independent evolutionary
units), Extinction of endemic
species.
Similarly translocations of
many species between these
drainages poses significant
risks to biodiversity.
Predictive models of the distributions of
aquatic macroinvertebrates, fish, turtles and
waterbirds were developed so that complete
coverage of biodiversity data could be used
to assess and identify high conservation value
aquatic ecosystems across northern Australia
Predictive models provide
an accurate and objective
means of mapping the
distribution of aquatic biota
across northern Australia,
thus enabling conservation
value to be estimated for
areas for which little or no
data previously existed
A predictive model of fish species
distributions throughout the Daly River
catchment predicts the distribution of 41 fish
species based on relationships with key
environmental descriptors (e.g. describing
hydrology, catchment topography and
geology, climate, etc)..
Daly The model helps us to
understand the important
environmental drivers of
species distributions.
We evaluated existing regionalisation
schemes (NASY and Unmack‘s fish
bioregionalisation) . We used genetic and/or
species distribution data for fish, turtles,
waterbirds and macroinvertebrates Most
boundaries identified should be regarded as
‗fuzzy‘ boundaries, because not all species
have biodiversity break at all bioregional
boundaries. Furthemore, the bioregional
boundary at the northern catchment divide
of the Daly River should be regarded as an
‗ecotone‘ as multiple species have one or
more breaks in this area, but not always at
that exact point. Substantial heterogeneity in
biodiversity occurs within every bioregion
we identified. A new freshwater
Tropical
north
The present reserve system
(National Parks, Declared
Wild Rivers) may capture
only a subset of the major
elements of freshwater
biodiversity in Northern
Australia
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 146 of 173
bioregionalisation for northern Australia has
been performed, although there are still
significant knowledge gaps as to the location
of some bioregion boundaries, in the
Kimberley. Further work needs to be done
to extend this to other taxonomic groups.
We have used the species distribution
models to generate maps of biodiversity
attributes and identify conservation priority
areas.
Tropical
north
Genetic work identifies drainages, or groups
of drainages, that have high levels of
endemism, including the Daly River and
rivers of the northern Kimberley.
Tropical
north
Times of various population splits have been
dated, and most are much more ancient than
predicted by theories pertaining to the role
of Lake Carpentaria as a conduit for
freshwater fish dispersal during the last
glacial maximum.
Tropical
north
The following freshwater species distribution datasets have now been compiled for use in
predictive modeling, bioregionalisations and biodiversity assessments:
o Fish (280 taxa, 24,000 records, 5,300 locations)
o Turtles (23 taxa, 17,040 records, 1,770 locations
o Waterbirds (232 taxa, 320,000 records, 5,800 locations)
o Aquatic macroinvertebrates (123 taxa, 11,598 records, 343 locations)
The following environmental datasets have now been compiled for use in predictive modeling,
bioregionalisations and biodiversity assessments:
o Spatial units and Hydrosystems for which environmental data has been collated and attributed:
Nested catchments & subcatchments (based on the Pfafstetter coding system using
catchments derived from the 250k DEM, Fenner School of Environment and Society,
ANU)
Riverine (250k DEM derived and attributed drainage network (streamlines) (version 3),
Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU)
Lacustrine (GEODATA 250k)
Palustrine (GEODATA 250k)
o Environmental data (and sources of information) includes:
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 147 of 173
Climate (Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU)
Flow regime (Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU)
Geology/soils (GA surface geology, CRCH Soil Hydrological Properties)
Vegetation (NVIS)
Terrain/topography (Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU)
Hydrography (GEODATA 250k, Fenner School of Environment and Society, ANU)
River Disturbance Index (updated from Stein et al 2002)
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Publications:
Cook, B.D., Page, T.J. & Hughes, J.M. (in review) Molecular and conservation biogeography of
freshwater caridean shrimps in the Kimberley Region of north-western Australia. In
Schubert et al. (ed.) Phylogeography and Population Genetics in Crustacea.
Cook, B.D., Kennard, M.J., Pusey, B.J. & Hughes, J.M. (2010) Delineation of freshwater
bioregions in northern Australia. In Kennard, M.J. (ed) Identifying high conservation
value aquatic ecosystems in northern Australia. Final Report for the Department of
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and National Water Commission. Charles
Darwin University, Darwin.
Cook, B.D., Kennard, M.J., Real, K., Pusey, B.J. & Hughes, J.M. (in press) Landscape genetic
analysis of the tropical freshwater fish Mogurnda mogurnda (Eleotridae) in a monsoonal
river basin: importance of hydrographic factors and population history. Freshwater
Biology.
Cook, B.D. & Hughes, J.M. (2010) Historical population connectivity and fragmentation in a
tropical freshwater fish with a disjunct distribution (pennyfish, Denariusa bandata). Journal
of the North American Benthological Society 29: 1119-1131.
Cook, B.D., Unmack, P.J., Theusen, P. & Hughes, J.M. (in preparation) Statistical tests of
vicariance within co-distributed freshwater fishes with disjunct distributions in northern
Australia: simultaneous or sequential isolation. For submission to Evolution
Cook, B.D., Adams, M., P.B. Mather, Hughes, J.M. (in preparation) Molecular biogeography of
the mouth-brooding freshwater fish Glossamia aprion (Apogonidae) in Australia:
statistical phylogeographic analyses of the ‗Lake Carpentaria hypotheses‘. For submission
to Systematic Biology
Cook, B.D., Georges, A., Kennard, M.J., Pusey, B.J. & Hughes, J.M. (in preparation) Molecular-
based bioregionalisation of tropical freshwater biota in northern Australia: linking
conservation units with evolutionary history. For submission to Diversity and Distributions.
Hughes, J.M., B.D. Cook, B. J. Pusey , M.J. Kennard and P.B. Mather. (in preparation)
Phylogeographic analysis of six widely distributed freshwater fish species across
northern Australia. For submission to Molecular Ecology
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 148 of 173
Kennard, M.J., Ward, D., Stein, J., Pusey, B., Cook, B., Hermoso, V. (2010). Key findings,
knowledge gaps and recommendations for future development of the HCVAE
framework. In Kennard, M.J. (ed) Identifying high conservation value aquatic ecosystems
in northern Australia. Final Report for the Department of Environment, Water,
Heritage and the Arts and National Water Commission. Charles Darwin University,
Darwin.
Olden, J.D., Kennard, M.J., Leprieur, F., Tedesco, P.A., Winemiller, K.O. & García-Berthou, W.
(2010). Conservation biogeography of freshwater fishes: recent progress and future
challenges. Diversity and Distributions. DOI: 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00655.
Olden, J.D., Kennard, M.J., Poff, N.L. & Lawler, J.J. (2010). Challenges and opportunities for
implementing managed translocation to mitigate the threat of climate change to
freshwater biodiversity. Conservation Biology. In press.
Pusey, B.J. & Kennard, M.J. (2009). ―Chapter 3 – Aquatic ecosystems of northern Australia‖. In:
Northern Australia Land and Water Science Review (ed. P. Stone). Final report to the
Northern Australia Land and Water Taskforce. CSIRO Publishing.
