2019-06-11 P&E Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 1 - Environment Strategy

     Strategy 2.1: Maintain and improve the health of waterways, wetlands
     		            and catchments
     Target                                                        Community groups such as the Mary River Catchment
                                                                   Coordinating Committee (MRCCC) play a key role in
     By 2030, the Noosa River and Mary River sub-                  engaging with and advocating for improvements to farm
     catchments within Noosa Shire achieve an A rating (or         practices, riparian restoration and erosion, and sediment
     equivalent) for their environmental health.                   control projects.

     Mary River Catchment                                          Noosa River Catchment
     The Mary River Catchment is a large water catchment           With its headwaters in the Cooloola Section of the Great
     stretching from Maleny to Hervey Bay, draining through        Sandy National Park, the Noosa River is south-east
     the Great Sandy Strait, a Ramsar listed wetland and           Queensland’s healthiest river system. This shallow
     into the southern Great Barrier Reef. The upper part of       water body includes Lake Como, Lake Cooloola, Lake
     the Mary River catchment in the south-west of the shire       Cootharaba, Lake Cooroibah, Lake Doonella and
     includes Six Mile, Skyring, Blackfellow, Happy Jack and       Lake Weyba. Noosa River aquatic ecosystems include
     Middle Creeks. The Mary River catchment also supplies         intertidal mangrove and saltmarsh communities, seagrass
     a significant amount of drinking water to Noosa Shire,        beds, mudflats, sandy benthic substrates, creeks, river
     draining through the catchment to the Lake Macdonald          beaches, and artificial rock revetments and structures in
     water reservoir.                                              the lower Noosa River catchment.

     Land use within this sub-catchment influences the             The diversity of marine ecosystems provides habitat for
     ecological health of the Mary River and the conservation      marine animals and plants. Many species of migratory
     of threatened species such as the Mary River Turtle           birds roost and feed on sand and mud flats in the lower
     (Elusor macrurus), Mary River Cod (Maccullochella             Noosa estuary during spring and summer. The Vulnerable
     mariensis) and the Australian Lungfish (Neoceratodus          Water Mouse (Xeromys myoides) has been recorded
     forsteri).                                                    in the Noosa River catchment and lives in saltmarsh,
                                                                   mangroves and adjacent freshwater wetland habitat.
     Much of the catchment is highly modified for agricultural
     and urban uses. Remaining remnant vegetation and              The Noosa River is consistently awarded an A rating,
     riparian corridors along waterways help maintain water        under the Healthy Land and Water monitoring program,
     quality and provide habitat for a diversity of mammals,       based on environmental condition, as well as social and
     birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects.                      economic benefit.

     Like other river systems, the upper Mary sub-catchments       Whilst the condition of the Noosa River is very good,
     suffer from erosion of riverbanks and sediment                it is still not immune from a range of potential threats.
     mobilisation, reduced water quality, fragmentation of         Recent research has shown a concerning decline in
     riparian buffers and faunal corridors, and impacts from       benthic invertebrates in the lower Noosa River over the
     stock and other agricultural practices. There is an           past 20 years. As these species are an integral part of
     opportunity to restore riparian corridors along creek lines   the food chain, these declines are very concerning, and
     and improve land use management practices through             the causes and long-term impact of this decline is still
     collaborative working relationships with landholders.         unknown.

     The Mary River Catchment Strategy was developed
     in 1996 to ensure the sustainable use of land, water
     and vegetation resources. The strategy continues to
     be an important guiding document for land and water
     management for the catchment.


22