MONITORING CATCHMENT HEALTH Monthly monitoring of water quality characteristics such as temperature, nutrient levels, acidity/alkalinity, and presence of macroinvertebrates or ‘bugs’ has been continuing on King Island thanks to a collaboration between Cradle Coast NRM, King Island NRM Group and local volunteers.
The monitoring project is an extension of a state-wide testing program undertaken by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment in 2008/09. The King Island data provides an enduring record of water quality and establishes benchmarks for future reference. Macroinvertebrate sampling also continued across the Cradle Coast region at sites representative of naturally vegetated catchments, production forestry catchments and agricultural catchments. Using the
Tasmanian AusRivas model, an indication of catchment health could be determined from the diversity of bugs present. The development of a more holistic measure of river health, the Tasmanian River Condition Index, combines AusRivas assessments with other measures, and was utilised in 25 sites across the Flowerdale and Inglis catchments in 2009/10. This improved baseline information is helping to assess the effectiveness of catchment-scale management arising from the Inglis-Flowerdale Rivercare Plan and Water Management Plan.
INFORMATION SHEET KING ISLAND AND INGLIS-FLOWERDALE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The King Island project is supported by Cradle Coast Natural Resource Management (NRM) and King Island Natural Resource Management Group, through funding from the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust.
PO Box 338 30 Marine Terrace Burnie Tasmania 7320 Phone: 03 6431 6285 Fax: 03 6431 7014 E-mail: nrm@cradlecoast.com www.cradlecoastnrm.com.