Presentations:
Cook, B.D. & Hughes, J.M. (2009) Landscape evolution and monsoonal ecology as drivers of
phylogeographic patterns in north Australian freshwater fish. Annual meeting of the
North American Benthological Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2009.
Kennard, M.J. (2010). ―Northern Australia Aquatic Ecological Assets Project‖. Lake Eyre Basin
HCVAE Pilot Project: Technical Working Group Workshop. Alice Springs, Australia. January,
2010
Kennard, M.J. Chan, T., Hart, B.T., Douglas, M.D., Pusey, B.J. & Jackson, S. (2009).
―Environmental water requirements and ecological risk assessment of fish in the Daly
River‖. 12th International Riversymposium, Brisbane, Australia. September, 2009.
Kennard, M.J. (2009) ―Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment & Conservation planning‖.
Queensland Government Chief Scientist, Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge information
session, 3rd September, 2009, Brisbane, Australia
7. Indigenous Engagement
Sampling in the Kimberley was undertaken in conjunction with the KLC and at least ten local
Indigenous rangers. Ten Indigenous rangers were employed on this project to assist with field
sampling in the Kimberley.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 149 of 173
PROJECT 6.1 ESTABLISHING WATER MARKETS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA:
A STUDY TO ASSESS FEASIBILITY AND CONSEQUENCES OF MARKET-
BASED MECHANISMS OF WATER DELIVERY
TRaCK Theme: Sustainable enterprises
Project Number: 6.1
Project Title:
EXAMINING THE FEASIBILITY AND VIABILITY OF WATER
MARKETS IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
Project Coordinator: Professor Quentin Grafton, ANU
Key Partner Personnel: Dr William Nikolakis, post-doctoral fellow, ANU
Research Organisation: Australian National University
1. Project Summary
The project has examined institutional arrangements to water markets across northern
Australia, where we identified different approaches and pace of reform in jurisdictions. The
National Water Initiative has been a framework for improving water management in
jurisdictions with water trading as an important tool in reforms, however, the necessity and
conditions for markets were not always present. In saying this it was emphasised that getting
the institutional and policy conditions right up front it is important (as opposed to attempting
to retrofit policy and institutional framework to improve outcomes). The project also
examined stakeholder attitudes and values to water markets across northern Australia. 120
respondents were surveyed with consistent values such as environmental integrity, sustainability
and social justice important to stakeholders surveyed.
2. Project Objectives
1. Understand present laws and other institutions for water management in north
Australian jurisdictions and analyse their implications for water trading.
2. Understand attitudes of stakeholders (including Indigenous stakeholders) and the values
they bring to water management systems and decisions.
3. Consider biophysical influences on design and scale of markets and their implications for
efficient trading.
4. Consider the implications of significant Indigenous entitlements in water which may not
be permanently tradeable.
5. Analyse present barriers to efficient markets and present ways of overcoming these
barriers where appropriate. 6. Analyse the socio-economic implications of open water markets in north Australia.
3. Location
Entire TRaCK region. Research was undertaken across all north Australian jurisdictions, their
capitals and some regional centres (such as Cairns, Katherine and Kununurra) and Canberra.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 150 of 173
4. Target Audiences
The audience for all three reports includes academics (with an interest in water, regional and
Indigenous economic development and natural sciences), policy makers and resource decision
makers, managers in water dependent enterprise, Indigenous representatives, and NGO‘s.
6. Project Achievements and Outputs
Analysis of institutional arrangements for water markets: This report involved in depth
interviews with 42 experts and opinion leaders on the development of water markets. We
found that each jurisdiction is at different stages in developing water markets and that there is
very little (to no) trading across the north. Interviewees emphasised that consumptive uses and
water availability are not at a stage where markets are necessary (such as a situation of over-
allocation to consumptive uses). However, it was emphasised that it may be important to set
the market framework in place to avoid a situation (such as the Murray Darling Basin) where
water was over-allocated to consumptive users. This is reflected in the pre-cautionary approach
to the development of water markets and the emphasis on planning in the tropical belt.
Identify stakeholder attitudes and values to the development of water markets: This
work involved a mixed survey of 120 representatives from industry, Indigenous, government
and recreational user groups across, with structured interviews conducted in Cairns,
Burketown, Darwin, Katherine, Broome, Kununurra and Fitzroy Crossing. We found that there
was general support for water markets across the north, but with caveats such as the
protection of the environment and cultural values, as well as meaningful involvement of
Indigenous groups. There were concerns about unbundling land and water and treating water as
a tradable commodity. It was also identified that respondents saw water management as
inefficient (but sustainable) as well Indigenous groups thought water management not to be
equitable.
An assessment of the potential costs and benefits of water markets across northern
Australia with consideration of efficiency, equity and effectiveness criteria. The
report provides that there are preconditions for a water market to be effective. Important is
for there to be low to medium transactions costs. The potential for high and increased
transactions costs is significant across northern Australia due to unresolved Indigenous rights
and interests to water. There is the potential in northern Australia for environmental impacts
from trade, including increased salinity in-stream; water logging from more on-farm use;
saltwater intrusion because of reduced flows; and during the dry increased nutrient loads could
threaten the health of rivers. These issues can be addressed through management efforts.
Efficiency is key aim of water markets.
Any assessment of efficiency of water markets, however, requires more than simply a
comparison of quantified private costs and benefits. Any assessment of efficiency in the north
must seek to integrate customary or ecological values, but it is acknowledged that this is
complex as these values are intangible and difficult to quantify. In the north, equity should be
given increased prominence because there is a significant Indigenous population in the region
who are subject to chronic socioeconomic disadvantage. Non market approaches may be more
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 151 of 173
appropriate in some areas than markets. A blend of approaches to allocating water may be
more suitable. There is a growing trend in water management for increased collaboration and
stakeholder driven governance approaches. Collaborative efforts provide a structure for
stakeholders to develop rules over allocation and management of water, as well rules for
enforcement and compliance. Efforts will be required to include Indigenous interests in
collaborative approaches to be successful.
4. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Publications
Two reports have been completed and made available by TRaCK. The final report has been
submitted. Several drafts have been developed for journal articles. Information has also been
provided in NAILSMA and TRaCK publications.
Presentations
The work has been presented at TRaCK presentations, as well as a presentation at the
Crawford School entitled ―Stakeholder attitudes and values to water markets across northern
Australia‖ (5 Oct 2010 available at http://www.crawford.anu.edu.au/media/video/ ) and a
presentation for Nov 22 at the Australian National University, entitled ― Assessment of the
costs and benefits of water markets across northern Australia.
Events
Field work was undertaken from February to June 2009 and Sept 2009 to Feb 2010 across
northern Australia and in capital cities of northern jurisdictions, and Canberra.
