River rehabilitation plans can come in many forms. I recently caught up with my friend Rick James at the Lachlan CMA Science Forum where he gave a presentation on the approach he uses to communicate how to rehabilitate rivers within the context of the overall farm plan. Rick produces beautiful annotated aerial photographs of the farm with prioritised management actions. The aerial photographs are usually supported by a Companion Report containing more detailed information about the river reach and the thinking behind the proposed actions. However, the annotated aerial photographs are designed to be “stand alone” plans – reading the Companion Report is an optional extra!
An example of Rick’s work is the Upper Ovens Valley Landcare plan, produced in 2008, which proved to be very useful for the Landcare Group not just in guiding their on-ground works, but also as a communication tool for explaining their proposed works to the local community in Bright. Much of the work in the reach covered by the 2008 plan has now been completed and Rick has recently been commissioned to develop a new plan, in the same format, for the next reach upstream. I was really impressed with this approach and thought it worth sharing! To learn more about the approach check out Rick’s website Riparian Management Services.
Siwan