Malpas Catchment Project Annual Report...1 Malpas Catchment Project Annual Report January 2020–June 2021 Prepared by Rachel Lawrence Malpas Catchment Coordinator, Southern New England

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Malpas Catchment Project Annual Report

January 2020–June 2021

Prepared by Rachel Lawrence

Malpas Catchment Coordinator, Southern New England Landcare Ltd

Introduction

As for other regions, the year leading up to 2020 was a difficult time for the New England region

with unprecedented drought and high temperatures, widespread fires and a water supply crisis.

Fortunately, mid-summer 2020 heralded welcome rain that rescued the region from a dire water

emergency. An added level of challenge would have been the current pandemic amidst a water

emergency where we had to choose between washing our hands and saving precious water.

Due to this series of crises, the Malpas Project was quiet during 2020. This was partially due to the

community recovering from the drought, ARC have big decisions on their hands regarding the way

forward for the water supply network and the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, on the

back of these multiple crisis and a changing world, there have been some signs of good possibilities

ahead. The following report outlines what happened during the 2020-2021 Malpas Catchment

Project.

MOU meeting

The half-yearly ARC/SNELandcare MOU meeting was held in April 2020 via Zoom. Of relevance to the

Malpas Project was that Shane Anderson (Water Utilities Manager) communicated that is was best

not try to do anything near Malpas Dam until the Sustainable Water Yield process had been

completed and decisions made on whether or not to raise the dam wall.

Action – Malpas Catchment Coordinator to participate in next MOU meeting to be held 23 June

2021.

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Groundwater webinar –21st and 25th May 2020

The community expressed concern around the installation of an emergency groundwater network

on multiple occasions towards the end of 2019 and beginning of 2020. ARC requested the help of

Southern New England Landcare to prepare and present two webinars outlining the rationale and

details behind the Guyra emergency groundwater network. On the request of ARC, Karen Zirkler

from Southern New England Landcare facilitated the webinars. This allowed council staff the

opportunity to outline plans and then answer a range of questions from the community. While it

was unlikely that it completely allayed all community concerns regarding the network, it did enable a

two-way, facilitated discourse between ARC staff and community, thus increasing transparency

around the groundwater network.

Installation of piezometers in the Guyra region to monitor groundwater levels

It is hoped that the rain of 2020 and early 2021 has meant that some groundwater recharge will be

occurring, and that further rainfall will increase the chance of this before the next big dry. However,

it has been suggested by some community members that a program where piezometers are installed

at key locations in the Malpas catchment to monitor changes in groundwater would be of value. This

would help to monitor significant changes in groundwater levels and gather evidence around

whether concerning changes are occurring in groundwater levels in response to groundwater

extraction.

This may be a role that is appropriate to Environment and Natural Resources (ENRA), the state

government body responsible for water regulation. However, it would be a good community

program that is likely to appeal to landholders in the catchment.

Action - Malpas Catchment Coordinator to follow this up with Malpas Catchment Group in 2021 and

seek a source of funding.

A new MOU between ARC and SNELandcare

Early 2020 saw SNELandcare and ARC collaborate to develop a new MOU between the two

organisations. This MOU was similar to previous years and was signed by ARC CEO Susan Law at the

SNELandcare Board meeting in late June, 2020.

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Restore Australia

In early 2020, SNELandcare became aware of a significant pool of philanthropic funding likely to

come into Australia. SNELandcare were involved in project development from the inception of this

program and played a role in shaping the proposal that subsequently went back to philanthropic

donors.

Through the process, SNELandcare became a partner in the Great Eastern Ranges network.

Previously our region was a significant geographical gap in the Great Eastern Ranges network. The

disruptions of 2020 due to Covid has meant that this funding has not yet come through, although

there is still a chance it will come through in some form at some stage.

The relevance to the Malpas Catchment Project is that the focus on carbon sequestration - the aim

of the philanthropic funding is to combat climate change while also benefiting rural and

environmental resilience- and significant funds from the project would enable large-scale on-ground

works to occur in the catchment, as well as elsewhere. This would benefit water quality, biodiversity

and would also generate employment for the region.

Our fingers are crossed that 2021 will see this project commence in some form.

Action – Malpas Catchment Coordinator to monitor this opportunity.