5. Indigenous Engagement
The project brief was developed with input from NAILSMA, informed by issues raised by the
Indigenous Water Policy Group. NAILSMA CEO Joe Morrison has provided important input
into the direction of the study, informing the design of survey and providing feedback on
preliminary results. NAILSMA staff and the Indigenous Community Water Facilitators Network
played an important role in facilitating community access and presenting results of the study to
communities.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 152 of 173
PROJECT 6.2: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN WATER IN NORTHERN AUSTRALIA
TRaCK Theme: Sustainable enterprises
Project Number: 6.2
Project Title: Indigenous rights in water in northern Australia
Project Coordinator: Lorrae MacArthur
Key Partner Personnel: Michael O‘Donnell
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Project Summary
This project covers the gamut of laws applicable in northern Australia that recognize and affect
Indigenous rights and interests in relation to onshore or inland waters both surface and
subterranean. This includes both Federal law and the law of the provincial jurisdictions of
Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland.
2. Project Objectives
1. Review and analyse the manner in which existing State, Territory and Federal law treat
Indigenous interests in water
2. Examine the compatibility of present State and Territory law to the National Water
Initiative, particularly as it relates to Indigenous interests and rights in water or assets
affected by water management.
3. So far as possible, consider implications of proposals for revision of water law in
northern Australian jurisdictions, especially provisions under consideration for treating
Indigenous interests and including potential for Indigenous allocations from the
consumptive pool. 4. Consider implications of recent and proposed amendments to the Aboriginal Land
Rights (Northern Territory) Act for Indigenous interests in water.
5. Where practicable and useful, illustrate analysis with at least one existing or emerging
water allocation scenarios (e.g. the Katherine Water Allocation Plan) and their legal
implications for owners of Indigenous lands and holders of native title interests within
water allocation districts.
6. Examine implications of recent court decisions, including the High Court‘s (August
2008) decision on Blue Mud Bay.
7. In conjunction with economic studies of the role of markets in management of water
entitlements, consider the legal implications of markets for Indigenous interests and
rights.
3. Location
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 153 of 173
The project was based out of Darwin but trips were undertaken to Indigenous Water Policy
Group meetings in Cairns, Broome, Kununurra and Darwin and a TRaCK Meeting in Brisbane,
which relevantly allowed access to the major government and Indigenous people relevant to the
terms of reference.
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
The key issues discussed and analysed by the project include:
the scope of the legal recognition by Australian law of traditional law and custom in relation to water with particular reference to native title law and land rights legislation
in northern Australia;
the relevance and impact of water management legislation; Indigenous heritage
protection laws, legislation that recognizes statutory rights of traditional usage of
waters and environmental legislation;
foundational legal issues concerning the legal status of ―natural‖ waters and the universal vesting in the Crown of the right to the use and control of water;
compliance with the National Water Initiative with respect to Indigenous interests;
the implications of recent amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory)
Act, 1976;
the implications for native title holders of new water plans in Katherine (NT) and the
La Grange area of the West Kimberley in Western Australia;
the implications of recent court decisions, including the High Court‘s (August 2008)
decision in Blue Mud Bay in the Northern Territory;
the legal implications of markets for Indigenous interests and rights; and
proposals for revision of water law in northern Australian jurisdictions especially in
relation to an Indigenous specific allocation from the consumptive pool.
Australian law currently recognizes in certain circumstances Indigenous rights to take and use
water for non-commercial purposes. There is an emerging native title jurisprudence concerning
a right to trade, which potentially could include water in the future. Native title law and land
rights legislation recognises an Indigenous right to control access to water but not the
ownership of water.
Amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act, 1976 in recent years have had
little practical impact on Indigenous rights to water. The Blue Mud Bay case in the Northern
Territory provides for Indigenous control over access to the waters and land of the inter-tidal
zone but only in relation to grants of freehold title made under the Aboriginal Land Rights
(Northern Territory) Act, 1976 in the Northern Territory. It does not apply in relation to
determinations of native title Implementation of the National Water Initiative with respect to
Indigenous interests is incomplete and not fully reflected in water management legislation.
A range of diverse legislation protects Indigenous cultural and subsistence interests in relation
to water mostly on a discretionary basis and includes Indigenous heritage protection laws,
legislation that recognizes statutory rights of traditional usage and environmental legislation.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 154 of 173
There is an emerging consensus concerning the need to establish an Indigenous specific
allocation from the consumptive pool sometimes called a Strategic Indigenous Reserve (SIR)
and the recognition of the importance of the right to a cultural flow in water planning. The
practical and legal details of an SIR and right to a cultural flow remain to be worked out which
constitutes a significant barrier to the effective implementation of both concepts.
The project has assisted stakeholders in relation to the nature of Indigenous rights in water and
the ongoing implementation of the National Water Initiative, current reviews of water
management legislation in the Northern Territory and Western Australia and the Indigenous
Water Policy Group. This is especially so in relation to the recognition of native title rights to
water in water planning, a Strategic Indigenous Reserve (SIR) and an Indigenous right to a
cultural flow in water planning.
7. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Final Report, Fact sheet, presentations at Indigenous Water Policy Group Meetings, NAILSMA
water facilitators conference, TRACK meeting with other theme groups and within theme and
at National Native Title Representative Bodies Conference June 2009, Melbourne. Peer review of report completed in publishable form. Further presentations of results and two articles
finalised will take place in 2011.
Potential beneficiaries of ―outputs‖ include Indigenous people, Land Councils, NAILSMA and
IWPG, Federal and provincial governments and academia. Specifically engaged with IWPG at a
number of meetings presenting findings and receiving feedback and involved in discussions
around recognition of Indigenous rights at practical and policy level.
8. Indigenous Engagement
The project will assist all stakeholders in relation to the nature of Indigenous rights in water
and the ongoing implementation of the National Water Initiative, current reviews of water
management legislation in the Northern Territory and Western Australia and the Indigenous
Water Policy Group. This is especially so in relation to the recognition of native title rights to
water in water planning, a Strategic Indigenous Reserve (SIR) and an Indigenous right to a
cultural flow in water planning.
Attendance at five Indigenous Water Policy Group Meetings to present research and findings as
the research proceeded and receive feedback; presentation at NAILSMA water facilitators
conference and presentation at the National Native Title Representative Bodies Conference
June 2009, Melbourne.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 155 of 173
PROJECT 6.3 DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE CONSERVATION AND
SUSTAINABLE USE ECONOMY IN ARNHEM LAND
TRaCK Theme: Sustainable Enterprises
Project Number: 6.3
Project Title:
Developing an effective conservation and sustainable
use economy in Arnhem Land: options for payment for
environmental services.
Project Coordinator: Jon Altman ANU - AEPR
Key Partner Personnel: Nanni Concu ANU-CAEPR, Jennifer Koenig ANU-CAEPR
Research Organisation: The Australian National University
1. Project Summary
Much of the Indigenous estate in north Australia is either thinly populated or unpopulated.
There is emerging evidence that, in situations where Indigenous people live on their country,
ecological and wider benefits are generated via favourable fire regimes, control over weed
infestations, and potentially through feral animal harvesting. When people are on country, they
generate economic benefit for themselves by harvesting wildlife for consumption and engage
with the market sector by using natural resources in commercial enterprise like arts and crafts
production.
