Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) were fortunate to be accepted as a recipient of the Local Land Services Landcare Riparian Restoration Grants.

The aim of the Landcare Riparian Grant is to restore riparian zones (land that occur along the edges of rivers, streams, lakes, and other water bodies) that have suffered cumulative damage from recent natural disasters including drought, floods and fires in NSW.

Under this funding, Central West Lachlan Landcare have undertaken three riparian restoration projects addressing compromised waterways and structures in the Back Yamma and Cookamidgera areas.

These riparian restoration works will stabilise structures and banks within sections of waterway that have been impacted by drought and then sudden inundation. These sections of creek are important ephemeral tributaries for the Lachlan River.

After several years of severe drought left waterways fragile and vulnerable. The impact of the severe rain events and flooding compromised existing structures that had been in place for years. This has resulted in erosion and increased sediment release in the Lachlan River based tributaries.

Due to the increased frequency and severity of storm events and flooding, combined with the drought conditions that left many areas exposed to extreme weather conditions many properties have been impacted and streams compromised. This project only covers the worst of the impacted areas, but many more have been identified to fit within the same need for restoration.

We have been working to assist landholders with funding to address riparian issues which have been flagged as a result of the changes in weather events over the past several years.

It is hard to see these impacts and not wonder why there have been so many significant changes to our creek systems.  If these issues are not addressed, there is increased risk of erosion, increased sedimentation and further compromising of existing in stream structures.

The protection of these areas is important for maintaining the shape, stability and ecological functions of these watercourses.

We were fortunate to engage local contractor Chris Paton (Patto’s Earthworks) to undertake works on the three sites, which has been nothing short of transformative!

The Landcare Riparian Restoration Grant program is funding through the NSW Government’s $200 million Regional Recovery Package.

If you would like to find out more, I will be profiling this project at our CWLL Annual General Meeting nest Wednesday. Bookings can be made here: https://www.stickytickets.com.au/8QPH6

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare