This update on the project was presented to the MRCCC General Committee on 3 September. It provides a summary of the outcomes of all three events that formed part of this project - the Two Day Rivercare Forum and the "Learning to Work with Rivers" bus trip. There are some photos of the events in this slideshow, but more photos are included in a link on Youtube. This will be updated over time as the synthesis of the outcomes of this project is finalised.

1. Mary River Restoration
Stories project
Funded by a Community Action
Grant
Update 3 September 2013

2. What it aims to achieve
• To enable MRCCC and the wider riparian
restoration community to learn from the last
20 years of Rivercare
• To celebrate and acknowledge the great work
of landholders
• To identify ways of overcoming some of the
key barriers and promote action
• To improve awareness of river processes and
the risks associated with riparian restoration

3. Five stages to the project
1. Document that summarises current status
2. Rivercare Forum Day 1, Widgee, 18 July 2013
– 38 attendees
3. Rivercare Forum Day 2, Cooran, 22 Aug 2013
– 29 attendees
4. Learning to Work with Rivers Professional
Development Bus trip, 29 Aug 2013
– 59 attendees
5. Documentation of Lessons Learned

4. Day1:Whathelpsriparianrestoration?

5. Day1:Whathindersriparianrestoration?

6. Ideas from Day 1
• Building networks/community groups
• Ways of influencing
• Monitoring of rehab – how many are successful?
• Learn from existing programs, sites and people
• Knowing what to plant, where and how
• Case studies – reveg – good and bad
• Accessing information (look at hindrances identified)
• Accessing community service people
• Rewilding – animals role in reveg
• Building confidence
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7. Ideas from Day 2
• Annual review of progress/keep network
going
• Online forum – works for about half the group
• Codline based on story of our restoration
• Extend invite to this network to others
• Come up with a name for the network
• Have social gatherings, working bees in their
local area
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8. Learning to work with Rivers
Who was on the bus?
MRCCC committee, staff &
volunteers
Landholders
Mary catchment
community groups
Seqwater
Sunshine Coast Council
BMRG
State Government
Burnett
community/consulting
Fraser Coast Council
other

9. Ideas for the future from Bus trip
• Network of Riparian Rehabilitators
• Restoration project the group can do
• Catchment Crawl, processes, rehabilitation: drive, walk and
kayak
• Theory and maths session on river process basics
• Learning from old projects: aerial shots, farm planning, reveg
• Future scenarios: crossings, dams, pump sites
• Integration of ecology with production and restoration
• “Open River” showcases
• Manual produced for practical application
• Include other river reaches eg estuary, also smaller scale
waterways
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10. In summary… the key themes are
• Networking, networking, networking
• Riverwalks/open days to share ideas and
lessons learned
• Demand for practical resources based on
Riparian Condition Assessment and booklet
provided to bus trip participants

11. • Document the
workshops and
“what we’ve
learned”
• Landholder survey
• Acquit the project
What is next ?

12. Some nice quotes from some
council staff…
• “I will use the scoresheets to assess sites, even
if they are smaller creeks.Will be better able to
select appropriate species for propagation to
use in riparian plantings.”
• “Definitely been useful in terms of increasing
knowledge base for advising landholders with
erosion issues and being able to better explain
river processes.”

13. Thank you to….
Landholders
• Beth King
• Cassie and George
Walker
• Mark Needham and
Alicia Eugene
Presenters & helpers
• Brian Stockwell
• Graeme Elphinstone
• Brad Wedlock
• Eva Ford
• Phil Moran
• Deb Seal
• Peter McAdam
• Ruth Hutchison
• Elisabeth Berry
• Dale Ricketts
• Tanis
• Chris Rosin