This research project has quantified the environmental needs and costs of environmental
management in two contexts, the Mann-Liverpool riverine environment in central Arnhem
Land, where the Djelk IPA is to be declared in September 2009, and the coastal area of the
Dhimurru IPA.
2. Project Objectives
The research assessed both prospects and time frames for developing a NRM-based economy in these habitats at a time when there is considerable policy debate about on-country and off-
country employment prospects.
This resulted in better informed decision-makers in community, business and government
regarding payment for ecosystem services to support regional economies.
The removal of many barriers to enhanced and innovative Indigenous participation in such
activities, and equitable public support, if required, should facilitate sustainable economic
development options that are compatible with Indigenous priorities, while ameliorating
Indigenous disadvantage.
3. Location
The project focused on a river catchment, the Mann-Liverpool in central Arnhem Land, near
Maningrida and a coastal area in the region of the Dhimurru IPA in north east Arnhem Land.
These regions are within the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust and falls under the
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 156 of 173
jurisdiction of Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation and its Djelk Land and Sea Rangers and the
Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation respectively.
4. Target Audiences for the research
Government agencies and departments;
Private businesses and commercial enterprises;
Non-governmental organisations and no-profit institutions;
Community organisations, local service providers and other non-commercial Indigenous
institutions such as Indigenous Rangers;
Scholars and research organisations.
5. Project Achievements and Outputs
The most important finding is the impressive range of environmental and cultural protection
activities Indigenous land managers in the study areas are carrying out. These activities span
from people management to feral animal control and prescribed early season burning.
Indigenous land managers are carrying out these activities on behalf of their kin and family,
hence fulfilling their cultural responsibility to take care of their country.
Some of these activities are also part of contractual arrangements Indigenous land managers
have stipulated both with public agencies and private companies. Indigenous land managers
provide services with direct and indirect environmental outcomes, and buyers commit to
purchase these services under different contractual schemes. For instance, the West Arnhem
Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project is a 17-year contract between Indigenous land managers
and a private energy company for the provision of carbon offset through strategic fire
management in the Djelk and Warrdeken Indigenous Protected Areas. The Australian
Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS), on the other hand, contracts Indigenous land managers
on a year-to-year basis for monitoring weeds, insects, and marine debris.
To transform protection and conservation activities into a set of sustainable commercial
opportunities, it is necessary to provide the scientific data linking these activities to measurable
environmental outcomes and hence ecosystem services that can be sold in the market. This
requires investing in basic scientific research as well as improvements in monitoring and
reporting. The WALFA project, for instance, is the result of long term studies in the effect of
fire in the tropical savannas. It is also supported by an advanced fire monitoring system designed
by the collaborative effort of several public agencies. Similar research and collaboration are
needed to establish baseline information on the impacts of Indigenous management on
biodiversity, target species, cultural conservation, and water quality.
Remarkable similarities and differences characterise the two IPAs. Both have a well-resourced
Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger organisation, but better information on the actual condition of the environment is needed in both IPAs.. While they have abundant Indigenous knowledge, this
needs to be integrated with non-Indigenous science to provide the baseline information
necessary to assess the environmental impacts of their activities.
Dhimurru Rangers focus mainly on managing non-Indigenous people residing in the mining town
of Nhulunbuy. Dhimurru‘s people management aims at protecting sites of cultural and
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 157 of 173
environmental significance. Djelk Rangers are mostly involved in weeds and feral animal control,
strategic fire management, and sea patrol for monitoring fishing activities.
For Dhimurru, the recreational sector is probably the best avenue for a sustainable use
economy; Djelk seem to be better equipped to expand their role as environmental service
provider, especially in the field of credit for biodiversity conservation.
For both Dhimurru and Djelk, the lack of a framework on environmental service provision,
such as a carbon trading scheme, is creating an uncertain commercial environment that hinder
or delay investments for sustainable use economies.
Indigenous land managers should improve their ability to monitor and report on environmental
outcomes; potential environmental service buyers need to be confident the activities they fund
are having quantifiable environmental outcomes.
Indigenous land managers need the government to support basic scientific research in the two
IPAs in order to create the baseline data to assess the impact of Indigenous management
activities.
A sustainable use economy needs a proper framework creating markets for environmental
services; a carbon credit trading scheme and a biodiversity credit scheme, for instance, are necessary for Indigenous land managers to invest in these sectors
Project outcomes include:
Description of the range of environmental and cultural assets requiring management in the study areas;
List of targets for condition of environmental and cultural assets, based on stated goals of
government, interested NGOs, and local organisations, including potential purchasers of
environmental services;
Assessment of existing and emerging influences/threats on/to status of ecosystem services and values;
Cost estimation for securing ecosystem services and values over the long term and on a
sustainable basis, assuming delivery by local people;
Description of benefits of delivering and protecting ecosystem services and other values in the study areas.
Model for strategic economic development on Indigenous held lands.
Guidelines for NRM based economic development and Indigenous engagement.
Improved communication leading to increased uptake by Indigenous people considering potential NRM based development on Indigenous lands.
Detailed case study linking development strategies with information on governance,
capacity development and existing or emerging NRM based initiatives.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities completed
Dr. N. Concu attended the TRaCK workshop on behalf of the team working on project 6.3.
Dr. Concu presented the findings of the project, and participated in the discussion of options
for integration and synthesis of the TRaCK findings.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 158 of 173
Dr. Concu completed three publications that currently are under reviews. The first publication
titled ―Indigenous development through Payments for Environmental Services in Arnhem Land,
Australia: a critical analysis‖, was submitted to the journal ―Development and Change‖ in
December 2010. A second paper under review was submitted to ―The Geographical Journal‖
also in December 2010. This paper titled ―A scale analysis of Australia‘s Indigenous Protected
Areas‖ was written in collaboration with K. May from CAEPR. A third paper has been
submitted in June 2010 to the editors of the Indigenous Participation in Australia‘s Economies
Conference Proceedings.
Dr Concu presented the results of the study at two international conferences: the International
Conference of the Ecological Economics Society in Bremen-Oldenburg, Germany (23rd-26th
Aug) and the Littoral 2010 Conference in London (21st-23rd Sept).
On the 12th Oct 2010, Dr. Concu gave a seminar presentation about the findings of the TRaCK
project 6.3 at the Crawford School, ANU. A paper from the presentation is undergoing final
revision for submission for publication.
7. Indigenous Engagement
The research team closely worked with Indigenous Rangers and Traditional Owners to refine
data collection procedures, develop the visitors‘ survey, and coordinate data gathering.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 159 of 173
TRaCK PROJECT 6.4: DEVELOPMENT OF A HOLISTIC SUSTAINABLE
INDIGENOUS LIVELIHOODS PLAN FOR THE ARCHER RIVER BASIN CAPE
YORK
TRaCK Theme: Sustainable Enterprises
Project Number: 6.4
Project Title:
Development of a holistic sustainable Indigenous livelihoods
plan for the Archer River Basin, Cape York
Project Coordinator: Lorrae McArthur
Research Organisation: NAILSMA
1. Project Summary
The Archer River is found on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland. Recent
community consultations reveal widespread support among Archer River Basin Traditional
Owners and their supporting organisations for TRaCK to co-ordinate a participatory, action-
based research project that will lead to the development of a holistic basin-wide sustainable
Indigenous livelihoods plan.
