After the floods

Catchment Recovery Program

One significant rain event in June 2021 had lasting impacts across the West Gippsland catchment. Since then, more wet years and flooding have also left their mark. West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority (CMA) plays a key role in understanding and planning for flood behaviour and has just completed a program of works to help landholders, wildlife, rivers and wetlands to recover and thrive.

“Floods are a natural part of the catchment cycle. After drought and bushfires in 2019, rains flooded the catchment resulting in up to one-in-one-hundred-year flood events in some of West Gippsland’s rivers. This was backed up by further rain events affecting West Gippsland’s waterways,” said Martin Fuller, CEO of West Gippsland CMA.

“In a flood, the SES and emergency services are the first point of call for the public but behind the scenes, you’ll often find our team assisting emergency responders with information on predicted flood behaviour and likely community impact from mapping and studies we work on across each year.”

When the initial 2021 flood emergency was over, the CMA team began a recovery program and works included bank stabilisation, repairs to damaged fences and ultimately revegetation.

The team used their experience of previous flood recovery projects to achieve the best results by working with natural materials and processes along with planting of vegetation to further strengthen banks and restore the environment.

“All flood recovery works were done in partnership with communities, other government agencies and landholders to achieve the best possible outcome for the waterway and all stakeholders.”

The comprehensive program was rolled out across 150 sites in partnership with local government, agencies and landholders supported by funding from Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA).

In total, the program delivered resilience and repair including:

■ 150 waterway structures.

■ 37 kilometres of fencing.

■ Over 27 hectares of vegetation.

■ Earthworks at 165 sites.

■ 155 management agreements with landholders.