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Hunter-Central Rivers - Natural Resource Management region

Regional summary

The Hunter-Central Rivers region encompasses the previous Hunter Catchment, Lower North Coast and Central Coast regions. The region covers an area of approximately 36,500 square kilometres and has a population of more than half a million, with large influxes of people throughout the summer and over school holidays. Major catchments of the region include those associated with Lake Macquarie, Tuggerah Lakes, Brisbane Water, Manning, Myall and Karuah rivers, and Wallis Lake.

Considerable areas of state forest and national parks within the region range from offshore islands and coastal lakes to sub-alpine plateau. The unique diversity of soil types, geology and climate influences its vegetation and landscapes. Vegetation ranges from estuarine wetlands, mangrove forests, rainforest and freshwater wetlands to open grasslands, woodlands and eucalypt forests. Landscapes vary from rich flats of alluvial floodplains through undulating foothills to the rugged Barrington Tops and the dissected sandstone of the Great Dividing Range. Agriculture, mining and urban development have had a major impact on these landscapes.

The main economic activities in the area include grazing, dairy, mining, power generation, light industries, agriculture, service industries, tourism and administration. Horticulture, forestry and hobby farming are the major land uses in the hinterland, while residential and commercial developments dominate the estuary and coastal areas, with tourism and commercial fishing, especially oyster farming, dominating the coastal fringe.

Regional plan

The former Lower North Coast, Hunter and Central Coast Catchment Management Boards - predecessors to the current Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority - prepared integrated natural resource management (NRM) plans, the Blueprints, for what is now the Hunter-Central Rivers region, incorporating social, economic and environmental elements of NRM. These blueprints are based on a whole-of-catchment approach and set 10-year catchment condition targets for the priority NRM issues of the region. They outline the tasks to be accomplished to achieve these targets.

These blueprints form the basis for the development of Investment Strategies that are used to attract funding from the Australian and state governments, and from other sources, for the specific actions identified in the Investment Strategy.

Through the Natural Heritage Trust (the Trust) funding, the Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority provides information and incentives to resource managers to encourage strong community involvement in the region's NRM and foster projects and practical activities that benefit the environment and the community.

Current activities

NRM priority	Activities addressing the priority
Aquatic health	improving fish habitat and estuarine ecology through investigation of Zaire's Drain implementing fish monitoring programmes to enable more informed natural resource decision-making managing invasive aquatic weeds in urban areas to improve riparian vegetation implementing rehabilitation works in priority-degraded wetlands
Native vegetation and biodiversity	developing conservation agreemewnts on private lands protecting regionally significant vegetation from new development implementing a threatened species protection programme in the region identifying priority sites for revegetation in riparian zones re-establishing native vegetation in corridors and riparian zones
Landuse management and planning	developing and implementing an awareness programme on catchment management issues and best management for aquatic and estuary health for new rural settlers developing vegetation mapping as a critical tool for planning, land management and investment
Soil degradation	improving grazing management by providing landholder training and education stabilising highly erodible soils (dune systems) through revegetation activities improving the management of vegetation on steep lands and better management of highly erodible soil on steep lands enhancing the management of acid sulphate soils through improved local government policy development
Salinity	improving the management of saline recharge and discharge areas leading to better water quality through local government policy development

Contacts

Further information can be obtained by contacting the Regional Facilitators for New South Wales.