The plan has been developed in a step-wise process, in the first instance engaging with a
number of sub-basin, local, capacity-building initiatives:
1. In the upper reaches. The Coen area and Toolka Land Trust, focusing on supporting the
Working on Country ranger group being facilitated by Balkanu to define opportunities,
priorities and direction in relation to sustainable Indigenous livelihoods focusing on
environmental services.
2. In the middle reaches. Mungkan Kandju National Park, focusing on supporting the
Indigenous people involved in the joint management negotiations to define
opportunities, priorities and directions for sustainable Indigenous livelihoods focusing on
environmental services.
3. In the lower reaches. The Aurukun Wetlands, focusing on documenting and supporting
partnership-building and local governance for the area and defining opportunities,
priorities and directions for sustainable Indigenous livelihoods in co-operation with
various initiatives relevant to the Aurukun Wetlands such as the Aurukun Waterways,
Wetlands and Coastal Management Plan that is being facilitated by Wik Projects Ltd.
2. Project Objectives
The Case Study, through a participatory, action-based research approach, developed strategies
to:
Support best practice management of country;
Support sustainable Indigenous livelihoods on country; and
Develop a whole-of-basin sustainable livelihoods plan through a step-wise process.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 160 of 173
3. Location
The project focused on the Archer River on Cape York Peninsula.
4. Target Audiences for the research
Indigenous people and organisations
Government agencies and departments;
Non-governmental organisations and no-profit institutions;
Community organisations, local service providers and other non-commercial Indigenous
institutions such as Indigenous Rangers;
Scholars and research organisations.
5. Project Achievements and Outcomes
The project has achieved the following outcomes:
Support of local capacity-building initiatives that contribute to sustainable Indigenous
livelihoods.
Exploration of other sustainable Indigenous livelihood opportunities.
Facilitation of partnerships to enhance local capacity-building initiatives.
Identification, capacity development and enhancement of Indigenous decision making structures at the various levels including the basin wide level.
Development of a holistic basin-wide sustainable Indigenous livelihoods strategic plan.
Documentation of local capacity-building initiatives contributing to sustainable Indigenous livelihoods
Strategies to contribute to sustainable Indigenous livelihoods through best practice natural
resource management
Identification, capacity development and enhancement of Indigenous decision-making structures at the various levels including the basin-wide level.
Lower Reaches
The Journey – getting on the road – small steps
A scoping report initiated by the Apalech clan of the Aurukun Wetlands area which was
completed in August 2009 and identified the Aurukun Wetlands area as a potential case study
site, and recommended support be focused on progressing the Draft Aurukun Wetlands
Management Plan. Traditional owners indicated that for the southern part of the wetlands they
had little involvement in the development of this draft plan. In workshops held in November
2009 traditional owners commenced discussing and formulating their own aspirations for
country, culture and livelihoods at smaller clan/country scale.
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 161 of 173
Based on this feedback in January 2010 Balkanu worked with traditional owners from Aayk, all
Apalech ritual clan group members, which is one of five clan country areas within the wetlands
to develop a scoping report for sustainable livelihoods options on their country.
As this report was being completed, traditional owners from Aayk discussed this process they
were embarking on with neighboring clan groups, and through these discussions the
neighboring families from the Wanam, Winychanam and Puch clans indicated their desire to
form an alliance and work as one to progress their collective sustainable livelihoods aspirations
and Indigenous-led caring for country programs. Based on this feedback the case study area of
interest was modified again to accommodate this broader group of traditional owners and their
estates.
The first property scale workshop based on this refined area of interest was held in early
October 2010 with Southern Wik Traditional Owners on country at a Winychanam homelands
site, Stoney Crossing. The workshop focused on further developing their ideas of an alliance
and in particular around the establishment of the local traditional owner enterprise Aak Puul
Ngantam (APN) as a vehicle for social, economic, cultural and environmental development that
incorporated appropriate governance and decision making processes. A community newsletter
was created communicating the outcomes of this meeting and other key activities called Yuk
Maak (message stick).
A follow up workshop and one on one interviews were conducted by the project team during
the week starting November 23rd in Aurukun and the Thum Noohm (fire management) Steering
Committee established comprised of one elder and one other family member from each family
within the Southern Wik Estates, consisting of 36 traditional owners. The Thum Noohm
Steering Committee.
Approximately 40 traditional owners attended the Stoney Crossing meeting, with 100+
traditional owners attending at least one of the evening meetings held in Aurukun in November
and a further 42 traditional owners (mainly elders unable to attend) met with the project team on a one on one basis. An outcome report and paper from these meetings has been drafted and
further discussions planned throughout April to discuss this draft with Thum Noohm Steering
Committee and develop clear guidelines for its release as a whole or in component parts as
public documents.
Critically at these meetings Traditional Owners decided to establish APN as a vehicle for social,
economic, cultural and environmental initiatives on their country. The Thum Noohm Steering
Committee was tasked by traditional owners to guide the establishment of APN. Once APN is
established Thum Noohm is envisaged by traditional owners to continue to play a key role as
navigator for the new organisation with the Board driving the institution.
In addition to guiding the establishment of APN the Thum Noohm Steering Committee was
also tasked with progressing key initiatives identified by the broader traditional owners
including:
- Land and Sea Management Ranger Service
- Country and Culture program
- A commercial cattle venture and
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 162 of 173
- A commercial tourism venture
A vehicle for the journey towards Southern Wik Sustainable Livelihoods - APN
Establishment
In January 2010 Business Mapping Solutions was contracted through the Archer River TRaCK
project to further build on their previous pro-bono support of Southern Wik Traditional
Owners relating to incorporation and governance.
At a Thum Noohm Steering Committee meeting held 16-17 March Traditional Owners started
discussing and developing draft rules/protocols for how they as families and clans will work
together and form a partnership through APN establishment.
This was followed by a further Thum Noohm Steering Committee Meeting at which Margot
Richardson from BMS, facilitated a discussion around a constitution for APN based on these
previous workshop the week before and the establishment of an interim board.
Discussions with the PBC and the Aurukun Shire Council as legal land holders for the Southern
Wik are being progressed in parallel to enable APN once established to have management
rights to their country for the range of activities identified in the planning work to date.
Land and Sea Management Ranger Service
With the support of Balkanu through the Archer River TRaCK project, a CFOC funded project
was secured providing the seed funding for the Ranger Service. This project commenced in
January providing resources for Southern Wik Traditional Owners to commence implementing
priority on ground management actions arising from the planning workshops relating to
improved management of the Holroyd High Conservation Aquatic Ecosystem.
This seed funding will provide critical resources for a casual ranger pool, under the direction of
the Thum Noohm Steering Committee and enable operationalising of emerging partnerships
with:
Cape York Sustainable Futures Initiatives in relation to Fire Biodiversity, and turtle predation
Cape York Weeds and Feral Animal Program in relation to Parkinsonia and feral pig
control
CSIRO in relation to biodiversity monitoring and reporting
NAILSMA Balkanu Fire and Carbon project.