Steering Committee meeting

A steering committee meeting occurred in mid 2020 after the initial Covid lockdown. There was also

a Zoom meeting to discuss community attitudes to the groundwater network and how SNELandcare

might help address some of those concerns (see piezometers above). Drought and the pandemic

disrupted the ability of landholders to participate in Malpas Catchment Group steering committee

meetings, while an onslaught of grant applications the Malpas Catchment Coordinator was involved

in meant that the group didn’t meet towards the end of 2020 either.

Action – Malpas Catchment Coordinator to participate in steering committee meeting scheduled for

6th July, 2021.

Community engagement

Severe drought and then Covid has created challenges for community engagement in the project.

However, some on-ground works have been undertaken in Urandangie Creek on properties

neighbouring ‘Urandangie’. Unfortunately, two substantial grant applications aimed at improving

land management to benefit farm businesses as well as water quality were unsuccessful. These

proposals are described below.

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Catchment group members also attended field events enabled by SNELandcare’s Mustering

Members for Climate Change Challenges Project (see below for details). The two relevant events

were around different approaches to natural sequence farming including managing for improved

farm vegetation and resilience. The concept of landscape hydration (which fundamentally is about

best-practice management of grazing and restoring vegetation to key areas of a farm) clearly appeals

to the community. We hope to run future workshops and projects that will increase the capacity of

landholders to apply principles along the lines of natural sequence farming.

Revegetation at ‘Urandangie’ adjacent to Malpas Dam

The Malpas Catchment Project received a small grant ($5000) from Northern Tablelands Local Land

Services to revegetate further reaches of Urandangie Creek. This small project supports landholders

along Urandangie Creek to follow the lead of Bill Perrottet, who has done major revegetation works

along stretches of Urandangie Creek on his own property. It will also build on the work done in the

High Country Urban Biodiversity (HiCUB) Project by revegetating further stretches of this major

tributary to Malpas Dam. Ultimately it is intended that Urandangie Creek sub-catchment is an

inspiring example of how to manage farmland for the dual outcomes of agricultural production and a

landscape that supports good water quality outcomes for the community.

This revegetation project has seen plantings of 1600 sedges, shrubs and trees on approximately

650 m riparian length of Urandangie Creek (just under 2 ha) and a short stretch of Gara River where

excess plants were used. The plantings were done by a group of boys undertaking their Duke of

Edinburgh award. The boys were supervised/mentored by Tim and Bern Phelps and Bill Perrottet.

See images below.

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Mustering Members for Climate Change Challenges

Two events were run by SNELandcare under the banner of our National Landcare Program funded

Mustering Members for Climate Change Challenges grant.

The events included:

1. Regenerating Rural Landscapes - a two-day bootcamp with David Hardwick and Damon

Telfer

2. Rehydrating Roumalla Creek Catchment’ - with Stuart Andrews. The events provided two

perspectives on rehydrating and regenerating farm landscapes. Several people from the

Guyra and Malpas region attended with participants indicating both events were helpful.

Above and below: Damon Telfer, David Hardwick and group at Regenerating Rural Landscapes day, September 2020

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Above: Stuart Andrews and group at Natural Sequence Farming field day, Roumalla Creek, October 2020

Above – a view along Roumalla Creek.

Following both events, two separate grants were submitted with elements of learnings from each

workshop. Unfortunately, both grants were unsuccessful. However, the concepts are available for

reworking for future funding rounds. Summaries of the two grants are provided below.

Grant applications

1 – Smart Farms Small Grants Round 4, National Landcare Program

‘Plotting for Resilience and Regeneration, graziers connecting to revisit fundamentals and explore

new approaches to sustainable grazing Management’

The project supports graziers to implement sustainable and regenerative grazing management.

Participants will revisit fundamental sustainability principles and consider learning from recent

droughts and emerging regenerative practices that incorporate strategic rest from grazing. Three

project components ensure learning is robust and considers diverse approaches. A 3-day capacity-

building workshop will remind people of fundamental principles of sustainability and explore the

robustness of emerging regenerative approaches. Experiential learning, using trial plots of differing

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graze and recovery periods in three Landcare groups will underpin workshop learnings and enable

open discussion. Soil and vegetation responses will be monitored by the three Landcare groups,

supported initially by grazing management experts. Peer mentors will emerge from groups ensuring

knowledge is embedded long-term in the community. A final event will bring the 3 groups together

to share outcomes with the community.

