Part 3: The plan
Vision and objectives
Leading by example – managing ecosystems in balance with social and economic development
Working together – community, government and regional neighbours working on integrated, coordinated and knowledgebased management of urban, rural and natural landscapes
Addressing priorities – protecting, enhancing and sustaining biodiversity, water quality and land condition
Retaining an identity – remaining the iconic bush capital in Ngunnawal6 country
Providing an integrated strategic focus for protecting and managing the ACT’s environment
Promoting community and government partnerships
Encouraging integrated, coordinated action
Accessing and increasing investment from multiple sources
Engaging and energising the ACT community
Providing a link to the national and regional natural resource management agenda
- There are several ways of representing the name of the indigenous people of the ACT, reflecting different ways in which the name has been recorded and used historically (see Community Targets).
Context
The purpose of this plan is to provide strategic direction for investment in managing the ACT’s natural resources. In responding to the threats facing our natural assets, governments and community are willing to substantially invest in their repair and protection. These investments need to be spent in the right places and on the most pressing needs. Actions need to be logically connected to outcomes and the plan must be supported by the community.
This plan forms the basis for investment by government, business and community in addressing these issues.
The underlying basis of this plan is a framework known as ‘adaptive management’ or learning from doing – adaptive managers learn by implementing plans and policies (Allan 2007). The process can take place at the small scale where one person provides both experimental and governing sides of the process; up to the large scale where government agencies and other organisations provide the input and assessment.
Adaptive management is used when outcomes of actions cannot be accurately predicted so that there is an element of uncertainty about the best management interventions to use. Such uncertainty can arise through natural variability (e.g. weather or climate) or from an incomplete knowledge of systems and how they work. Waiting until the knowledge base is more complete is not a tenable option when it is clear that ecosystem function is declining and the community is willing for action to take place.
Under an adaptive management approach, hypotheses are drawn and action takes place in a systematic fashion so that outcomes can supply knowledge about the ecosystem and its responses. These outcomes then supply knowledge for the next cycle of actions. The resulting series of steps through planning, implementation, monitoring and assessment (see Figure 4) is known as passive adaptive management. In a more active approach and one that is more likely to result in successful outcomes, implementation occurs as large-scale experiments that are testing specific hypotheses about responses, thus enhancing performance of each
cycle.
First attempts to specifically describe targets and relationships may look clumsy in 20 years’ time, but it is the only way to make underlying assumptions visible, test them and improve on them.
sustainable change
Planning process
This plan is the outcome of an extensive planning and consultation process:
- a survey was conducted on progress achieved since the 2004 natural resource management plan (Bessen Consulting Services 2006)
- two community forums were held to determine general concerns and directions
- target area groups consisting of community members and experts in the field met at regular workshops to identify resources, threats, opportunities for change, management priorities, targets, and investment and implementation opportunities
- the Natural Resource Management Council met on a regular basis to review progress and assess needs.
People and organisations involved in formulating this plan include ACT government agencies, local government and regional bodies in neighbouring NSW, community organisations and individuals, environmental and catchment groups, industry, landholders, Indigenous people and the academic and scientific community.
The planning process used a logical approach (known as program logic) in determining the vision, targets and actions to be contained in the plan.
This plan uses the ACT State of Environment reporting process to inform baseline information for target areas (as at June 2007).
A program logic model is a systematic, visual way to develop and present a planned program with its underlying assumptions and theoretical framework. It uses logical steps to ensure that all actions undertaken in addressing targets for natural resource management investment are actually contributing.
A program logic approach starts with formulating a longer-term vision – say over 30 years – of how we would like natural resource assets to look. In order to achieve this vision, we devise a range of projects and activities that we judge will make a difference in the medium term – seven years. At the same time we set short-term milestones – five years – to indicate whether we are on the right track. At these milestones, we evaluate actions to ensure that we learn by doing, and additionally that we take advantage of advances in related science and reflect changes in community attitudes.
Targets
The targets and management actions in this plan are a result of extensive community and government consultation. Sixteen SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound) targets have been identified over the four areas of community, land, water and biodiversity. Objectives for each asset are set separately so that the plan focuses on individual issues and formulates specific targets and management actions (see the action plan in Part 4 for a detailed outline of actions, outcomes and outputs for each target).
- Making targets specific gives weight to each of them. It conveys the relative strength of each aspiration, and helps people focus on where action is needed and how that action might be taken.
- Most targets in this plan have been quantified. Quantified targets communicate expectations to the broader community – while not being ludicrously out of reach, they are nonetheless meant to be challenging. Quantifying targets helps people to focus on knowledge needed for more confident decision making about managing natural resources.
- Setting values and time limits on targets so that they are measurable and timebound is a challenging exercise since only limited information on the underlying trends in ecosystem health and condition, and the rate at which these ecosystems will respond to action is available. The unpredictability of future shocks (e.g. extreme climate events, major changes in world economic conditions) adds further uncertainty. Achieving targets ahead of time is better than achieving them too slowly.
Community targets
Community participation in natural resource management engages people at all levels from their back yards through onto community land. The ACT has strong community participation in some areas of natural resource management (e.g. a high voluntary reduction in water use has occurred during the drought from 2001 to 2006; thousands of volunteers are working on revegetation projects particularly in bushfire-devastated areas), but these volunteers represent only a small fraction of the population and more could be achieved if more people were involved.
Participation may be direct or indirect:
- direct participation by the community includes sharing of knowledge of the park and management expertise by Indigenous owners of Namadgi National Park; community activities such as bird watching groups, and Friends of, Watch and Care groups; paid work in natural resource management; and business contributions
- indirect participation helps shift people’s understanding and behaviour (e.g. by raising the level of local environmental philanthropy or participation in events focused on local landscapes).
Community participation changes as demographics, lifestyles and affluence in the ACT shift, and planning for community engagement must align itself with these changes.
