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West Gippsland - Natural Resource Management region

Regional summary

The West Gippsland region comprises 17,685 square kilometres and is home to a population of 169,000 people, dispersed between several regional centres. The region extends from west of Warragul to the Gippsland Lakes, and from the Great Dividing Range to Wilson's Promontory and Bass Strait.

The region supplies 27 percent of Melbourne's water, 95 percent of the state's electricity, 100 percent of the state's gas and 66 percent of Australia's oil production, as well as saw logs, pulpwood, agricultural products and tourism opportunities to people both within and across the region's boundaries.

Dairy accounts for half of the region's agricultural production, beef another quarter, and wool, lamb, potatoes, carrots and other enterprises the remainder. Major land and water management issues in the West Gippsland region include protection and enhancement of coastal assets, surface-water usage, sustainability of forest and agricultural production, environmental and agricultural pests, and the protection of the region's biodiversity assets.

Priority issues

Key natural resource management issues in the region include:

• planning and management
• managing ecosystems and biodiversity
• capacity-building and community support
• infrastructure management
• intergovernmental coordination
• monitoring and reporting

Regional plan

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

When the Regional Catchment Strategy was accredited, it was used by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority to guide the development of regional investment plans. This is essentially the business plan that is developed by the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority annually to attract investment from the Australian and state governments and details the specific actions, costs and timeframes required to implement the regional plan.

• West Gippsland plan  - accredited June 2004

Current activities

NRM priority	Activities addressing the priority
Water management	protect and improve water quality by reducing the amount of salt entering waterways protect and improve river health by protecting riparian vegetation reducing phosphorus load in irrigation drains reducing sediment loss from unsealed forest tracks and forestry and plantation operations restoring wetlands by delivering environmental flows
Land management	whole farm plans for dairy farms benchmarks for on-farm water use for dairy sheds, stock and irrigation incentives to protect threatened land undertaking trials of alternative land uses to reduce risk of salinity
Coastal management	protect and enhance coastal assets preserve and protect important sensitive marine, coastal and estuarine environments minimising impacts of dredging, boat wakes, infrastructure development, boat launching and anchoring, and boat pollution improving dredging and spoil disposal
Biodiversity	supporting current programmes, networks and organisations developing ecotourism/industry awards for preserving or including biodiversity in operations promoting the Biodiversity on Farms project developing incentives to encourage improved native vegetation management improving fish passage ways improving the status of freshwater species in each bioregion improving flood plain linkages and protecting high value flood plain wetlands

Contacts

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