Yarra Catchment Snapshot 1. Overview of catchment 2. Highlights of the catchment – natural

values 3. Good wins (programs/projects) 4. Key Issues

Tuesday 10 October 2017

Overview of Catchment

Yarra Catchment ~ 4000 km2

Headwaters of the Yarra in the Yarra Ranges National Park

Flows ~250km via Melbourne into Port Phillip

Major waterways include: Merri Creek Darebin Creek Plenty River Diamond Creek Watsons Creek Watts River Woori Yallock Creek Brushy Creek Mullum Mullum Creek Olinda Creek Pauls Creek Steels Creek Stringybark Creek Gardiners Creek Koonung Creek

Port Phillip

Melbourne Warburton

Healesville

Yarra Glen

Whittlesea

Warrandyte

Craigieburn

Monbulk

River Health Monitoring

Early Yarra

• Robert Hoddle ‘Surveyor in Charge’, surveys of River in 1830s-40s: ‘ Water is excellent in the River Yarra Yarra… (and as far up as the Plenty)… the Yarra continues a fine full stream of clear water in places bubbling over ledges of rock, at others forming fine deep reaches… it is perhaps the finest river I have seen in New South Wales…. The Yarra abounds in fine fish and the water is of very good quality.’

• Garryowen (Chronicles of Early Melbourne) Banks of Yarra to Maribyrnong confluence as ‘ low marshy flats, densely garbed with teatree, reeds, sedge and scrub. Large trees, like lines of foliaged sentinels, guarded both sides and their branches protruded so far riverwise as to more than half shadow the stream’.

River Health Monitoring

Historical Impacts

Extensive modification of the Yarra catchment and its waterways

– Vegetation clearing – Floodplain drainage – Channel realignment/widening/ piping

e.g. 1880-90s Coode Channel 1880s Draining West Melb Swamp Docklands (2nd largest in world) Queens Bridge rock falls removed Realignment adjacent to Botanic Gardens

– De-snagging (24,000 1924-30) – Water extraction/catchment protection – Urban/Industrial development – Billabongs/wetlands as tip sites

Gardiners Creek 1985

River Health Monitoring

Historical Impacts

• Picturesque Atlas of Australasia, during 1880s ‘Nothing can be more…. repulsive, than the approach to Melbourne by the river Yarra… polluted with the drainage and sewage of the city

and of half a dozen suburbs, [it] is as offensive to the eye as to the sense of smell.. Aggravated by the fumes of various noxious industries that have been established on the banks’.

• Otto (1840s) ‘…there where thousands of tonnes of blood and guts were dumped annually to float, putrefying, in the river along with dead cattle and the outpourings of live ones. There were slaughterhouses or abattoirs, along with every conceivable sidebar business, up to Dight’s Falls’. Water taken from the Pumps on the lower Yarra at one point was described as ‘having the consistency of very weak gelatine.’ ‘in a town of hundreds of thousands of people with no sewerage system or stormwater drainage, just open gutters that ran like tiny creeks of

nightmare, picking up dunny overflows including infected matter; dirtied kitchen, laundry and bath water; guts dropped out of backyard-slaughtered sheep; tonnes of horse dung and tonnes of silt from the unmade roads of Melbourne.. All of it went swirling and blobbing into the river’.

• 1970s Prince Charles was reported as refering to the lower Yarra ‘… one of the dirtiest streams I have ever seen.’

River Health Monitoring

Historical Improvements

1890s Melbourne’s residents gradually sewered

1970s Environment Protection Act 1980s minor wastewater treatment plants established to replace septics

Mostly diverted to major treatment plants, but some remain e.g. Olinda and Brushy Creeks. 1990s management of waterways for ecological health

Forested Areas ~21%

Agriculture ~57%

Urban ~ 22%

Catchment – Environmental Values

Environmental Values: • Birds • Fish • Frogs • Macroinvertebrates (water

bugs) • Platypus • Vegetation

Environmental conditions

Environmental values

Aquatic macroinvertebrates

Photos by John Gooderham and Edward Tsyrlin

Environmental Values – Macroinvertebrates

Based on aquatic macroinvertebrate community surveys since 1990s and modelled predictions (‘LuMAR’ score)

Stream health highest along main stem and in the middle and upper catchments

Threats:

- Urban stormwater primary impact on invertebrate communities (water quality and flow)

- Loss of instream and riparian habitat (vegetation, physical form)

- Agricultural and industrial pollution

- Loss of stream flows – extraction, climate change

Environmental Values – Fish

• Mainstem of the Yarra very important

• 14 indigenous freshwater species, including nationally significant Australian grayling, Australian mudfish

• Several estuarine species e.g black bream, yellow eye mullet, mulloway

• Introduced native fish e.g. nationally significant Macquarie perch, Murray cod

• 10 exotic species e.g. brown trout, carp, redfin, goldfish, mosquitofish, roach

• Freshwater crayfish

Photos by Tarmo Raadik

Native Fish

Photo by Neil Armstrong

Photo by John McGuckin Photo by John McGuckin

Environmental Values – Fish

Threats to fish species include: • habitat loss/degradation (instream and floodplain) • several large barriers to movement in the catchment • urban stormwater • Agricultural/industrial pollution • pest fish • changes in natural stream flows

Photo by Tarmo Raadik

Environmental Values – Frogs

Fifteen species of frog are expected to occur in the Yarra catchment

Frog condition scores range from ‘High’ to ‘Low’

<40 frog records for many areas over past 5 years = no frog condition rating

Threatened Frogs

Photos by Peter Robertson

Growling grass frog Nationally listed (Vulnerable)

Southern toadlet State advisory listed (Vulnerable)

The nationally listed Growling Grass Frog still occurs in some sub-catchments, mostly north-western tributaries e.g. Merri and Darebin Creeks