Community action in the ACT has a regional focus and groups cooperate with local catchment management authorities in New South Wales in providing opportunities for joint training and capacity building programs, whole-of-catchment research, and workshops. ACT community groups provide input into regional natural resource management by providing:
- experience in planning and working in groups and networks
- access to major research and educational facilities
- potential for corporate partners and
- recruitment potential for community groups.
Ecological footprint
We all depend on one biosphere for sustaining our lives. Yet each community, each country, strives for survival and prosperity with little regard for its impact on others. Some consume the Earth’s resources at a rate that would leave little for future generations.
Virtually all products consumed in the ACT (food, clothing, energy, building materials, household and luxury items) are sourced from outside the ACT. In 2003/04, Canberra’s ecological footprint was 8.5 gha per person or 2.65 million gha – roughly 11 times the actual 253,800 ha the ACT occupies. It was the highest per capita footprint of any Australian city and is also high by world standards.
Expenditure and household size are critical in determining the size of the ecological footprint:
- more affluent communities have a larger footprint as people can afford to buy more goods
- smaller households have a larger footprint because there are fewer people to share the same resources.
The ecological footprint target is designed to achieve a 15% decrease in the intermediate term and 30% in the longer term. The 30% per capita target reflects the need to firmly establish a trajectory towards global sustainability.
Careful planning is also needed to prevent the ecological footprint of the whole of Canberra increasing as the population grows in size and affluence. Assuming continued population growth at 1% each year until 2030, a 30% per capita decrease in footprint will only translate to a 10% decrease in the total impact of the Canberra population (1.9 m gha).
The ACT Government is already addressing the size of the ACT’s ecological footprint with the introduction of initiatives such as ACT No WAste and the Sustainable Housing Initiative.
Initially, the rate of change is likely to be slow, but should increase as carbon trading introduces strong market incentives for behavioural change.
ecological footprint.
Indigenous engagement
The ACT is N(g)unnawal/Ngambri country.7 The Indigenous people of the ACT have valuable and enduring insights into the land and its management. The ACT can use this knowledge to assist in longterm management of our natural resources. The relationship of Indigenous people to land is fundamental to their existence and can provide insight into how the environment can be valued. Engagement of Indigenous people in managing natural resources will assist in their retention of traditional knowledge and provide another avenue for Indigenous communities to support themselves while dealing with an array of social and economic issues.
This target focuses on putting new arrangements into place quickly. It will result in an increase in the use of traditional knowledge along with ongoing improvement in the level of participation of natural resource management projects by Indigenous people. Some 4000 Indigenous people currently live in the ACT. This population consists of not only Ngunnawal people but also of Indigenous people from other regions within Australia. If 5% of the Indigenous population are currently active in both paid and voluntary natural resource management (the same proportion as for the entire ACT population), doubling this to 10% by 2030, as the population grows, would require an additional 10–15 people involved every year.
- There are several ways of representing the name of the indigenous people of the ACT, reflecting different ways in which the name has been recorded and used historically.
Community capacity
Increased knowledge and awareness in the community will result in increased adoption of positive attitudes, enhanced personal confidence, better skills and improved on-ground results for natural resource management. This target addresses organisational skills, as well as the individual capacity, needed to bring individuals and groups together and manage their natural resource management activities effectively and efficiently.
At least one in five active natural resource management participants need to have appropriate skills to enable them to be able to participate independently or manage others. This ratio needs to stay constant as the number of people in the region increases and as people age or leave the area. For effective delivery, at least 200 new people need to be trained each year to keep up with the targeted growth in participation.
Currently, around 5% of the population of the ACT is engaged in natural resource management. Increasing this number to 10% by 2030 means that at least 270 new entrants adults) need to be trained each year.
Neither of these calculations allows for practitioners ageing or withdrawing, nor for their need to update their skills from time to time. If 10% do a refresher or new course every year that adds an additional 500 training opportunities each year. It is unrealistic to expect that more than 10% of the population will become involved in the longer term.
Community participation
General participation in natural resource management includes activities such as volunteering to work on environmental projects, investing in ethical investments, adopting environmentally responsible habits, and choosing to purchase goods and services with smaller ecological footprints.
Environmental projects in or adjacent to urban areas of the ACT include water quality and riparian assessment, stream bank stabilisation, riparian ecosystem rehabilitation, surveys of flora and fauna, and tree planting. Rural land managers are actively involved in maintaining native grasslands and woodlands. Groups are also removing weeds; revegetating denuded areas; educating and raising awareness; restoring riparian areas and wetlands; surveying, monitoring and researching natural resource management issues; subcatchment planning; and providing advice to government.
A number of community groups collaborate and/or complement each other in conserving and restoring the natural resources of the ACT – the main community natural resource management groups are urban and rural Landcare, Park Care, Horse Paddock Carers and Waterwatch.
Addressing weeds, revegetation and water quality in urban, rural and bush environments
57 Landcare groups and 100 Waterwatch groups
Membership: more than 2500 people in total, ranging from smaller groups to one group of nearly 200 people
Representing all parts of the community: men and women, younger and older, including indigenous people and people from non-English–speaking backgrounds
Individual community groups are supported by umbrella catchment groups – the Ginninderra, Molonglo and Southern ACT catchment groups – who assist with funding, communication, promotion and logistical support. Greening Australia and Conservation Volunteers Australia provide valuable support by coordinating casual and regular volunteers, and providing technical and other support and advice.
Individual volunteers and landholders are also an important part of community-based natural resource management.
Diversifying the range of participation opportunities to reflect the current and future demographic profile of the ACT will promote greater participation. Opportunities also need to reflect the ACT’s diverse cultural identity.
This target aims to achieve higher levels of participation by increasing the range of opportunities available.
Doubling the current (5%) participation rate to 10% by 2030 means that at least 1100 more people need to become permanently involved every year. The rate is likely to grow faster at first as new opportunities pay off, then slow as the proportion reaches 10%. The calculation does not allow for people ageing or withdrawing. The target would be better expressed as person-days participation but no data are as yet available to support this.
