River health revealed

By Kath Gannaway
PADDLING the Yarra River from Warburton to Williamstown was both a celebration and a revelation for environmentalist Chris Ord.
He grew up in Warburton and now works for Landcare Australia.
His Yarra River ‘Source to Sea’ challenge during Landcare Week aimed to raise awareness of river health and land issues as well as recognising the work of local landcare and community based environment groups working on projects along the Yarra River’s banks.
Mr Ord and his support team started their 215-kilometre, five-day journey on foot below the Upper Yarra Dam and were joined by a flotilla of paddlers for the final leg across the bay to Williamstown.
The catchment area of the Yarra River and its tributaries stretches over 4000 square kilometres, with more than two million people living within its boundaries.
Mr Ord said the experience was an eye opener, which challenged his pre-conceptions.
“For someone who is not an expert on rivers I thought the further down the river I went, the worse the river would get,” he said.
“In fact, there were definite zones where the river was more or less healthy directly linked to what was happening on the river banks.”
In the agricultural areas from Warburton along to Warrandyte, Mr Ord said the different approach of landholders was obvious.
“There were areas where it was obvious the landholders were restoring remnant vegetation but there were also a lot of completely bare banks linked to things like pumping access and animals. Wherever we found that, we found high banks, lots of erosion and silt which is a real problem for the river,” he said.
Mr Ord said negative impacts on the river, whether in suburbia where rubbish was a major problem, or in the agricultural areas, came back to how effective the vegetation buffers were between human activity and the river.
He said paddling on the river around Doncaster with shopping centres and roads in clear view for the first time was like paddling down a gutter. However, he said the zone suddenly changed past Fairfield where the river was surrounded again by parklands.
Mr Ord and his team met up with a number of landcare groups along the way including the Mt Toolbewong Landcare Group and Healesville Environmental Watch Inc at Everard Park in Healesville.
“The constant message we were getting was that a minimum 50-metre buffer of remnant vegetation is needed along the banks of the river to keep it healthy,” he said.
Mr Ord’s observations of the Yarra River trip can be found at www.landcares2s.wordpress.com.