Caring for our Country

What is NRM?

Corangamite - Natural Resource Management region

Regional summary

Map of the region

The Corangamite region comprises 13,340 square kilometres of South Western Victoria and is home to a population of 333,000 people predominately located in the Geelong and Ballarat. The region as a whole is defined by the aggregation of its four river basins, Moorabool, Barwon, Lake Corangamite and the Otway coast. Agriculture dominates Corangamite's land use pattern, principally dairy and wool production. Other land use includes forestry, mining, manufacturing, urban expansion and tourism.

Intensification of economic-based activities will mean more competition for limited water and land, more pressure for environmental management systems for all enterprises, more conflict between industries and adjacent residential owners, and more pressure on the road network. The major natural resource issues in the Corangamite region are the impacts of land clearing and land-use change, which impact on its native vegetation and terrestrial, riparian (riverbank) and wetlands ecosystems.

Priority issues

Key natural resource management issues in the region include:

Regional plan

Natural resource management (NRM) in the region is complex because forces shaping the region go beyond the use of its land, vegetation and water, to the production and consumption activities of its increasing rural and urban population, and tourists in the southern coastal areas. This places demands on government and community to better understand the environment, and how to repair and conserve it.

The Corangamite Catchment Management Authority was responsible for developing the Corangamite Regional Catchment Strategy, in consultation with the local community. This strategy was based on a whole-of-region approach and addresses significant NRM issues incorporating social, environmental and economic aspects.

Once the regional strategy was accredited, the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority was responsible for developing the Regional Catchment Investment Plan. This is essentially the business plan that is then developed to attract investment from the Australian and state governments and details the specific actions, costs and timeframes required to implement the Regional Catchment Strategy.

Many community groups including the Woady Yaloak Catchment Project Inc, the Leigh Catchment Group and the Lismore Land Protection Group, and regional water authorities Barwon Water and Central Highlands Water, received support from the Australian Government's NRM programme.

Current activities

NRM priority Activities addressing the priority
Coastal Environment
  • prepare a health of the coast report covering all coastal areas
  • extend rural and residential stormwater outlets between Apollo bay and Wild Dog Creek to reduce extensive erosion of dunes and degradation of vegetation
Native Vegetation
  • employ a regional native grasslands officer to focus on the protection, enhancement and restoration of western basalt plains, grasslands and grassy woodlands
Water Management
  • reducing sediment and nutrient load from Wormbete Creek catchment to the Barwon River system
Salinity
  • reducing the risk of salinity in Colac, Eurack, lake Corangamite, Lismore Derinallum and Northern Foothills
  • implement the Woady Yaloak Catchment Management Plan that focuses upon high priority areas

Contacts

Further information can be obtained by contacting the Regional Facilitators for Victoria.

Region summaries

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

Key

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