Cooper's Creek Flowing Entire Length of Catchment

Desert Channels Queensland has released this great footage to celebrate a landmark event. Cooper's Creek currently has water flowing along the entire length of the catchment. This last time water flowed from the headwaters in North Queensland, through to Lake Eyre was in either 1956 or 1974.

Check out this marvellous story, courtesy of mother nature here.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DesertChannels?feature=mhum

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2011! May the promise and legacy of this amazing season continue to serve us well in the coming twelve months.

Wild Rivers and Indigenous Activities

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal people have had a strong connection and kinship with Cooper's Creek and its surrounding areas. Indeed, it is their great care and custodianship that has seen this magical piece of arid countryside preserved in its current state. We thank our indigenous people, past and present for this care!

Does a Wild River declaration prevent traditional owners from being on country? Not at all - ochre can still be ground and wood or vegetable matter can still be collected for the making of traditional objects. There are no regulations or restrictions on camping, fishing, conducting traditional ceremonies, hunting or undertaking fire management practices under the proposed Wild Rivers legislation.

Where is the Proposed Wild Rivers Area for Cooper's Creek?

The proposed Wild Rivers area for Cooper's Creek will cover approximately 244 000 square kilometres of the basin in Central and Western Queensland. Cooper's Creek is the largest river in the Lake Eyre Basin, and it is appropriate that it is the first to be considered for Wild Rivers listing.

The proposed area contains the names of many legendary and iconic rivers, including the Barcoo and Thompson Rivers. These two rivers converge together north of Windorah to form Cooper's Creek. The Wilson River and Kyabra Creek also flow into Cooper's Creek in the Southern part of the Queensland catchment.

In late 2010, Cooper's Creek has an extraordinary flow of water running through it - in all parts of the catchment. The animal and plant life is at its best at the moment, and all parts of the catchment hold many surprises.

Please do consider planning to come and visit this magical part of Western Queensland in the autumn or winter of 2011. You will be constantly amazed at beauty of this semi-arid and arid part of Australia.

Have Your Say on Wild Rivers

Members of the public are invited to let the Minister know what they think about Wild Rivers. What is great about it? What could be improved? What is not so great?

The Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy is keen to hear views about the proposal to declare the Cooper Catchment a Wild River area. There are a few ways this can happen.

* Formal submission - Written submissions will be accepted up until 5 pm on 29th April 2010.

* Face to face consultation - these will be organised by DERM, and dates will be circulated by this department in the future. Alternatively, members of the public are invited to request a meeting with DERM officers.

What will happen with the information that is gathered as a result of the consultation process?

The Minister is obliged to consider all properly made submissions and information that is gathered in the consultation process. A decision will then be made to continue / not to continue with the declaration. This will be made available in a publically available consultation report. The report will outline the feedback provided during the consultation, and how these issues will be dealt with.

Make sure you have your say on Wild Rivers in the Cooper Catchment!

Moratorium

Now that a Wild River proposal has been made over the catchment area of Cooper's Creek, a moratorium has been declared over any new developments happening in this area.

The moratorium retains the status quo i.e. the natural values of the area will remain as they are until a decision is made to declare/not declare the Cooper as a Wild River area. It is at this point, that the moratorium will cease to be.

The acts impacted by this moratorium include the Water Act, the Mineral Resources Act and the Vegetation Management Act. In particular, (but not limited to) the moratorium impacts on the taking of overland water flow works; the clearing of certain vegetation and the granting and renewal of mining tenements. However there are exemptions to the moratoriums, so it is worth checking with the local DERM office if landholders/developers are planning any works - especially vegetation clearing applications.

Cooper's Creek Proposed as a Wild River Area

The Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, The Hon Stephen Robertson has today proposed to declare Cooper's Creek as a Wild River area. Interested persons are able to have their say on the proposed declaration and have until 5 pm on the 29th April 2010 to do so.

This 68 page document titled "Cooper Creek Basin Proposed Wild River Area Overview Report" is available from the Department of Environment and Resource Management. This booklet contains information in relation to the Wild River areas which are proposed to be declared.

Fence Building and Wild Rivers

Can a landholder build a fence in a Wild River declared area?

Absolutely. All landholders can build and maintain fences in any part of a wild river declared area, including the high preservation area.

However, under existing legislation, a landholder may need a permit to clear vegetation for a fence line.

Special Floodplain Management Area

The people of Western Queensland have had a chance to shape and mould the proposed Wild Rivers Legislation to recognise floodplains as a unique management area. As a result of a community advocacy process driven by key stakeholder groups, the state government has listened to suggestions that large areas of floodplains designated as High Preservation Areas would not be desirable. However, high impact future developments such as mining or large scale irrigation could have adverse consequences on impeding the flow of water in vast floodplain areas. So what is the proposed solution?

A new type of Wild River management area has been proposed, known as Special Floodplain Management Areas. A less restrictive regulatory framework will apply to these designated areas in the Queensland portion of the Lake Eyre Basin. These areas will cover an extensive area, however will have less restrictions than a high preservation area.

Floodplain Vista

Floodplains of Western Queensland

The spectacular channels and floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin portion of Western Queensland are an important part of the river catchments. These floodplains allow Western Queensland graziers to opportunistically use the water that flows over the country side, to grow and fatten their livestock.

Indeed, floodplain meat production is one of the few food producing industries which coexists with a river and does not take or divert water out of the system. The water which is used, is that which occurs naturally as it spreads across the land. These floodplains are also home to may plant and animal communities which thrive in the 'boom and bust' cycle which follows large rain events.

Preservation of these floodplains and their episodic overland flow is important. At the moment, the floodplains are awash with recent water and fresh herbage and pastures. A truly pleasant sight!

A Wild River High Preservation Area

A high preservation area (HPA) is an area immediately adjacent to a Wild River. This can also include tributaries and any identified off stream features such as a wetland. The HPA can be up to one kilometre either side of the river or identified feature, and is elastic. In some places in may be 200, 300 or 600 metres - or any number up to one kilometre.

Any future development work which interferes with water flow in a HPA will be prohibited under Wild Rivers legislation, once a river is declared by the Government . Activities like instream dams and weirs, surface mining and exploration, aquaculture, intensive animal husbandry activities and intensive agriculture will be prohibited. Intensive agriculture is defined as anything that has significant soil disturbance, large scale irrigation or any activity with large fertiliser or pesticide inputs.

Any existing activities or developments which are already in place may continue to operate. Also, day to day operations of grazing, tourism, recreation etc may continue in a HPA after a Wild Rivers declaration is made.