Bushcare in the Bush Capital
BUSHCARE IN THE BUSH CAPITAL
Improving Canberra residents’ understanding of their local environment and how to care for it
Participants in Bushcare in the Bush Capital find out about how garden plants can escape into the bush thereby reducing its health and viability. They help conserve the bush at the edges of urban areas, and reduce weeds and grow native plants in their own backyards. New residents of Gungahlin also have the opportunity to learn about their nature parks. For example, creation of the Bush on the Boundary Reference Group in Gungahlin, brings together land developers, local community and catchment groups, scientists, and residents to work collaboratively in addressing the impact of suburban development on surrounding nature parks, reserves and public land, by targeting issues such as cat containment, urban wetlands, illegal dumping and weed control.
Australian Native Plant Society
Photos Micheal Schultz
Integration of planning frameworks
Natural resource management planning cannot exist in isolation from other land-use and related planning in the ACT and the local region. Planning in the region is administered by a range of ACT, NSW, Australian and local government agencies and other organisations. Planning by all agencies needs to be integrated so that conflicting overlaps are reduced and cooperation is ensured – a complex system that needs to match the complexity of the landscape itself.
Strategies and plans taken into account in formulating this plan include:
- the Canberra Plan, Territory Plan and National Capital Plan
- ACT Government natural resources strategies and management plans (including Measuring our progress: Canberra’s journey to sustainability, Think water, act water and Weathering the Change. The ACT Climate Change Strategy 2007 – 2025; strategies for conservation areas and endangered species and habitats; action plans and strategies for threatened species and communities; and guidelines for water-sensitive urban design and environmental flows)
- ACTEW strategies and plans (Future Water Options for the ACT Region - implementation plan, and Water Security for the ACT and Region: recommendations to ACT Government) and
- ACT and regional catchment management group strategies
and plans.
This target will achieve effective cooperation and collaboration between natural resource management and other planning interests. It aims to achieve a more consistent set of natural resource management objectives across all planning mechanisms in the ACT, and ensure that progress is reported regularly and rigorously. Progress towards this goal is likely to evolve gradually as it requires cooperation and new ways of thinking within and across governments.
Land targets
The land forms the interface between the Earth’s crust and its atmosphere. Its physical form – the landscape – includes rock, soil, vegetation, water and structures built by people. ACT landscapes consist of rugged timbered mountains in the south and west (uplands), and hill and plains country in the north and north-east. Approximately 60% of the territory is hilly or mountainous. The flatter northern plains and hill country contain most of the urban landscape.
- The uplands occur at altitudes of 800 m to 1912 m above sea level, lying mainly on erosion-resistant, ancient sedimentary rocks and granite. Flooding has deposited sediments in many of the river valleys.
- The rolling or undulating hills country generally lies between 600 m and 900 m above sea level, across moderately weathered rocks in the north-eastern part of the territory and along the eastern parts of the Murrumbidgee corridor in the south.
- The plains are in the north of the ACT at between 550 m and 650 m above sea level. They occur on readily weathered rocks and on stream sediment surrounding isolated hills and ridges of erosion-resistant rock such as Black Mountain and Mount Ainslie.
ACT soils are highly variable, with most being infertile. The main soil types are lithosols, gradational soils and duplex soils.
- Lithosoils are characterised by shallow stony profiles overlying rocky parent material in the south and west of the ACT. These soils are nutritionally poor and on steeper slopes are liable to erosion when native vegetation is removed or they are mechanically disturbed.
- Gradational soils have profiles that show a gradual increase in clay content with depth. They are common in the Cotter River catchment and in the north-east, and are the principal soil types under the limestone plains of old Canberra. These soils are deep and relatively fertile. Those on the north-east plain are relatively resistant to erosion. Gradational soils on
steeper slopes erode if the land is cleared. - Most of the ACT and its settled areas have duplex soils, characterised by a distinct change in particle size at a depth of 15–30 cm. The topsoil is light in colour, coarse textured and often sandy. It is fragile and, if cultivated or overgrazed, becomes hard setting and relatively impermeable so that rain runs off and can form erosion gullies. Subsoils tend to be reddish or yellow clays that may shrink and swell as water content changes, sometimes damaging infrastructure. These soils often contain sodium salts, so that they are dispersible if exposed. Much of the turbidity of Canberra’s lakes after heavy rain is caused by erosion of these soils.
Land capability and soil health
The physical attributes of the land (landform, geology and soils) determine its capability to accommodate various kinds of land uses that in turn impact on natural processes such as nutrient movement, plant growth, and surface and subsurface flow of water. The capability of land to support a given type and intensity of use without its ability to carry out these natural processes being damaged must be taken into account when developing planning and management strategies, assessing developments, and managing land in accordance with current best practice.
The land is a dynamic and rich biological system. Soils contain a living biomass of microbial populations including fungi and bacteria that play a critical role in cycling nutrients, establishing plants and forming soils, and in geochemical transformations. Decayed living material forms the organic matter that supports the microbial populations, stores and buffers nutrient concentrations, influences water storage, and is a major factor in determining overall soil structure and erodability.
In addition, the carbon stored in soil is becoming a key issue in mitigating climate change – soil holds more carbon as plant organic matter than plants and atmosphere combined. Even when it is burnt much of the soil’s carbon is still held as charcoal. Carbon is also retained in the fibrous root mass of grasslands. In future, land capability assessment will likely need to take account of stored carbon.
The impacts of dryland, irrigation and urban salinity are evident across many rural areas in Australia, including the major catchments surrounding the ACT that provide a watershed to the Murrumbidgee River. Although salinity is not currently considered a major problem within the ACT, this situation may change, particularly with continued urban development and the likely adoption of water re-cycling at both the centralised and decentralised scale. The Council will adopt a watching brief in relation to the need for a specific salinity target and re-evaluate the need for a target in five years’ time.
