Waterways:managing your banks

Managing stock in riparian areas is important Did you know that excluding or restricting stock from your waterways, and the surrounding riparian land, is one of the quickest and easiest ways of improving waterway health?

Did you also know that healthy waterways and healthy riparian land can lead to healthier stock, healthier farms and a healthier bottom line?

And did you know that financial incentives and practical assistance are available to farmers to help them exclude or restrict stock from their waterways and riparian land?

Reasons for excluding stock There are five good reasons why stock should be excluded from your waterways and riparian land.

Reason 1: Stock eat and trample vegetation that binds river banks causing instability and erosion.

Reason 2: Stock trampling can also destroy soil structure, preventing growth and regeneration of desirable species.

Reason 3: Stock wear paths to the waters edge causing gully erosion.

Reason 4: Stock stir up the water which increases downstream sedimentation and pollution. This leads to a decline in native aquatic habitats.

Reason 5: Stock effluent pollutes fresh water which leads to the proliferation of disease organisms and algae.

Benefits from restritcting stock access When you exclude stock from your waterways and riparian land there are multiple benefits, which include:

Improved water quality Decreased erosion and improved

rainfall efficiency

Reduction of stock losses

Improved stock manageability

Reduction of sedimentation, water and nutrient runoff

Reduction in salinity and water-logging

Benefits of biodiversity

Improvement in land value

Factsheet 5

Methods for managing your banks It is often not necessary to permanently exclude domestic stock from riparian lands, but it is important to control their movement and to manage grazing pressure. This takes a bit of planning and effort, but many landholders are discovering that in the long-run significant payoffs can be gained through increased production, improved water quality, stable streambanks and healthy riparian vegetation.

In areas where restoration of native vegetation is needed to overcome problems created by uncontrolled stock access on riparian land, removing or controlling stock access during the period of restoration is the first and most important step in management.

In managing stock grazing on riparian lands, the aim is to maintain continuous groundcover, with enough vegetation to protect the soil surface from heavy rain and to provide a buffering capacity where this is required. In general, timing, intensity and duration of grazing all need to be considered.

River Restoration at Richmond Rohan and Kate Pearse from Richmond, near Moree, have been managing their riverbanks to control and reduce erosion using native vegetation for ten years

History of the problem Riverbank erosion became a severe problem in sections of the river along Richmond. Erosion resulted from changes in river heights after the Tareelaroi Weir was constructed combined with unrestricted access along the river by livestock.

The major issue was the serious under cutting and erosion occurring along the outer bends of the banks.

During 1998 Rowan and Kate undertook restoration works which included bank shaping on some sections and native vegetation planting.

Fences were constructed out from the tops of banks and the area was allowed to regenerate naturally as well. Stock grazing was controlled and the area only utilised once or twice a year.

Benefits of the restoration works River banks have stabilised with no more land being lost to the river, grasses and trees have re-established along the area, it can be used for strategic grazing, stock can be controlled more easily, it contributes to better water quality and native habitat and also aesthetics - the area looks good again!

River Management Key points Fencing can enable the restoration of riparian areas,

so long as fences are located well back from the top of the banks.

Enlist the support of neighbours to undertake restorative revegetation programs on both sides of the river.

Stock access to the creek can be managed by providing defined access points.

Alternative watering points for stock could also be provided in other paddocks using water pumped to the highest point on the property and then gravity fed to troughs.

Restoration efforts can result in a riparian area becoming a haven for bird and other wildlife.

References Statton, J. and OSullivan, J. (2006) Stock and waterways: a managers guide. Land & Water Australia, Canberra.

Contact Us PO Box 411 Inverell NSW 2360

T: 02 6721 9810 F: 02 6721 9898 www.brg.cma.nsw.gov.au

Alternative watering points for stock (Photo: S. Campbell)

Border Rivers-Gwydir Catchment Management Authority 2007

Design: Kelly McCulloch Printed: UNE Printery Armidale.