Through the Archer River TRaCK project, the Thum Noohm Steering Committee have been
supported to meet and develop operational plan for the rangers, commence fire planning for
the 2011 dry season and further develop governance arrangements for the establishment of
APN.
Using this seed funding as a foundation combined with support provided by Aurukun Shire
Council, Archer River TRaCK Local Planning consultant and Southern Wik Traditional Owner
Bruce Martin has worked with Balkanu to develop a broad reaching ranger service proposal
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 163 of 173
based on the outcomes of the sustainable livelihoods meetings and following Thum Noohm
Steering Committee meetings.
The proposal is still in draft form, and through April will be considered and finalised by the
Thum Noohm Steering Committee. This proposal will be submitted through the Welfare
Reform Board to Federal Government Working on Country Program.
A partnership with UNSW is also being explored in relation to a climate change pilot project which if secured will provide additional resources to the establishment of the proposed ranger
service whilst engaging the Southern Wik community in critical climate change research of
benefit to the nation.
Country and Culture Program
Getting back to country and strengthening culture through this process is another priority for
Southern Wik clans within their sustainable livelihoods vision. In response to this, Bruce Martin
has also been successful in securing a partnership with CYAAA in Aurukun to provide the
resources for school camps within the school term this year enabling elders to take their
children onto country with teachers and teach them cultural practices and story relating to
country.
In addition to the school camps the Thum Noohm Steering Committee has also through their
recent meetings, planned for two elective culture camps in the school holidays in June and
September which they will contribute their time for free, with funding from the CFOC projects
traditional knowledge recording elements covering logistics costs.
These camps are scheduled for June and September and will provide a critical launching pad for
the Southern Wik country and culture program. The Thum Noohm Steering Committee has
expressed the importance of providing a number of structured, annual visits to country driven
by Thum Noohm and APN that will guarantee every child at least some time out on his/her
clan estate.
Commercial Cattle Venture
Re-establishing a commercial cattle venture with a domestic herd whilst also destocking the
Southern Wik estate of feral cattle is also a priority for 2011. A plan for this has been
developed with partner P&V Holdings and resources are being sourced to enable
implementation of this plan.
Commercial Tourism Venture
Tourism is also a key area of economic development that the Southern Wik Clans have
identified, and options for this are currently being explored.
Other sustainable livelihood activities on the Horizon
Discussions have also progressed with Middle Brook Honey regarding large scale Sugar bag
production, based on outcomes of feasibility project run in Aurukun over the last 2 years.
Ongoing participatory action research support
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Through this process, a PhD candidate from the Institute of Environmental Studies, University
of New South Wales commenced working with Southern Wik families. Melissa Sinclair will fill
the role of researcher, community engagement and communications officer for the Thum
Noohm Steering Committee for the next 2 – 4 years at the direction of traditional owners
providing critical ongoing support to Southern Wik traditional owners to progress their
sustainable livelihoods aspirations and provide necessary research supporting appropriate
frameworks and governance processes in decision making.
Noting this substantial contribution, further support will be required around this to enable
adequate resourcing for development of good governance and ongoing adaptive management
and planning given the high expectations Southern Wik have set for themselves over the
coming years. It is a recommendation of this report that any further funding secured for TRaCK
2 continue to invest in this process as key component to enabling the realisation of the group‘s
vision.
Middle Reaches: Archer Bend
The Journey – getting on the road – small steps
The second potential case study site identified in the Scoping report completed in August 2009
was the Mungkan Kandju National Park. Joint Management negotiations being conducted at the
time, were tracked through end 2009 and beginning 2010 to determine the best opportunity to
engage and commence the case study for this area.
In 2009 traditional owners requested State Government excise the Archer Bend Section of the
Park and divest this area to traditional owners, righting the injustice of 25 years ago when the
park was created to stop an elder from this land purchasing the then pastoral property on
behalf of his clan group, the Winychanam people. At this time traditional owners also requested
support to develop sustainable livelihoods opportunities if this excision was agreed to.
QPWS agreeing to the excision, then also agreed to work with Balkanu through the Archer
River TRaCK project to support the traditional owners of the proposed excision area to
progress sustainable livelihoods planning. Specifically QPWS agreed to co-fund the initial
workshop.
Substantial engagement with traditional owners was undertaken throughout August 2010 and a
date and agenda set for this. The TRaCK workshop for this area was held between 15th - 17th
of November in Weipa on request from traditional owners. It focused on supporting traditional
owners plan for the use of this new area of aboriginal freehold to maximise economic and
social benefits from this land.
A report from this meeting has been drafted. Further funding is required urgently to convene a
follow up workshop with Archer Bend Traditional Owners to enable their review and
endorsement of the report, establishing clear protocols for its release as a public document and
to further progress action planning associated with the aspirations identified in November 2010.
Upper Reaches: Toolka
The Journey – getting on the road – small steps
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Discussions have continued with Toolka Land Trust but a date for a workshop was not
finalised. Toolka Land Trust have an operational ranger program run by Kalan Enterprises.
Through the establishment of the Ranger program discussions have been held over the last 18
months around other sustainable livelihood options. Additional funding for the proposed
workshop is still needed to consolidate these into an agreed plan of action for the Trust.
Development of a basin wide strategic plan
Due to the embryonic nature of sustainable livelihoods exploration at the local scale, a basin
wide plan was considered premature. Part of the recommendations of this project is that local
level sustainable livelihoods opportunities and planning are further developed and implement for
at least another 12 months, before a basin wide plan is developed.
6. Knowledge, adoption and promotional activities undertaken
Eight reports/publications documenting key elements of the process have been developed
including:
- Archer River TRaCK Scoping Report
- Aayk Sustainable Livelihoods Scoping Report
- Yuk Maak Community Newsletter
- Southern Wik Summit 1 & 2 Report
- Improved Management of the Holroyd High Conservation Aquatic Ecosystem by
Southern Wik Clans
- Southern Wik Sustainable Livelihoods and Governance Scoping Report
- Archer Bend Sustainable Livelihoods Workshop Report
Each of these documents are at various stages of approval and discussion by the relevant
traditional owners. They are attached for reporting information only and should not be
circulated or referenced more broadly until traditional owners have cleared these documents
for public release. It is expected that direction on future use of this information will be
provided by Traditional owners by the end of April 2011.
Whilst recognising that documentation is required for funding purposes, the outputs for the
project(s) may be confidential in nature and commercial in confidence. As such no
documentation should be distributed or published except by the traditional owners themselves
and/or prior informed consent with appropriate documentation gained through appropriate
processes.
7. Indigenous Engagement
All activities focus on Indigenous engagement.
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APPENDIX A: TRaCK TRANSITION HARVESTING PROGRAM
2010-11, FINAL REPORT
Project Title: CERF Transition Harvesting Project
Project Coordinator: Associate Professor Michael Douglas
Key Partner Personnel: Griffith Uni: Ruth Oconnor, Andrew Brooks, Bradley Pusey
Research Organisation: Charles Darwin University
1. Summary
The harvesting program has added considerable value to the TRaCK research program by
synthesising and analysing up-to-date information from the more the 27 current projects with a
focus on topics of particular importance to key end-users including biodiversity management
and policy development in northern Australia and ecological monitoring of rivers and wetlands.