Land capability: identify land capability so that land use can be matched to capability; better understand the ‘cumulative impact’ of long periods of altered land use
Soil fertility: ensure that soils do not lose their fertility
Acid soils: identify areas of acid soils
Salinity: understand the risk of salinity and reduce recharge wherever possible by increasing perennial vegetation in potentially saline catchments; reduce the amount of salt entering rivers from sewage treatment
Erosion: maintain adequate ground cover to reduce erosion by either wind or water; ensure a minimum of erosion occurs on land being developed for urban or other infrastructure
Land use: ensure universal adoption of best practice
Climate change: identify opportunities for mitigating climate change by storing more carbon in the soil; modify land use practices in order to retain resilient landscapes as the impacts of climate change unfold.
Land use and land management in the ACT
Land-use practices pose the major threat to our soils. Longterm improvement in soil health will depend on matching land capability to land use through a systematic approach.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, land in the ACT supported a diversity of healthy, resilient natural landscapes. Over the past 200 years, it has been increasingly required to support activities – grazing, cropping, logging, forestry plantation and urban development – that have modified the land.
In the most modified areas, the cumulative impact of clearing, cultivation and urban development have induced a range of local and off-site impacts on soil health and landscape functioning, including:
- reduced permeability, structural stability, nutrient cycling and moisture, and carbon holding capacity
- increased soil erosion
- localised salinity and acidity problems and
- impairment of hydrological functioning.
Despite these impacts, with some exceptions, land uses in the ACT are not inherently inconsistent with land capability. Perhaps the single most significant exception has been the development of forestry plantations on lands with highly erodable soils and on slopes above 20 degrees (Environment ACT 2006c).
Urban land health
The city of Canberra now occupies only marginally less land than rural leases in the ACT. Current and projected population growth, and the already planned greenfield expansion, means that urban use will soon become the second most dominant land use after conservation reserves. Urban development (with all its associated infrastructure) is one of the most intensive forms of development that can be imposed on land and can dramatically alter natural ecological and hydrological functioning at a local, subcatchment and whole-of-catchment scale.
Best practice urban development and management aims to mimic natural ecological and hydrological processes so that the ecosystem services they provide are minimally disrupted. Best practice ensures that:
- strict controls over erosion during times when the land is most vulnerable (e.g. on building sites or after drought)
- vegetation cover on developed land is adequate, appropriate and resilient to large-scale natural events (e.g. fire or storms) and smaller-scale disruptions (e.g. prevention of driving on verges) and
- vegetation cover on buffer land (particularly at the urban boundary/interface) is preserved.
This target challenges the ACT to achieve and maintain a leading Australian standard for urban land health. Achieving this target depends on:
- developing better methods of measuring urban land health
- measuring current status and identifying priority areas for action and
- developing options for better urban land management and
supporting their uptake.
Rural land health
Approximately 20% of ACT land is used for rural production. While intensive agriculture and horticulture is undertaken in some areas, the dominant rural land use is grazing. Grazing enterprises face challenges at three levels:
- addressing the legacy of the past
- accommodating the likely future impacts of climate change and
- maintaining enterprise viability.
Significant progress has been and is being made by most landholders to improve soil health and landscape functioning. However, further improvement is needed to address the cumulative impacts of rural activity and improve catchment health.
Climate change is also likely to place increased pressure on leaseholders and land management authorities to ensure more widespread and consistent application of best practice as a buffer against more extreme weather events. However, climate change may also bring new opportunities. For example, rural land might be a focus for carbon sequestration activities such as:
- planting more trees
- restoring and extending native grasslands
- assimilating organic waste from urban areas and
- capturing environmental and economic benefits of increased soil carbon.
Healthy soils are a fundamental part of the landscape and the intention of the rural land health target is to increase the viability of sustainable land management in the ACT. The key indicators of soil health are soil pH, soil carbon and hydrological connectedness. Inadequate data means a quantitative baseline cannot yet be established for this target. The proposed actions include developing and applying the required measures of rural land health. Improvements in rural land health will be driven by education, incentives and regulation through land management agreements.
centre of Canberra.
Water targets
Urban development and land management practices within and upstream of the ACT have caused the health of rivers and streams in the ACT to decline. Water quality has been diminished by increased sediment and nutrient loads, decreased oxygen concentrations, higher water temperatures, reduced flow, and increased algal concentrations. Most natural riverbank vegetation and habitat has disappeared. In recent years, extended drought and severe bushfires have combined to place enormous pressure on water supplies – for urban use, and for the natural environment:
- drought has reduced ground cover vegetation, river flows, water quality and the amount of water released for environmental flows
- bushfires have severely reduced water quality (from sediment and ash washing from the fire-denuded landscapes), and altered run-off – although run-off increased immediately following the fires it will gradually decrease over the next 15 years as re-growing plants place a higher than pre-bushfire demand on water.
Water is a precious resource – it is needed for urban and rural use and for environmental uses. Downstream users also need to be considered when calculating how much water the city of Canberra should be permitted to abstract. Currently it uses 1.3% of total water taken from the Murrumbidgee River system.
In the last few years urban water use in the ACT has been reduced following voluntary and mandatory restrictions. However, in some areas new water sources, particularly groundwater, have been tapped. Groundwater extraction in some areas is exceeding the acceptable limit of 70% of sustainable yield (ACT Government 2003). Run-off from suburban development continues to degrade water quality in rivers and streams.
In order to ensure that water quality in waterways is maintained or improved, and that long-term supply to all users is reliable, water use efficiency needs to be increased, and an integrated regional approach to water management needs to be developed and implemented.
Use 12% less water per person to 2013 and increase use of treated water to 20%
Use 25% less water per person to 2023
Reduce level of nutrients and sediments in runoff to no more than for a well-managed rural landscape
Reduce intensity and volume of urban run-off to no more than pre-development size
Figure 5. Movement of water into, through and out of the ACT
Figure 5. Movement of water into, through and out of the ACT.
(File opens in new window)
Water agreements
Water in the ACT needs to be managed within international, national, state/territory and local agreements, strategies and plans including:
- ACT legislation, strategies and plans for management of water quality, ecologically sustainable development, and conservation of biodiversity (e.g. Think water, act water, the National Capital Plan, the Territory Plan, the Canberra Spatial Plan, the Environment Protection Act 1997 [ACT] and theWater Resources Act (2007) [ACT]).
