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.