The harvesting program also has a strong focus on ensuring enhanced communication of the research outcomes from the existing TRaCK program, both in face to face forums, on the web
and in hard copy printed materials. The harvesting program builds on the project-level
communication activities and provides opportunity for a higher level of program-wide synthesis
and communication.
The TRaCK Harvesting Program has focussed on higher-level (program-wide) synthesis around critical and emerging northern Australian issues including biodiversity management in the
tropics , river and wetland monitoring; and targeted communication activities to ensure
enhanced uptake of the research outcomes by end-users. The program supported face-to-face
knowledge exchange through a two-day TRaCK conference in Darwin and regional workshops
in jurisdictions in which TRaCK operates.
These meetings brought researchers together with end-users to focus on TRaCK‘s research
outcomes of significance (particularly for management and policy) to these regions. The
program also supported the development of a web-based Digital Atlas for northern Australia‘s
catchments. This has provided easy access to all of TRaCK‘s research outputs and digital
datasets as well as graphical conceptual models that summarise our current state of knowledge
of tropical rivers and estuaries.
The program has produce a book on the patterns, values and threats to freshwater biodiversity
in northern Australia and has worked with Indigenous Rangers to develop practical
recommendations for river and wetland monitoring that can be undertaken by the Working on
Country Program Rangers.
2. Location
The project worked across the entire TRaCK region.
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3. Target Audiences
All the projects focus on enhanced delivery of synthesised and targeted outputs appropriate to
end-users. As such, we have attempted to include all key end-users in the development and
implementation of projects. Whilst the primary end-users identified are within DEWHA, the projects identify a range of State and Territory (particularly water management) agencies,
regional and Indigenous groups as key end-users and participants in product development.
In addition to organisations mentioned, the National Water Commission has provided input on
their strategic areas of interest. Delivery of the knowledge assets described in an accessible
manner has been of value to all those with an interest in management of northern rivers or
pursuing future research, management or policy development in the region.
4. Project Achievements and Outputs
The harvesting program has four components, all of which are aimed at ensuring greater uptake
of research outcomes by end-users.
The first project involves a 2-day conference and a series of regional workshops which will bring TRaCK researchers together with end-users to discuss the outcomes of the
research and to focus on its application to the management and policy development of
northern Australia‘s tropical rivers and estuaries.
The second project will develop a web-based portal that will provide easy access to the
research outcomes and spatial datasets from across the TRaCK program. The web
portal will also include graphical conceptual models that will summarise the current
state of knowledge of river and estuarine ecosystems in northern Australia.
The third project will synthesise information from a range of TRaCK projects and to further collaborate with Indigenous rangers and DEWHA staff to develop practical
recommendations for environmental monitoring that can be undertaken by the
Working on Country Program.
The fourth project will synthesise and analyse information from TRaCK research
projects and produce a book on the patterns, values and threats to freshwater
biodiversity in northern Australia.
TRaCK conference and regional workshops
TRaCK (Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge) is conducting research to provide the science
and knowledge that government, communities and industries need for the sustainable use and
management of Australia‘s tropical rivers and estuaries. However, conducting research alone
will not fully achieve this goal. There are many barriers to the uptake of research, and strategic
effort is required to avoid delays in research adoption.
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The TRaCK approach has been to ‗manage knowledge for adoption‘. The TRaCK Knowledge
and Adoption (K&A) strategy describes several mechanisms including how we manage our
research, how we manage our relationships with stakeholders, and how we manage the
resulting outputs and delivery of knowledge.
TRaCK has employed a range of methods to implement our K&A Strategy. At the simplest end
of the spectrum, this activity has been in the form of information provision e.g. the TRaCK
website. The most targeted and interactive activities have been where stakeholders are actively
engaged in research e.g. project and program advisory committees, stakeholder participation in
the research itself, etc. Communication is in the middle of this spectrum and has included
targeted stakeholder workshops and a range of publications targeted at an appropriate level.
TRaCK‘s research has strongly contributed to the following important activities:
Policy – e.g. strategic directions for ―development in the north‖,
Practice – e.g. on-ground land management and conservation activity on both private
and public lands,
Planning – e.g. water allocation, e-flows, design of freshwater protected areas, whole of river planning frameworks.
This project has held a high-level National TRaCK conference to ―showcase‖ the outcomes
from the first phase of the TRaCK program in policy, practice and planning areas outlined above
and to reflect on the significance of our findings with end users, our consortium members and
other stakeholders. It also conducted a range of more targeted regional workshops in northern
Australia and in Canberra, Brisbane and Perth. These workshops were tailored to effectively
communicate the results and outcomes from the first phase of the TRaCK program for the
relevant jurisdictions. The conference and workshops generated media coverage, as well as
printed and audio visual outputs that capture and integrate key messages.
The TRaCK research program was developed with end-user input. The end user engagement in
the TRaCK program includes:
a) Key SEWPAC groups we worked with included:
Natural & Indigenous Heritage
Water reform (including NAWFA)
Indigenous policy group
Biodiversity conservation
Representatives were consulted about the most suitable format for learning more about key
TRaCK research outputs. SEWPAC staff were also invited to participate in the development of
a range of synthesis products and provide feedback on other appropriate legacy products (e.g.
policy briefings).
b) Jurisdictional water and natural resource managers and planners including:
NRETAS (Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (NT)
Department of Environment and Resource Management (Qld)
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Department of Water (WA)
Representatives from these agencies were invited to the conference and involved in the
planning for the regional workshops to ensure outcomes are targeted to local/regional needs.
c) Regional NRM groups
NT NRM Board, Daly River Management Advisory Group (NT)
Northern Gulf NRM, Southern Gulf catchments, MRWMG
Rangelands NRM (WA)
Representatives were invited to the regional workshops and involved in planning to ensure they
were targeted to local/regional needs. Representatives were invited to participate in the
conference.
d) Indigenous groups
NAILSMA (including Indigenous Water Facilitator Network)
Daly Aboriginal Reference Group (NT)
Mitchell River Traditional Custodian Advisory Group, Kowanyama Aboriginal Lands & Natural Resource Management Office (Qld)
Kimberley Land Council and Aboriginal corporations in the Kimberley where TRaCK
has conducted waterways research and training (WA)
Representatives were invited to the regional workshops and involved in the planning so they
were targeted to local needs. Representatives were invited to participate in the conference.
Objective Output
To share research findings
To ensure a legacy of TRaCK knowledge,
capacity and networks.
Two day TRaCK conference with all
research projects represented and with
broad stakeholder representation
To ensure TRaCK research is relevant and
useful for its stakeholders.
To provide opportunities to transfer skills and share knowledge between researchers and
stakeholders.
To ensure TRaCK research is relevant and
beneficial to Indigenous communities and
organisations
To effectively communicate research results and share knowledge with Indigenous people.