- the Murray-Darling Basin Agreement and other agreed strategies of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council
- Water Act 2007 (Cwlth), establishing the Murray-Darling Basin Authority to develop the Basin Plan under Commonwealth overarching control
- participation in the Council of Australian Governments’ Water Reform Framework, National Water Quality Management Strategy and National Water Initiative; and the National Resources Management and the Environmental Protection and Heritage ministerial councils
- agreements with China, Japan and the Republic of Korea concerning bird migration
- protection of Ramsar-listed sites (e.g. Ginini Flats wetlands) and
- the United Nations agreements on climate change, biological diversity and forestry.
Water supply catchments
The ACT collects and stores water from rivers arising in the Brindabella mountain range to the west of Canberra and has paramount rights to water in the Molonglo and Queanbeyan rivers – giving it an interest in a number of catchments that straddle the ACT border. Its current water supply system should be adequate until 2017. Supply is augmented from some water that is treated
and distributed, and domestic greywater.
Rainfall in the region is variable and, to ensure water security for urban use, dams have been built to capture and store water as security against dry years (e.g. during 2006, flow into the ACT catchments was reduced by 85% and dam levels dropped as stored water was used). Following severe damage to the catchments in the 2003 bushfires and low inflows due to the continuing drought from 2001, the ACT Government has been re-examining its water security options. Security to 2023 will be achieved by:
- enabling transfer of water from the Murrumbidgee and from dams in the ACT into the Googong Reservoir in NSW
- enlargement of the Cotter Dam to 20 times its current capacity
- water from Tantangara Dam bought from irrigators and allowed to flow down the Murrumbidgee River into the ACT
- water efficiency measures and stormwater re-use projects and possibly
- use of a water purification plant.
Dam storage
| Cotter Dam (1912) | 4 GL |
| Bendora Dam (1961) | 11 GL |
| Corin Dam (1967) | 71 GL |
| Googong Dam (1979) | 121 GL |
Until 2003, supply catchments to the west of Canberra were fairly pristine needing little treatment before distribution. More extensive treatment of this water has been needed since the 2003 bushfires. Catchments to the east of Canberra flowing into the Googong Reservoir are mainly rural and water from this source also needs treatment so that it meets Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (NHMRC 2004). Land management practices in the Googong catchment are monitored.
The water supply catchments target will protect and rehabilitate catchments that are used for potable water supply. Recovery of the catchments following the 2003 bushfires and efforts to improve groundcover to reduce sediment run-off from erosion are continuing to ensure that relevant water quality standards are met. Wherever possible, use will be made of natural processes. This work will complement efforts to increase biodiversity in these catchments. Measurement of targets will use holistic systems to assess the condition of the entire catchment not just water quality.
Water use
Residents of Canberra use 174 to 192 kL of mains water per person per year. More than half this water is used in detached homes and nearly half of that (43% or approximately 23% of the total) is used outdoors, mostly on gardens. A small amount of greywater and tank water is also used. Some 29 000 ML of effluent is treated each year. ActewAGL also re-uses some greywater in their plant (~2000 ML/y).
Rural and some commercial properties use non-reticulated supplies of water – rainwater collected in tanks and dams, and groundwater from bores. The amount of rainwater collected in tanks and dams is not monitored or recorded. Bore water is extracted only under licence and is limited to not more than 10% of the recharge rate.
This target is taken from the ACT plan Think water, act water. It aims to increase per capita water use efficiency of the ACT. Overall increasing demand for water means that active involvement from all sectors of the community in innovative and educated approaches is required.
Water-sensitive urban design is a way to counter the massive changes (e.g. loss of clean water, altered run-off patterns and volumes, and polluted stormwater) that urban development imposes on the natural water cycle. It includes:
- using water-efficient techniques and technology (e.g. triple A-rated water devices, rainwater tanks and greywater recycling)
- managing stormwater quality and quantity through ponds and wetlands, filter strips, and maximising permeable surfaces and
- re-using waste water through larger-scale sewage treatment schemes and recycled domestic greywater.
All new developments and redevelopments in the ACT must adhere to water-sensitive urban design principles. Where feasible (economic, social and physical), retro-fitting of existing properties also follows these guidelines.
Surface water quality
This target will protect and enhance riverine ecosystems across the ACT. Urban and rural waterways and ponds potentially provide ecological services (e.g. habitat and water quality) to the surrounding land. Rural and urban development may lead to loss of health and capacity unless intervention based on sound ecological and planning principles is undertaken.
Run-off from urban areas is probably as much as 13 GL more today than under previously rural land use. It contains significantly more pollutants (hydrocarbons, pesticides, nitrogen, phosphorus, salt and bacteria) and soil from erosion from building and development sites. Most, but not all, city drainages employ some sort of filter system to remove some of the pollutants before the water reaches an open river.
This target measures outcomes using physical and chemical methods (e.g. turbidity, oxygen concentration, nitrate concentration), and by scoring according to the AUSRIVAS method of monitoring water quality. AUSRIVAS monitors aquatic macroinvertebrates as a more integrative method of assessing the impact of water quality and habitat condition. Sites are given scores of A (good) to D (severely impaired). In the ACT the average score over the last four years was about half way between a B and a C.
The target recognises that heavy rain often results in water quality standards being exceeded for a short time. The number of times the standard is exceeded should decrease as a result of improvements in catchment health.
Riverine ecosystems and wetlands
Riverine ecosystems range from uplands through rocky gorges to lowland floodplains. They are often quite different to neighbouring countryside with distinctive habitats, plants and animals.
Riparian zones provide connectivity for migrating birds, as well as habitat and recreational values.
Wetlands provide environmental (e.g. biodiversity, habitat and ecological functions), social and economic values. ACT wetlands are under threat and continued monitoring and maintenance is required.
