Regional maps | Corangamite Regional Catchment Strategy

This section of the Regional Catchment Strategy provides maps and other images that provides information in a visual format to inform users of bio-physical and environmental features that make up the region. These bio-physical and environment features form the basis of how land is managed.

Corangamite Landscape Systems: Ballarat City, Barwon Plain, Basalt Plains, Bellarine & Surf Coast, Geelong City, Heytesbury, Northern Uplands, Otway Coast and Western District Lakes.

corangamite region map with 3d elevation and rivers — 3D Elevation Image of Corangamite Region – Victorian Resources Online

Static Regional Maps

This set of maps provides an insight into a regional perspective of land, water, climate, biodiversity and community assets within the Corangamite region.

Land

The maps below present physical characteristics of the regional landscape as well as public land location and land-based threats such as erosion, landslides and salinity.

Corangamite land cover map 2015-2019 - DELWP Land Cover Series — This map represents the most likely land cover for an area and is derived from satellite imagery and existing knowledge. The dataset is part of the Land Cover Time Series mapping developed by Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) representing different time periods between 1987 and 2019. Each 25m area on the ground is represented by one of 19 land cover classes.

Land Cover 1985-90 - DELWP Land Cover TIme Series

Public Land - DELWP Public Land Management (PLM25) — Approximately 22% of the region is covered by public land which is broadly classified as national parks, state forests, conservation reserves, plantations and other public land reserves. Data source: DELWP.

Elevation Map — Regional elevation ranges from sea level to 745 metres at Mount Buninyong near Ballarat. The highest elevation in the Otway Ranges is 670 metres at Mount Cowley (10km west of Lorne). This map is based on 20 metre resolution statewide elevation data provided by DELWP.

Soil Type Map — Soil type is based on land mapping conducted at different times, at variable scale, and for different purposes. Land units are therefore of variable scale and quality in relation to the soil they are representing. Many units will be comprised of multiple soil types and a range of soil properties, and local variability (e.g. at paddock scale level) can also sometimes be high. The mapping, therefore, is intended to represent the dominant, or most prevalent, broad soil type within the map unit. Source: DELWP.

Geology Map — The map represents surface geology mapped at 1:250,000 and was developed by Geoscience Victoria – Earth Resources.

Geomorphology is the study of landforms, their origin and evolution, the investigation of relationships between landform development and processes that shape and configure these landforms such as tectonic movement, volcanism, erosion and deposition cycles (Hills 1975; Rosengren 1984: Ahnert 1998). Importantly, geomorphology provides a ‘fundamental template on which landscape processes and human interactions with those processes take place’ (Conacher 2002). This map represents regional geomorphology at a scale of 1:250,000 and using a ‘tier 2’ level classification. (Data source DELWP and Victorian Resources Online – Agriculture Victoria)

Gully Erosion Susceptibility Map — Susceptibility mapping represents the development of a hazard inventory of gully erosion which has occurred in the past (but of unspecified age) and an assessment of the areas with a potential to experience similar erosion in the future but with no assessment of frequency. These are specified as intermediate scale gully erosion susceptibility maps and were developed for CCMA by AS Miner Geotechnical.

Sheet and Rill Erosion Susceptibility Map — Susceptibility mapping represents the development of a hazard inventory of sheet and rill erosion which have occurred in the past (but of unspecified age) and an assessment of the areas with a potential to experience similar erosion in the future but with no assessment of frequency. These are specified as intermediate scale sheet/rill erosion susceptibility maps and were developed for CCMA by AS Miner Geotechnical.

Landslide Susceptibility Map — Landslide susceptibility mapping represents the development of a landslide inventory of landslides which have occurred in the past (but of unspecified age) and an assessment of the areas with a potential to experience landsliding in the future but with no assessment of frequency. Due to the scale and nature of the mapped occurrences, the landslide mapping only refers to moderate to deep seated rotational and translational landslides with limited runout capacity. These are specified as intermediate scale landslide susceptibility maps and were developed for CCMA by AS Miner Geotechnical.

Salinity Map — This map represents dryland salinity which is often divided into Primary and Secondary types. Primary or natural salinity existed long before European settlement and is considered to be the result of natural landscape processes. Secondary or induced salinity has occurred since European settlement and is considered to be the result of changes in land and water management practices. (Data source DELWP and Victorian Resources Online – Agriculture Victoria)

Biodiversity

Bioregions Map — Bioregions are a landscape-scale approach to classifying the environment using a range of attributes such as climate, geomorphology, geology, soils and vegetation. This results in areas that are characterised by similar natural features and environmental processes that influence the functions of entire ecosystems. Data source: DELWP.

Native Vegetation Extent Pre European Settlement Map — Modelled pre European settlement native vegetation (1750). Vegetation is classified using Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVC) which are the standard unit for classifying vegetation types in Victoria. EVCs are described through a combination of floristics, lifeforms and ecological characteristics, and through an inferred fidelity to particular environmental attributes. Data source: DELWP

Native Vegetation Extent 2005 — This map shows the modelled extent of native vegetation in 2005 based on Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVC). Data source: DELWP.