Other threatened species:

Bibron’s Toadlet (Endangered in Victoria) Southern Toadlet (Vulnerable in Victoria)

Our last records of these species were in 2010 and 2014 respectively

Common Spadefoot Toad also not recorded in our region in last 5 years

Common Frogs

Banjo/Pobblebonk frog Spotted marsh frog

Striped marsh frog Southern brown tree frog

Common froglet

Photos by Peter Robertson

Catchment - Environmental Values – Platypus

• Upper catchment and mainstem of Yarra important for platypus, but occur in many areas

• Declines evident in many populations across the region, thought to be largely drought related

• Some recovery since, but apparent losses in fragmented populations e.g. upper Plenty River

Catchment - Environmental Values – Platypus

Threats include:

- urban stormwater (litter, loss of food)

- loss of riparian vegetation

- loss of instream habitat, low flow refuges

- Fragmentation/inbreeding

- Changes in stream flows

Lower Diamond

Lower Plenty Plenty Gorge

Olinda Creek Mullum Mullum Warburton

Environmental Values – Birds

Important bird habitats, including Yarra estuary, billabongs, extensive streamside vegetation and forested headwaters.

Sub-catchments score from ‘Very High’ to ‘Low’ for riparian birds.

Insufficient data to calculate a riparian bird community metric for half of the areas.

Developing a condition score for wetland birds

Environmental Values – Riparian & wetland birds

Australasian Bittern (John Barkla, Birdlife Australia)

Blue-billed Duck (John Barkla, Birdlife Australia) Chestnut Teal

(John Barkla, Birdlife Australia)

Lathams’ Snipe (Geoff Gates)

252 bird species have been recorded in the catchment.

The ‘expected’ list of streamside birds is larger than for any other catchment with 153 species, ranging from Little Grassbird and White-browed Scrubwren to the iconic Laughing Kookaburra, Superb Lyrebird and White-bellied Sea-Eagle.

Species listed as nationally threatened include Swift Parrot and Australasian Bittern and Helmeted Honeyeater

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Barking Owl

Environmental Values – Vegetation

• Largest and most intact area of vegetation are forested headwaters e.g. Yarra Ranges NP

• Support many rare and threatened plant species (e.g. Jungle bristle fern, tall Astelia, tree geebung) and old growth mountain ash (e.g. O’Shannassy)

• Extensive land clearing has resulted in riparian vegetation being in very low to moderate condition in many areas

• Pest plants and animals an ongoing threat e.g. blackberry, willows, red cestrum (Watts River), sambar deer

• Extensive riparian revegetation effort by many groups and organisations has led to substantial improvements

Map under preparation

Environmental Values – Vegetation

Some notable high value vegetation areas include:

Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve: contains Cockatoo Creek swamp and sedge rich Eucalyptus camphora vegetation community (FFG listed), also supports threatened Leadbeaters Possum and Helmeted honeyeater

Yering Backswamp (Christmas Hills): supports a diverse mix of species including Giant Rush, Australian Basket-grass rare in the Yarra catchment.

Bolin Bolin Billabong (Bulleen): important culturally and also supports pre-European arrival remnant red gums

Yarra Bend Park: good example of floodplain riparian woodland vegetation community close to the city.

Yering Gorge and surrounds: home to a range of vegetation types including drier grassy woodlands, box-ironbark forest, and native orchids. Also a critical biolink along Watsons creek towards Kinglake NP.

Warrandyte State Park and surrounds: riparian vegetation in excellent condition

Spadonis Nature Conservation Reserve (Yering): population of the rare Buxton Gum

Wilsons Reserve (Ivanhoe): another good example of floodplain riparian woodland, including habitat for rare species such as powerful owl.

Cultural Heritage

• More than 3,000 Aboriginal sites are recorded in the Yarra catchment

• Many near wetlands, river and creek corridors e.g. Bolin Bolin

• Coranderrk, one of Victoria’s most culturally and historically significant sites

• Need to better understand how we incorporate cultural heritage into waterway management

Bolin Bolin Fish Survey, Sept 2017

Catchment– Social Values

Social Values • Amenity

Expanded in new strategy • Recreation • Community Connection

Social Values: Amenity, Connection and Recreation

GOOD WINS - Projects/case studies 1. Overview of catchment 2. Highlights of the catchment – natural

values 3. Good wins (programs/projects) 4. Key Issues

Overview of Catchment – Targets in the Current Strategy

Works Target

Achieved Total

Km vegetation established 267 296 111%

Km of vegetation managed 4131 3435 83% Km of stock exclusion fencing constructed 125 61 49%

Number of fish barriers removed 2 0 0% Ha of aquatic habitat improved 100 11 11%

Working through our partnerships with councils and maintenance of our waterways to achieve stormwater targets, through:

- Litter/debris removal

- Sediment removal

- Workshops with Council

- Living Rivers funding

Good Wins: Grants Programs and Capital Projects

Programs in Yarra catchment include: • Rural Land Program • Community Grants • Stream Frontage Management Program • Corridors of green funding • Living Rivers Program • Melbourne Water Capital Works Projects

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Swipers Gully Research

33

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Coulstock Gully Bundoora

34

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Yarra River Warrandyte

35

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Diamond Creek Eltham

36

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Thomas Avenue Warburton

37

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Watts River Cestrum Control

38

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Diversions Automated Meter Reading

39

Issues, opportunities and projects in the catchment Yellingbo Conservation Area

40

Environmental flows

Entitlement

• 17GL provided 1st July each year held in the Yarra Headworks system

• Passing flow requirements at various locations along the river

• Carryover ability

17 events and 25,000 billion litres (or 25 GL) of water delivered since 1 July 2013

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