Two ACT wetlands have a plan of management – Jerrabombera has one through its status as a nature reserve; Ginini has one through its Ramsar listing. Updated planning expectations for Ramsar sites require ‘ecological characteristics’ to be sought for all sites.
Several wetlands projects have been funded including for rehabilitation works and pig control.
Achievement of this target will ensure long-term protection of internationally and nationally designated wetlands and integrity of ACT riparian ecosystems.
The Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (EA 2001, third edition) lists 13 nationally important wetlands in the ACT (including Jerrabomberra). It includes one Ramsar site (Ginini and Cheyenne Flats). Only two are lowland wetlands, 10 are in Namadgi National Park.
The listing excludes the lakes – Burley-Griffin, Tuggeranong and Ginninderra – and associated ponds.
The ACT also has a large number of farm dams, many of which have considerable biodiversity value.
WORKING WATERWAYS
Creative ways of improving stream health with wetlands, native vegetation and improved management
Working waterways projects include control of riparian weeds and revegetation along the Molonglo, and a survey of vegetation and habitat in key riparian areas.
Photos Sarah Ryan
Environmental flows
Abstraction of supply water and run-off from disturbed surfaces (rural or urban) can place endangered and vulnerable aquatic species in and ecosystems of the ACT’s waterways at increased risk due to changed conditions.
Water quality and flow can be maintained by releasing ‘environmental flows’ downriver. Environmental flows often mimic the natural flow of rivers and streams. They generally consist of a base flow, smaller and larger floods, and special purpose flows (e.g. water released to maintain fish refuges during drought). They may comprise water released from dams or be a protected portion of the natural flow. Environmental flows are used for protecting aquatic habitats of plants (e.g. plants that require regular inundation on the floodplain) and animals (e.g. profiding flows for Macquarie perch breeding).
- In water supply catchments, emphasis is on ensuring a natural level of water is allowed to flow in the river and that this water has comparable temperature and chemical characteristics to a natural flow.
- In disturbed catchments (rural or urban), emphasis is on reducing pollutant levels (gross, fine and nutrient) and ensuring that streams do not suffer from excess of flood conditions. Design of urban impoundments in the ACT does not enable release of environmental flows and most are managed so that they are generally full with an equivalent amount of water to that entering being released downstream. Water released from the base of these pools is quite detrimental to the environment. Downstream flows are augmented by flows from urban tributaries.
More information is needed about the particular needs of some species and community education is required to help people understand the multitude of factors involved.
Achievement of this target will ensure that the environmental flows necessary to support water ecosystems are released. Existing environmental flow guidelines set objectives (with respect to macro-invertebrates, sediments and, in some cases, populations of endangered species) for rivers in the ACT depending on whether they are natural, modified or built by people.
Since introduction of managed environmental flows in the Cotter River, both Macquarie perch and the two-spined blackfish have successfully spawned.
All rivers, streams and created ecosystems
- To maintain healthy ecosystems, prevent degradation of habitat and loss of macrophytes
Corin Dam to Bendora Reservoir
- To maintain populations of the two-spined blackfish; and population numbers and distribution of the Cotter River frog
Bendora to Cotter Reservoir
- To maintain populations of Macquarie perch and the two-spined blackfish
Below Cotter Reservoir
- To maintain populations of Macquarie perch
Groundwater
Groundwater is an integral part of the water cycle and is linked directly with surface water. In the ACT, groundwater typically flows through fractured rock aquifers – currently thought to be relatively shallow and tending to mirror the topography of the catchments above them. Groundwater flows in a direction towards valley low points, with the water discharging into a stream. Aquifers represent an efficient water storage option because they do not lose water by evaporation as dams do.
Groundwater is used when bores are sunk. It can also be contaminated as pollution seeps into the soil and flows into the aquifers. Ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater need to be identified and managed.
Overuse of groundwater affects stream base flows. The time lag between pumping and detection of any effect presents a considerable risk for management and is the reason for ACT cautionary extraction limits and expanded groundwater monitoring.
The ACT groundwater monitoring program is a risk-based approach where aquifers with the most demand for abstraction and therefore at risk are afforded proportionally more resources for measuring and monitoring – aquifers in national parkland where no abstraction is occurring require minimal information to manage risk; aquifers in urban areas with higher use along with other changes to the catchment such as increased impervious surfaces require more information. More monitoring bores are located in aquifers in urban areas and a wide range of methods are used to determine sustainable yield.
biodiversity, recreation and aesthetic benefits.
Biodiversity targets
Nature reserves protect more than half (54%) the ACT’s water and natural areas from agricultural and urban development. Most of the land area in these reserves is contained within the Namadgi and Cotter areas and although both are in generally good condition and not threatened, their biodiversity is gradually being lost (e.g. the Corroboree frog found in the Ginini wetlands is now an endangered species). Both areas were devastated in the 2003 bushfires, but much of this land is now regenerating and it is thought that most will return to its former state. The future for the Canberra Nature Park and lowland areas earmarked for urban development is less certain.
SEEDS FOR SURVIVAL
Collecting, growing, storing and managing native seed for local biodiversity conservation
Locally grown and sourced plants are more likely to survive the Canberra conditions. Seeds for survival collects and stores local native seed to improve viability of seedlings grown to plant in degraded areas. It is setting up a world class native seed bank to support the rehabilitation of our endangered vegetation communities and to provide a commercial market for locally collected native seed.
Photos Micheal Schultz
Communities and habitat
Healthy functioning ecosystems are a fundamental element of healthy functioning landscapes. They are valuable in themselves and provide ecosystem services such as air and water quality; carbon sequestration; and habitat, amenity and cultural values. Biodiversity is an important part of ecosystem functioning and any further losses are unacceptable for future generations.
A major threat to lowland grassland and woodland communities is from the continued spread of urban development, particularly for housing. This threat is exacerbated by the strong economic position of the ACT as people continue to prefer large houses on separate blocks of land either in the ACT or in neighbouring NSW.
