Water, Land and People - Goulburn Broken Catchment ...

PROGRAM REPORTS
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approach to revegetation, his dedication to the
North West Mooroopna Landcare group, to
watertable monitoring and for many years of
service to the Goulburn Valley Tree Group. In
further support of his nomination Tom was also
acknowledged for his generosity and readiness to
share his revegetation knowledge over the years.
Picture: Tom Dumaresq, (R) winner of the 2006 SIR Landcare Award,
pictured here receiving his award with Federal Member for Murray,
Dr Sharman Stone, (L), and Peter Gibson, Chair of the Shepparton
Irrigation Region Implementation Committee (C).
Local Area Plans will accelerate the implementation
of the SIRCIS in high priority areas of the Region.
Local Area Plans form the next phase of the already
highly successful community consultation and
empowerment approach built for the development
and implementation of the SIRCIS.
Municipal Catchment Coordination
The Municipal Catchment Coordinator has been
employed in the SIR since 1990. The role of the
Municipal Catchment Coordinator is to ensure that
Local Government is an active partner in delivery
of the Regional Catchment Strategy. Further, the
Municipal Catchment Coordinator demonstrates
the importance of linkages between programs
and Local Government. The Municipal Catchment
Coordinator provides liaison between the City of
Greater Shepparton, the Shires of Campaspe and
Moira and the GB CMA to communicate, coordinate
and facilitate a working relationship which is
regarded as one of the best examples of communitydriven
natural resource management in the nation.
New challenges are always emerging, many of them
driven by the increasing role of Local Government
in natural resource management. The Municipal
Association of Victoria’s Victorian Local Government
Environmental Management Survey - 2006, found
municipalities spend almost $600 million dollars
a year on 25 different types of environmental
programs. Much of this work is done outside the
regional catchment investment process managed by
Catchment Management Authorities. Coordination
is essential to make best use of resources and
achieve consistent outcomes.
Another major issue is alignment of catchment and
municipal planning, particularly in issues such as land
capability, riparian and biodiversity management.
To this end, work commenced this year on a Local
Government addendum to the SIRCIS, specifically to
support councils in their decision-making processes.
This was also the year of Local Sustainability
Accords - agreements between the State
Government and municipalities about priorities
for environmental sustainability. Five pilot accords
are nearing completion, with the roll-out to more
than 60 other councils to occur in the coming year.
Municipalities in the SIR are well placed to develop
their accords because, with the support of GB
CMA, most of the necessary resources are already
available. Again, however, there is a great need to
coordinate this activity to ensure outcomes are
consistent with the SIRCIS.
Research Program
Program Goal: The research projects for 2006-
2007 summarised here seek and find new knowledge
to support the ongoing implementation and evolution
of the Shepparton Irrigation Region component of the
Goulburn – Broken Catchment Strategy. The overall
program goal is to ensure sound, up-to-date Science
underpins the catchment strategy. A notable feature of
the program of work this year has been a predominant
focus on two key issues facing irrigated agriculture and
the region; namely Irrigation Water-use Efficiency and
The Changing Irrigation landscape. Continuing low
rainfall seasons are driving rapid change in the irrigated