Water

Rainfall map - average annual — This map shows the large variation in average annual rainfall across the region from the very wet Otway Ranges in the south to the drier basalt plains in the central and northern areas to the wetter up-lands in the Ballarat region to the north. Data developed by Peter Dahlhaus and Tony Davidson, using ANUCLIM climatic model. Original data was provided by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

Regional wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. These are grouped into two areas – Port Phillip Bay – Western Shoreline and Bellarine Peninsula, and the Western District Lakes. Data source: DELWP.

Groundwater Management Units define the boundaries of groundwater aquifers with high potential or actual use. Within each groundwater management unit, the licensed groundwater allocation for uses such as irrigation, industrial and urban supply is capped to ensure groundwater use is sustainable. Stock and domestic use is not included within the licence cap. The licensing of groundwater within the Groundwater Management Units is administered by Southern Rural Water. All Groundwater Management Units in the region are fully allocated with new potential users able to trade licence allocations with existing users within the same groundwater management unit.

Terrestrial Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems are vegetation communities that are either partially or wholly sustained by access to shallow groundwater. Data Source: Bureau of Meteorology Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem Atlas

aquatic groundwater dependent ecosystems map — Aquatic Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems are wetlands, lakes or rivers that are either partially or wholly sustained by discharge of shallow groundwater. For example, flowing rivers during non-rainfall periods are mostly sustained by groundwater discharge. Many aquatic groundwater dependent eco-systems also contain terrestrial groundwater dependent eco-systems (see map above). Data Source: Bureau of Meteorology Groundwater Dependent Ecosystem Atlas

Waterway Amenity

Waterways support a range of human “amenity” values related to the quality of the sensory visitor experience. The amenity values of waterways are defined by the experience of naturalness, escape and safety and the built infrastructure designed to enhance these experiences. For instance waterways support many recreational activities such as walking, cycling, boating and cultural heritage education. Visitors to waterways have different expectations on the types of recreational activities catered for, the feeling of naturalness that they would like to see and the absence or presence of facilities, signage and access to various river lengths. Therefore, planning waterway amenity should be driven by community expectations, the existing natural features of each waterway and the current infrastructure and recreational activities catered for. Careful planning is required to ensure that along any one waterway, there are a variety of amenity values catering for different user experiences. The following maps portray ‘naturalness’ and ‘use’ amenity for a defined reach segment in a specific area within our region. They are presented as a set of ‘current’ and ‘desired’ amenity for each of four areas – namely: Yarrowee River and portions of the Moorabool and Barwon Rivers.

Map 1a – Current Amenity for Yarrowee River Ballarat – Gong Gong Reservoir to Buninyong/Mt Mercer Road Bridge

Map 1b – Desired Amenity for Yarrowee River Ballarat – Gong Gong Reservoir to Buninyong/Mt Mercer Road Bridge

Map 2a – Current Amenity for Moorabool River – Meredith to M1 Freeway )

current waterway amenity - Moorabool River - Meredith to M1 Freeway — Map showing waterway amenity for Moorabool River based on Naturalness and Use/Facilities/Access.

Map 3a – Current Amenity for Moorabool and Barwon River – M1 Freeway to Breakwater

Map 4a – Current Amenity for Barwon River – Breakwater to Barwon Heads

Coast and Marine

shoreline type map — Shoreline type based on CoastAdapt database. Source DELWP – CoastKit

erosion vulnerability map — Erosion Vulnerability based on Victorian Consolidated Local Coastal Hazard Assessment data. Source: DELWP – CoastKit

projected sea level rise for the year 2100 with storm tide — Modelled extent of land subject to coastal inundation due to projected 1-in-100 year 82cm sea level rise and storm tide increased by 19% for 2100. Source: Future Coasts Project – DELWP.

marine habitat map — Shallow marine habitat in eastern Corangamite region mapped from aerial imagery. Source: DJPR.

Community

Traditional owners land map in Corangamite region with allocations between Eastern Maar, and Wadaurrung — Map showing traditional owner land in the Corangamite region with Eastern Maar having claims to the southwest and Wadaurrung to the northeast

Landcare Networks map — Corangamite Landcare Program Networks (2021)

Community based natural resource management groups — Corangamite Landcare and Community-based natural resource management groups (2016)

Interactive Maps

The Natural Resource Management Planning Portal provides users with an interactive format to view their property, their catchment and their landscape.

Visualising Victoria’s Biodiversity is a site that can be used to discover and share spatial information on Victoria’s environmental values, conservation activities and research.

CoastKit is a tool for coastal and marine managers and researchers, that brings together marine and coastal scientific data, images and resources. CoastKit has been developed by DELWP to provide an online data repository for the community to explore and use Victoria’s marine and coastal information. CoastKit promotes standardised data classification for collection, reporting, monitoring, assessment and evaluation.

Nature Kit is DELWP’s biodiversity web mapping and reporting tool that has been developed to replace Biodiversity Interactive Map (BIM). It displays information on Victoria’s biodiversity values, investment prospects, flora and fauna distribution, native vegetation, marine bathymetry and habitat, disturbance and land classification.

The Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation based out of Federation University provides a range of interactive sites, these include:

Visualising Victoria’s Groundwater which provides information from a range of bores across Victoria

The Corangamite CMA also provides a number of other sites including:

Corangamite flood mapping can be accessed on Digital Twin Victoria, the authoritative and comprehensive digital model of our state.

The South West Climate Change Portal provides access to relevant maps and information regarding climate change scenarios and impacts across South West Victoria.