Demand for housing is also being driven by a growing population and a declining number of people per household so that the rate that new households are formed is increasing. From a perspective of controlling the consumption of raw land, housing demand must take denser forms and include more redevelopment of existing housing.
Weeds are also of concern to both biodiversity and agricultural values particularly following the 2000 to 2006 drought and 2003 bushfires. Weeds such as Pattersons curse, capeweed and nodding thistle have become established on the newly bare ground that has followed loss of introduced pasture and native plants through fire and drought. Other weeds (e.g. Chilean needle grass [Nasella neesiana] and African love grass [Eragrostis curvula]) are also spreading in any places where the land has been disturbed particularly along fire trails, utility easements and adjacent to urban areas. Other weeds include willow, broom and some water weeds.
Pests such as oriental weatherloach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) and European wasp (Vespula germanica) are increasing their hold in urban and other areas, although recent data compiled by Canberra Ornithologists Group indicate that the common myna (Acridotheres tristis) may be decreasing in abundance in the urban areas of Canberra (Canberra Ornithologists Group 2008). Feral horses have migrated from the Snowy Mountains into the ACT following the bushfires and removal of dense vegetation.
Natural values along with urban areas need to be protected from bushfires. Key areas for protection have been identified and appropriate management for biodiversity outcomes is being
implemented.
Recent positive moves to limit threats to biodiversity have included:
- reducing (but not eliminating) land development in relatively undisturbed woodlands and grassland areas by increasing the rate of urban infill in areas that are already degraded, redeveloping burnt pine plantations and moving to a smaller block size in new developments
- changing the location of Gungahlin town centre to reduce threats to habitats of threatened species
- developing land management agreements that enable farmers and biodiversity specialists to work together in rural areas and
- increasing the area protected by nature reserves.
Endangered species and communities
In the ACT, two ecological communities, and 17 plant and animal species are endangered; a further 14 species are vulnerable. The number of endangered and vulnerable species is increasing.
- Yellow Box-Redgum Grassy Woodland is habitat for eight threatened species and other woodland species that are described as declining.
- Natural temperate grasslands are under considerable threat as are a number of threatened and declining species that live in the grasslands.
- Woodland birds and native fish are both in decline.
- Five native fish are threatened or endangered particularly from reduced flows and quality of water in rivers from regulation of flows, degradation of habitat, lower water quality, barriers to fish migration, presence of alien species, pressure from recreational fishers, outbreak of disease and loss of genetic integrity, as well as drought (MDBC 2004).
White Box-Yellow Box-Blakely’s Red Gum Grassy Woodland and derived native grassland was declared a critically endangered ecological community under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cwlth) on 17 May 2006.
Only 2345 ha of the associated community Yellow Box-Red Gum Grassy Woodland (or 9.3% of the total remaining in the ACT and surrounding region from commencement of European settlement) are protected in nature reserves. Some are also protected on rural leases. Although the ACT meets the Regional Forests Assessment target of 15% of its original extent within its own borders, the total for the region is only 8.5%. Future signifi cant impacts will need to be referred to the Australian Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
Preservation of individual trees does not protect the ecological community since the understorey is lost. Preservation next door to suburbs with no protection from pets such as cats and dogs is also unlikely to be particularly successful.
The ability of native species to be maintained in a landscape depends on the quality, quantity and connectivity of its preferred habitat. Achievement of this target will ensure conservation of endangered species and communities through successful implementation of recovery plans, strategies and action plans, and mitigation of key threatening processes.
The target relates to the 2008 baseline of 17 endangered species, 14 vulnerable species and two endangered communities in the ACT. Progress over the long term would see species and communities gradually becoming more secure and being removed from the list. If species (or communities) are allocated three points for extinct, two for endangered and one for vulnerable, the 2008 ‘conservation listing’ score for the ACT is 50. The target is to reduce this to 40 by 2030.
A species or ecological community is threatened if it is likely to become extinct in the foreseeable future. The Nature Conservation Act 1980 (ACT) establishes a formal process for the identification and protection of threatened species and ecological communities. The following species and ecological communities have been declared under the Nature Conservation Act. Some species are also declared under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999(Cwlth).
Endangered communities (listed by the ACT)
Natural temperate grassland, Yellow Box- Red Gum Grassy Woodland
Endangered species
Gentiana baeuerlenii (subalpine herb), Prasophyllum petilum (leek orchid), Rutidosis leptorrynchoides (button wrinklewort), Swainsona recta (small purple pea), Synemon plana (golden sun moth), Tympanocryptis pinguicolla (grassland earless dragon), Macquaria australasica (Macquarie perch), Maccullochella macquariensis (trout cod), Petrogale penicillata (brush-tailed rock-wallaby), Xanthomyza phrygia (regent honeyeater), Pseudomys fumeus(smoky mouse), Muehlenbeckia tuggeranong (Tuggeranong lignum), Lepidium ginninderrense (Ginninderra peppercress), Bidyanus bidyanus (silver perch), Pseudophryne pengilleyi (northern corroboree frog), Arachnorchis actensis (Canberra spider orchid), Corunastylis ectopa (Brindabella midge orchid)
Vulnerable species
Delma impar (striped legless lizard), Gadopsis bispinosus (two-spined blackfish), Euastacus armatus (Murray River crayfish), Perunga ochracea (Perunga grasshopper), Melanodryas cucullata (hooded robin), Lathamus discolor
(swift parrot), Polytelis swainsonii (superb parrot), Climacteris picumnus (brown treecreeper), Grantiella picta (painted honeyeater), Dasyurus maculatus (spotted-tailed quoll), Daphoenositta chrysoptera (varied sitella), Lalage sueurii (whitewinged triller), Hieraaetus morphnoides (little eagle), Aprasia parapulchella (pink-tailed worm lizard)
Natural challenges
NATURAL CHALLENGES
Meeting distinctive challenges to the recovery of threatened and endangered species and ecological communities
Natural challenges projects are addressing nature conservation issues and threats from pest plants and animals by:
- rehabilitating subalpine peat bogs
- monitoring urban bushfire interfaces
- improving feral pig management in conservation areas
- improving kangaroo management in lowland grasslands and woodlands
- delivering environmental flows to large biota
- measuring and monitoring urban ecological function
- breeding and releasing corroboree frogs and
- monitoring and researching ACT frogs and Macquarie perch.
