It is Cheaper to Protect than Rehabilitate

We are all aware of the challenges faced by the Murray Darling Basin landholders and communities. Our civic leaders are attempting to come up with a workable solution to rehabilitate this once amazingly productive system.

Wild Rivers legislation works on the premise that it is better to protect our catchments, than it is to rehabilitate at some point in the future. The Wild Rivers legislation wishes to preserve Queensland's rivers that have all, or nearly all of their natural values intact, for current and future generations. It is important that we, as Queenslanders protect against the further loss of values by considering ALL of the activities that might impact on the health of a river and its catchment.

Is not this protection by legislation a noble and worthwhile thing?

Wild Rivers Legislation Passed Last Night

The Queensland Government passed the necessary Wild Rivers Legislation last night, which will path the way for the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers and Cooper's Creek to be declared Wild Rivers. The proposal to declare will happen sometime early 2011.

Feedback to the government from many groups, including the Australian Floodplain Association has seen special consideration given to theses unique catchments. Special floodplain management areas have been created. This area has a strong hydrological connection to the river system, and is an important part of the Channel Country.

There has been some downtime with the blog, due to technical hitches. However all is resolved, and we are back in action. I thank you for visiting our blog.

There has been a swirl of activity in recent weeks relating to the Queensland Governments Wild Rivers legislation. Minister Robertson is also planning to declare Cooper's Creek as a Wild River in the coming months. This iconic catchment will be the first in the Lake Eyre Basin to be protected under this legislation. So what does this all mean?

In the coming weeks, I will be blogging about the benefits that a Wild Rivers Declaration will bring to Western Queensland, and how the communities of this area have been working together to ensure that the government considers the unique nature of the rivers in Western Queensland.

The Lake Eyre Basin covers 1/7th of Australia, and is the largest internally draining basin in the world. What is an internally draining basin? Most rivers throughout the world run towards the coast, and eventually the water moves out to sea. Not so with the Lake Eyre Basin. The water all runs down into Lake Eyre, and pools there - and eventually evaporates. Whilst this water drains southward into Lake Eyre, it also leaves a magical legacy of floodplains, braids and channels that criss cross the country and provides habitat and food for many species of plants and animals.