Draft Proposals Paper - Full - Victorian Environmental Assessment ...

2 General
recommendations
The River Red Gum Forests Investigation area is a much
loved and popular place. Both visitors and residents enjoy
its many aesthetic, cultural and economic values and uses.
However many of these values are under serious threat
from both changing and ongoing patterns of water and
land use. Indeed some economic uses of the River Red
Gum forests, such grazing and forestry, are already at
serious risk particularly in the face of climate change.
Public land occupies some 269,000 hectares of the total
Investigation area (1,220,000 hectares) and comprises
some 22 percent of the former extent of River Red Gum
forests and related ecosystems. As these ecosystems are
poorly represented on public land and under significant
threat from damaging processes, VEAC proposes that a
substantial area be protected within the conservation
reserve system. However, it must be noted that even with
the additional protection provided through a conservation
land management regime, there is a real possibility that
the riverine forests and wetlands will not survive unless
the under flooding is addressed.
The draft public land-use recommendations are
underpinned by a series of environmental water
recommendations. The evidence is strong that, without
environmental water flows to the River Red Gum
floodplains via overbank flows, the forests will be lost over
time. The Murray-Darling Basin river systems are under
extreme stress during this extended dry period and
drought, but if flows are not restored to forest and
wetland systems, they will suffer irreparable damage
and will be permanently lost for future generations.
In constructing the proposed conservation reserve system,
VEAC has endeavoured to consolidate and improve public
land connections between habitats. Public land-use
categories have been simplified, notably the River Murray
Reserve has been incorporated into adjoining categories
reducing potential boundary management issues. The
River Murray corridor is identified as a critical
environmental element of this floodplain forest system and
the majority of public land in this zone has been protected
in a series of national parks and regional parks, particularly
the proposed Murray River Park (Recommendation B3).
In some places there is a need to provide for and manage
visitor use in a more coordinated and effective manner,
especially along the rivers. This is particularly the case
during peak periods around long weekends and public
holidays. If some activities continue in their current pattern
and visitor numbers continue to grow, natural values will
inevitably decline with diminished appeal for visitors. Some
of the proposed land-use changes will have little impact
outside the peak periods and will allow everyone to share
the experience of camping and visiting the popular parts
of the Investigation area. Through detailed management
planning, the feel of remote and dispersed camping,
horseriding, four wheel driving and other popular activities
will still be available throughout the Investigation area.
In Victoria Indigenous involvement in public land
management is minimal, particularly in comparison to
other Australian states and territories. In the past, there
have been few mechanisms for assisting Traditional
Owners to engage with public land planning and
management and involvement in decision making is
almost non-existent. Council proposes a range of
mechanisms to increase the capacity of Indigenous
Traditional Owners to be involved in public land-use
planning and management. Such increased involvement
benefits both land managers and Indigenous people
and is a significant practical mechanism towards the
reconciliation of traditional Indigenous cultural values and
practices with the needs and interests of the wider
Australian community.
8 River Red Gum Forests Investigation July 2007