The Richmond River and local environment is enjoying the benefits from the latest round of on-ground projects to prevent sediment and nutrients from entering the river from the Emigrant Creek Catchment area.
The on-ground projects, which have been delivered by North Coast Local Land Services through the Marine Estate Management Strategy initiative, include the installation of wave deflecting mangrove nursery structures and reinforced large woody debris revetments.
These structures are playing an important role in stabilising the riverbanks and are complementing previous projects that have been undertaken in the area.
Shaun Morris, Senior Land Services Officer with North Coast Local Land Services, said the results continue to provide improvements to water quality, the local environment and local communities.
“By delivering 750 metres of bank stabilisation on sensitive eroding riverbanks we are preventing a further 660 tonnes of sediment from entering the marine estate per flood event,” Mr Morris said.
“Over the past four years, almost three kilometres of innovative habitat enhancing structures have been installed, preventing nearly 2,000 tonnes of sediment from entering the Richmond River estuary following each major flood.
“Monitoring of our sites by Southern Cross University has shown that our mangrove nursery structures are also continually contributing to improved water quality, with research suggesting that over the previous two years, our corrugated log fillets have captured a further 733 wet tonnes of sediment that would have otherwise travelled downstream and impacted the marine estate.”
The structures promote ‘slack water habitat’ or low energy flows behind the corrugated log fillet which in turn promotes sediment that is transported in floods and tidal changes to be captured and held in place by young mangrove seedlings who also prefer low energy environments to grow in.
For further information on the Marine Estate Management Strategy, visit www.lls.nsw.gov.au/mems.
This project is part of the NSW Government funded Marine Estate Management Strategy which aims to increase water quality and improve the natural environment.