2018-07-10 P&E Agenda Attachment 1 to Item 8 - Draft Noosa River Plan

The most affected vegetation groups in these areas are anticipated to be mangrove and saltmarshes,
followed by paperbark woodlands. In addition, rainforests, wetlands and heath communities would be
significantly susceptible to saline incursion and storm tide inundation – refer Table 4 below.


      Broad Vegetation Groups (BVGs)                  Area at risk from sea level rise             % of total area of this
                                                                     (ha)                            vegetation type
               Rainforest/scrubs                                       8                                    0%
                  Wet Eucalypt                                        37                                    0%
              Eucalypt woodland                                      498                                    4%
      Eucalypt woodland on floodplains                                36                                    4%
             Paperbark woodlands                                    2,973                                   41%
   Heaths and other coastal communities                              580                                    10%




                                                                 T
                    Wetlands                                          42                                    18%




                                                               F
          Mangroves and Saltmarsh                                    418                                    98%
                      TOTAL                                         4,592




                                                             A
Table 4. Vegetation vulnerability to sea level rise (Noosa Biodiversity Assessment Report, 2017)




              R
Low risk climate change adaption in catchment management
It is Council’s intention to adopt an ecosystem-based approach in preparing the Noosa River catchment for




            D
the impacts of climate change.
Important findings by Lukasiewicz, Finalyson and Pittock, 2013 recognised many existing catchment
management activities represent an ecosystem-based approach to climate change adaptation but are usually
undertaken in response to existing pressures with their climate change adaptation potential not considered.
Six (6) catchment management actions were identified as the lowest risks and highest benefits under a
variety of climate change scenarios. These include:
    • Restoration of riparian vegetation.
    • Management of weed and pest species.
    • Freshwater habitat connectivity.
    • Conservation of more resilient habitats.
    • Conservation of gaining reaches.
    • Geomorphic restoration (Lukasiewicz et al, 2013).
Resilient habitats refer to the capacity of an ecosystem to
respond to a disturbance by resisting damage and recovering
quickly without changing or losing function or services. A
‘gaining stream’ is where groundwater flows into a river
channel from a local aquifer and increases water volume farther downstream. ‘Geomorphic restoration’
relates to restoring the processes which form landscapes (Lukasiewicz et al, 2013).
Other low-risk, high-benefit adaptation options for consideration include water management throughout the
catchment. These include scenarios that intervene in the water or flow regime of a wetland or river such as
farm dam management, groundwater water extractions and waste water treatment (Lukasiewicz et al, 2013).
This is an important focus for the Noosa River Wetlands and Lake Weyba, which constitutes a groundwater-
fed connected system.
All these approaches demonstrate best practice and aim to maximise and optimise the river catchment’s
natural values and ecosystems services (Lukasiewicz et al, 2013).

Page 48 l Noosa River Plan