Photo Sarah Ryan
Photo Environment ACT
Urban biodiversity
Canberra residents appreciate open space and easy access to reserves for relaxation and exercise. The green places in the urban area (between suburbs, along drainage lines, beside road corridors, across the hills) provide a rich and diverse urban ‘nature reserve’ of open woodland and grasslands in which a key element is interconnectedness. They are a valued ecological resource that include refuge for some endangered species and communities, as well as contributing to the community’s wellbeing and sense of place. The urban lakes (Burley Griffin, Tuggeranong and Ginninderra) also provide habitat for aquatic species and hold good populations of golden perch and Murray Cod as well as alien species.
This constructed landscape requires continued management and rejuvenation. It is managed under various management plans (e.g. the Canberra Nature Park Management Plan). The Tree Protection Act 2005 (ACT) is intended to protect exceptional trees (valued for heritage, landscape or scientific importance) and to provide protection for the urban forest where it is most needed.
Defining and setting a measurable target for urban biodiversity depends on more foundational work. It is likely to be a type of urban habitat-hectare measure that combines biodiversity area,
value and condition.
GETTING EQUIPPED
Supporting critical community networks who are delivering natural resource management programs
Getting equipped provides support for organisations involved in managing natural resources in the ACT (e.g. catchment groups, Park Care, Waterwatch, urban and rural Landcare).
Parks and Places, community catchment groups, ActewAGL
Implementation strategy
The Council sees the plan as a blueprint for investment in natural resource management by a range of investors including: government, business, not-for-profit organisations, community organisations and individuals. All have a part to play in achieving the targets laid out in this plan. The ACT and Australian governments are major investors as are organisations such as ACTEW Corporation, ActewAGL and the National Capital Authority. Although there is no legal requirement for the ACT Government to implement this plan either in part or whole, the ACT NRM Council will continue to engage with the Minister and the Commissioner for Sustainability to increase take-up of this plan in statutory documents relating to natural resources in the ACT.
The Council will develop an investment strategy for implementing this plan over the next five years. This strategy will reflect the part played by all investors.
Government investment in the plan is through ongoing programs and specific initiatives, such as the recently announced Caring for our Country program. This Australian Government program will be delivered in the ACT in partnership with the ACT Government and the ACT NRM Council through a series of integrated programs that build on the existing Living Environment programs.
Caring for our Country and this plan will both address national priorities. With this in mind, The ACT and Australian governments, with advice from the ACT NRM Council, have agreed on the 2008/09 investments through Caring for our Country. Beyond 2008/09, Caring for our Country investment will depend on an annual business plan and bilateral agreements between the ACT and Australian governments.
Caring for our Country also provides the opportunity for collaborative partnerships that access a contestable funding component. This will allow the leveraging of investment from a variety of sources with multiple benefits.
Other strategies being developed to assist effective implementation of the plan are the:
- Communications Strategy
- Capacity Building Strategy and
- Knowledge management strategy
- Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Strategy.
Monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement
The implementation of the ACT natural resource management plan needs to be tracked through regular and consistent monitoring, evaluation, reporting and implementation (MERI) and regular reflection leading to improvements. MERI needs to occur in relation to the plan and the Investment Strategy. Resource condition monitoring and reporting also needs to occur at regular intervals.
The ACT has a wealth of data on the condition of the natural resources of the ACT. It is brought together and analysed on a regular basis for the ACT State of the Environment Report prepared by the ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment. It is proposed that the State of the Environment Report, prepared once in the life of each Legislative Assembly provide periodic resource condition reporting to inform progress in addressing changes in resource condition. Specific asset-related monitoring and reporting activities also occur periodically to inform progress against targets in addition to territory-wide reporting through the State of the Environment Report.
Funding stakeholders such as the Australian and ACT governments require their investments to be tracked and evaluated, and to receive reports on progress.
The Australian Government has prepared a draft national MERI framework and strategy that will seek endorsement from states and territories as the basis for the development of specific MERI strategies in each state and territory. It sets out the broad evaluation framework for natural resource management programs funded by Caring for Our Country and updates earlier approaches endorsed by the Australian Government, states and territories. This new framework will underpin future monitoring, evaluation, reporting and improvement. The framework incorporates five
important concepts:
- explicit links between planning processes, evaluation and adaptive management
- inclusion of community as an asset in addition to the biophysical assets – land, biodiversity and water
- reporting with an emphasis on outcomes
- participatory evaluation techniques and
- monitoring of program performance as well as the state and trend in the condition of assets.
This is against a minimum set of matters for target as reflected in this plan.
The Australian and ACT governments, in consultation with the Council, will be developing operational plans to implement the new framework.
Good natural resource management outcomes can only be achieved through adaptive management (i.e. planning, acting, reviewing, replanning and adapting and then acting again) but with the benefit of the previous experience and new knowledge. This builds collective knowledge about how to address local natural resource management issues and as long as this knowledge is shared, the capacity of the ACT community to act more effectively is enhanced.
The ACT natural resource management plan will be reviewed every five years to accommodate the evidence collected for state of environment and other reports and the outcomes achieved through the investments over the period. In addition, an annual review of investments will be undertaken to ensure that they are on track to achieve their identified outcomes.
Knowledge building strategy
Science needs to underpin all target setting and assessment of progress. With its key partners and stakeholders, the Council will develop a knowledge strategy that addresses the systematic management of data and its application to targets.
Keeping track
KEEPING TRACK
Monitoring and reporting on natural resource management activities to guide future investment
The Sustainability Policy and Programs group of Department of Territory and Municipal Services is monitoring and reporting on natural resource management activities and their success – essential in determining the course of future work and funding possibilities.
and Municipal Services
Photo Urban Services