A range of tailored workshops in
northern Australia and Canberra,
Brisbane and Perth with subject matter
and presenters tailored to end-user
needs.
To ensure that information is at an appropriate level, publicly and readily accessible
To integrate and tailor research outputs to
address stakeholders needs
To provide an easily accessible legacy of
A range of printed and audio visual
outputs summarising and integrating
results in a format useful to end users and
available on the TRaCK website
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TRaCK research
To build stakeholder awareness and the credibility of TRaCK
To share research findings
Media coverage of TRaCK conference and
regional workshops (in consultation with
participants)
Development of the TRaCK Web-based Knowledge Portal
This project developed a set of products that will be used to underpin a web-based knowledge
portal of information about northern Australia. It focused on developing (i) a digital atlas, (ii) a
river classification tool and (iii) a set of conceptual ecological models that describe how
northern rivers function.
Recently-completed initiatives from TRaCK have generated valuable digital data layers for the
tropical river catchments. These ―layers‖ include socio-economic profiles and physical
classifications of catchments based on soils, geomorphology, hydrological patterns and ground
and surface water availability. Most of these layers were available as static maps (i.e. fixed in
time and space), often in separate catchment-specific reports. There was an opportunity to
bring these datasets together in a web-based ―digital atlas of northern catchments‖.
The same data platform will also act as a central repository for all the spatial data (a digital
atlas) relevant to northern Australia, and will include existing spatial datasets administered by
organisations such as Geoscience Australia, as well as data layers generated within TRaCK and
other northern Australia programs (e.g. TRIAP, NASY etc). The atlas has provided a valuable
and very accessible way of summarising a variety of spatial datasets and will provide a useful
tool for cross regional comparisons.
The atlas also includes a classification tool hosted by Geoscience Australia, building on their
OzCoasts Web GIS system. Geosciences Australia, as the existing repository for much of the
Australian government‘s spatial datasets are the ideal organisation to host such a site.
A major focus of the TRaCK program has been improving our understanding of how tropical
river ―work‖ as ecosystems. There was an opportunity to synthesise the results from across most of the TRaCK projects to develop a revised set of graphical conceptual models. To reflect
the differences between river types, conceptual models were developed as part of the digital
atlas project so that they can be linked to classifications of different river types. This has
provided a highly-accessible product that synthesises the wealth of new knowledge produced by
the TRaCK program.
Objective Targeted Activity
Development of a web based Digital
Atlas of northern catchments
Compiled a full set of TRaCK derived spatial
datasets and conceptual models in a common
format
Development of a web based river Developed an on-line classification tool for spatial
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 171 of 173
classification tool. datasets in collaboration with Geosciences
Australia. This will provide access to series of
TRaCK defined classifications of biophysical and
socio -economic data.
Produced an on-line manual explaining how these
classifications were calculated and derived
including an explanation of the mechanics
underpinning the classification (and
benefits/limitations).
Development of a set of graphical
conceptual models that summarise
our knowledge of how different types
of tropical river systems work
Held a workshop to synthesis current knowledge
on ecological and socio economic processes.
Developed graphical conceptual models for
different types of river systems classification.
In addition to the provision of metadata to ERIN and the data layers that will be available
through the digital atlas, we have also made our raw aquatic species distribution data (turtles,
fish, birds, bugs) available to ANHAT, except where we may be restricted in doing so due to
Data Licence agreements with the original data holders (e.g. museums, State agencies, etc).
Biodiversity management in northern rivers and estuaries
This project has synthesised information from across the TRaCK program (and other relevant
sources) related to the management of northern Australia‘s freshwater biodiversity. The
project has produce a Plain English book and peer reviewed scientific paper that summarise the
current state of knowledge of the patterns of biodiversity (e.g. biodiversity hot spots), the
values of biodiversity and the management of threats to the region‘s freshwater biodiversity.
The publications include a synthesis of current and past research, management
recommendations and an analysis of knowledge gaps and identification o future research needs.
The project adds considerable value to the current TRaCK research effort by providing a cross-
cutting focus for knowledge harvesting and synthesis over and above project-level deliverables.
Objective Output
To synthesise the current state of
knowledge on key issues relating
to the patterns, values and
management northern Australia‘s
freshwater biodiversity
A focussed workshop that brought together key
TRaCK researchers involved in aspects of research
relevant to northern Australia‘s freshwater
biodiversity.
The Workshop determined the final structure and
outline of the content of for Plain English and more
scientific publications.
To produce a Plain English book Plain English book and scientific publication based on
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 172 of 173
and scientific papers on northern
Australia‘s freshwater biodiversity.
discussions from the workshop.
To promote key issues related to
freshwater biodiversity
management to a broad range of
end-users and the general public
Media coverage of biodiversity management plain
English publication.
River and wetland monitoring by Working On Country Rangers
The past few years SEWPAC has been a major investor in management initiatives in northern
Australia that have involved strong partnerships with Aboriginal people. This includes the
Working on Country Program which funds the employment of Indigenous people to manage
the cultural and environmental values of their land and sea estates.
This project used the results from the TRaCK program to improve the efficacy of Working on
Country environment management activities. TRaCK researchers came together with
knowledgeable and experienced Indigenous rangers and land managers to develop
recommendations on practical approaches that Working on Country Rangers can use to inform
to the development of environmental monitoring activities or strengthen their efforts where
monitoring is already underway. This project provided a focus for cross-project harvesting and
synthesis of TRaCK‘s research outcomes related to monitoring river and wetland environments
and a pathway for communicating this work by providing practical support for the Working on
Country Program.
The planning and approach has been developed jointly with TRaCK and SEWPAC and the
project was conducted in collaboration with the WOC Program staff and with the regional co-
ordinators and with the WOC Rangers and TRaCK researcher. This ensured that all key end
users will be active contributors to the project and will have a high level of ownership of
project outcomes, a key to good end-user engagement.
Objective Output
To make recommendations
Working on Country Rangers can
use to inform to the development
or strengthen environmental
monitoring activities for rivers
and wetlands.
Workshop that brought together WOC Rangers
from the NT, WA and Qld and TRaCK researchers
who have skills in environmental monitoring.
The workshop included a discussion of the types
management issues/threats that WOC Rangers are
facing and the management activities they are
undertaking to address these. Researchers drew
findings from across the TRaCK program (and
other relevant sources) and worked with the
Rangers to develop recommendations for practical
approaches for WOC Rangers to undertake
TRaCK Final Milestone Report Page 173 of 173
environmental monitoring.
Plain English recommendations for monitoring
being finalised.
5. Communication and Knowledge Transfer
All the projects focused on communication and knowledge transfer - from face to face
interaction at workshops to delivery of web-based tools and written outputs. The task of
knowledge uptake was made considerably easier by strategies, staff, existing relationships and
infrastructure already developed within TRaCK including:
The K&A strategy which provides a framework and processes for engagement and delivery
The presence of regional coordinators in northern Australia to help organise meetings
and disseminate information as well as researchers with existing relationships with end-
users
Existing arrangements with media, graphic design and web providers
The existing TRaCK website which is already well known among end-users
top related