Caring for our Country

What is natural resource management?

Northern Rivers - Natural Resource Management region

Regional summary

Map of the region

The Northern Rivers covers about 50 000 sq km of land from the Camden Haven River in the south to the Queensland border in the north, and from Lord Howe Island in the east to Armidale and Glen Innes in the west. Major rivers are the Tweed, Brunswick, Richmond, Clarence, Bellinger, Nambucca, Macleay and Hastings.

The region has more than 550 000 people, with significant population growth along the coast of more than 2 per cent a year. Major population growth centres are Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Ballina-Lismore, and Tweed Heads.

The region is rich in agricultural production, timber production, commercial fishing and tourism - it is estimated that more than six million people visit the North Coast each year. The major industries are beef and sheep production, dairying, sugar, farm forestry, horticulture and the nursery industry. The major use of water is from unregulated rivers in the region for town water supplies, followed by irrigation.

Two distinct environments exist - the coastal and the eastern slopes environments. The river, estuary and coastal ecosystems of the coastal zone are particularly sensitive to the impact of urbanisation and economic growth. Problems such as acid sulphate soils illustrate the need for careful management.

Biodiversity summary

Biodiversity summaries and species lists for the Northern Rivers region have been produced by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts using the Australian Heritage Assessment Tool.

For information visit: Biodiversity summaries and species lists for natural resource management regions 

Contact

Nothern Rivers Catchment Management Authority manages this region.

For more information visit: www.northern.cma.nsw.gov.au 

Region summaries

You can also use your town name to find your NRM Region.

Key

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