Unfortunately, this bid was unsuccessful, outcome determined 15th March, 2021.

2 – Future Drought Fund - Drought Resilience Grant

‘Exploring Techniques for Landscape Rehydration and Regeneration in the New England Tablelands,

a mentoring program.’

Landholders will learn the theory and practice of landscape rehydration and regeneration. Following

an educational workshop, four demonstration sites will be developed & landscape rehydration

techniques applied. Outcomes will be monitored by groups of farmers supported by soil & grazing

management experts. Landscape rehydration techniques applied will be a combination of

construction of leaky weirs and contour banks in gullies prone to erosion alongside strategic &

planned grazing management that supports the outcomes of any earthworks. Leaky weirs & contour

banks will hold water high in the landscape while grazing management will ensure soils & vegetation

are protected to support the retention of water (and nutrients). Landholders will construct

demonstration sites together & will also monitor outcomes together ensuring in-depth discussion &

learning about drought resilience happens. This will result in increased drought resilience for many

farms across the New England Tablelands.

This grant was also unsuccessful, notified 12th May, 2021.

3 - Environmental Trust, December 2020

The Malpas Catchment Coordinator submitted a grant to the Environmental Trust (Restoration and

Rehabilitation Program) on December 14th, 2020. The proposed project name is: ‘High Country

Habitat, Restoration and Rehabilitation at Guyra Dams’. If successful, the overall project will upgrade

fencing around Guyra Dams and install off-stream water infrastructure for landowners who have

previously had grazing access to the Dam foreshores. The cost of fencing and water infrastructure

will be incurred by ARC. The grant will pay for revegetation of the cleared areas (mainly southern

side) of Guyra Dams and enable regeneration of remnant grassland and woodland on the northern

side due to exclusion of stock. If successful, Backtrack Works will be involved with the project,

leading to good social and skill building among the Backtrack workers. It will also lead to significant

improvements in water quality outcomes at Guyra Dams and protect a patch of vegetation that is

essential for vegetation connectivity in the region, particularly in the light of climate change

predictions.

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We are still to hear of the outcome of this grant.

Drought Management Plan Meetings

The Malpas Catchment Coordinator attended the Armidale Drought Management Plan meeting in

late 2020. This initiative from the council was a clear indication of the willingness of council to better

address the concerns of the community around trigger levels for applying or changing water

restriction levels. While it wasn’t terribly relevant to the Malpas Catchment Project it did highlight

that the LGA (along with other LGA’s presumably) don’t have such a thing as a drought resilience

plan for the LGA as a whole.

Recommendation - There is the possibility that the Malpas Catchment Group could be a key

contributor to the development of such a plan.

See below for more details.

Viv May meeting

Rachel Lawrence (Malpas Catchment Coordinator) and Karen Zirkler (SNELandcare EO) attended an

online meeting with Viv May (ARC administrator), Scot Macdonald and Glen George (DPIE Regional

Manager Water Utilities). The meeting was to ensure SNELandcare and ARC administrator both

understood fundamental details regarding the Guyra bore network and the drought management

plan.

During the meeting it was suggested by SNELandcare that a ‘Drought Management Plan’ is different

than a Drought Resilience Plan. The former is about triggers for town water supplies. The latter is not

business as usual for LGA’s. Some in the community might have been expecting a ‘drought

management plan’ to have been about drought resilience for the broader LGA rather than focussed

only on town water supplies.

Some clarification was achieved during the meeting. Viv May (ARC administrator) acknowledged the

distinction between currently existing plan (Drought Management Plan) and what the community

might be expecting – something more like a drought resilience strategy for the whole catchment.

Malpas Water Quality Strategic Plan

Discussions in the early part of 2021 about development of a long-term (10 year) strategic vision for

the Malpas Catchment. SNELandcare was asked to propose a budget to indicate what resources we

would require to prepare this long term strategy during the next financial year (2021/2022). A

proposal was submitted on 23rd April, 2021. Mark Byrne (acting water manager) replied on 8th June

to indicate ARC have realised they are bound by their procurement policy to obtain 3 quotes for this

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work and when requests for quotation along with the full scope for the project are put forward for:

‘Armidale Regional Council Catchment Water Quality Strategic Plan’ they will invite us to tender.

Action – Southern New England Landcare to submit a tender for the Armidale Regional Council

Catchment Water Quality Strategic Plan.