The Corangamite Regional Catchment Strategy covers the following themes which are the building blocks of healthy and resilient environments and the focus of integrated natural resource management. Under each of these themes are sub-themes that focus on the various values that these themes provide.
Water
Water Outcomes and Priority Directions
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In the words of the Wadawurrung people:
“All our waters are living sources from Bundjil – the Karringalabul Murrup , the Creator spirit. He created all you see. Our waters were made for our survival, the survival of all things living”
Melinda Kennedy, Wadawurrung Traditional Owner (from The Wadawurrung Healthy Country Plan)
“Our main river systems are the Barwon/Moorabool, Yarrawee and Leigh rivers or Barre Warre Yulluk-Yulluk (great river) that runs from barre the (mountains) to the warre (ocean), and our stories tell of these connections. The name Barwon is derived from parwan meaning ‘magpie’ or ‘great wide’.
Fyansford is a significant cultural place where the Barwon and Moorabool meet.
The chain of ponds from the Barwon River to Reedy Lake, Hospital Lake, Lake Connewarre and Estuary Bay is connected through water and our Connewarre (Black Swan) Dreaming. The Connewarre Wetland Complex is internationally significant for wader and shoreline birds and forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site.
Our waterways were like our highways, they were how Wadawurrung people moved around Country. Our people used canoes or in calmer waters, Murriyans bark floats, or punts pushed by long poles to gather the abundance of food. On the natural rises along the waterways our people camped and caught eels, other fish and waterbirds to eat. Important decisions were made on the banks of these waterways by our Ancestors. They were important living and meeting places. Just as they are today.”
Waddawurrung Healthy Country Plan
In the words of the Eastern Maar People:
“We care about the management of water on our Country. It is not just something to buy and sell, or pollute in the process of extracting minerals, oil or gas. It nourishes our Country – the plants and animals, the cultural landscapes and the people. Water should not just be allocated to whoever can pay the most, it should be used in a responsible way, go to where it is most needed and where it will sustain the system.
We need to have a say on decision-making processes that determine where government resources for land management are directed, and we need to make sure that agencies are working with us to manage the land and waters to a standard that we have determined.”
Eastern Maar Country Plan
Waterways
The waterways (rivers and streams) of the Corangamite region are diverse and complex ecosystems and the ‘lifeblood’ of many communities. They have unique environmental values, providing habitat for native fish, invertebrates and water birds, while supporting extensive vegetation communities. They also have strong cultural and historic significance, are a focal point for recreation and tourism and their catchments provide our community with water for drinking, irrigation and industry.
The strategic plan that guides the management of the waterways of the Corangamite region is the Corangamite Waterway Strategy.
The Corangamite region consists of four drainage basins that reflect the geology and landscape evolution of the region. These basins are:
Moorabool Basin – includes the Moorabool River which is the major river system flowing through the east of the region and Hovells Creek, a small creek system that rises in the southern foothills of the You Yangs and flows into Corio Bay.
Barwon Basin – includes the Barwon River which rises in the northern slopes of the Otway Range and the Leigh River which begins in the central Victorian uplands around Ballarat, joining the Barwon River at Inverleigh.
Lake Corangamite Basin – a landlocked system that includes the Woady Yaloak River and a number of small ephemeral creeks feeding Lake Corangamite as well as other significant lakes and wetlands.
Otway Coast Basin – includes the Curdies River which occupies the western section, the Gellibrand, Aire and numerous small coastal streams which occupy the central Otways and the Erskine River, Spring and Thompson Creeks which flow through the eastern section.
Wetlands
The wetlands of the Corangamite region both permanent and ephemeral are diverse and complex ecosystems that have unique environmental values, providing habitat for native fish, invertebrates and water birds, while supporting extensive vegetation communities.
The strategic plan that guides the management of the waterways of the Corangamite region is the Corangamite Waterway Strategy.
Estuaries
Estuaries are the places where rivers and the sea meet. They are typically semi-enclosed coastal bodies of water with a connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water from land drainage. There are 40 estuaries within the Corangamite region, of all shapes and sizes.
Groundwater
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock, rock fractures or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt). There are two general types of aquifers: confined and unconfined. Confined aquifers have a layer of lower permeability rock or clay above them, while unconfined aquifers lie below a permeable layer of soil. The rate at which groundwater moves through an aquifer varies depending on the rock’s permeability.
The Corangamite region contains significant unconfined and confined aquifers used for a variety of stock, domestic, industrial, irrigation and urban water supply. For instance, groundwater in the region supplements drinking water for many towns in the region including Ballarat, Anglesea, Aireys Inlet, Torquay, the Bellarine Peninsula, and Geelong. Aquifers can discharge to the surface and are often important components of river flow and water for wetlands and native vegetation.
More information on the occurrence, management and significance of groundwater in the region can be found here.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity Outcomes and Priority Directions
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The biodiversity of the region faces challenges associated with addressing and reversing continued land clearing, changing land use and climate change stresses.
The Corangamite region is home to flora and fauna species unique to the area, many of which are dependent on the region’s natural assets. Since European settlement, the region has lost nearly 75 percent of its original vegetation cover. Unfortunately, the region has over 300 species that are classified as threatened in Victoria, with 53 threatened on a national level.
Native vegetation and Habitats
Native vegetation in Corangamite’s fragmented landscape supports the majority of the region’s biodiversity. Around 40 percent of Victoria’s native land vertebrate species (mammals, bird, amphibians, reptiles and fish not confined to marine or coastal habitats) are virtually restricted to fragmented landscapes. The region’s largely intact landscapes are generally confined to the Otway Ranges in the south of the region and other areas of public land and national parks scattered across the remainder of the region.
Most of the current losses of native vegetation in the region may be attributed to loss in condition (80 percent) with 20 percent being removed through clearing (VEAC, 2011). The survival of threatened flora and fauna and ecological communities depends a great deal on the health of native vegetation, and the continuation of other important habitats that are threatened by human activities and vulnerable to climate change stress.
Native Fauna
The native fauna of the Corangamite region is reliant on the habitat provided by native vegetation communities which have become more and more fragmented over time. There are a number of threatened fauna species in the Corangamite region which have generally been related to the loss of habitat clearing and fragmentation along with the impact of introduced pest species such as foxes.
Land
Land Outcomes and Priority Directions
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Land use changes
Soil health
Sustainable agriculture
Communities
Communities Outcomes and Priority Directions
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Communities in ICM
Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorians in ICM
Eastern Maar
Wadawurrung
Coast and Marine
Coast and Marine Outcomes and Priority Directions
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The marine and coastal environments within the Corangamite region are highly diverse. Marine habitats include intertidal rocky reefs, shallow rocky reefs, deep rocky reefs, pelagic waters, sand beaches, subtidal sandy and muddy seabeds, and intertidal mudflats (Parks Victoria, 2003). Coastal habitats are dominated by a variety of vegetation classes, including Coastal Dune Scrub, Coastal Headland Scrub, Coastal Tussock Grassland, and Coastal Saltmarsh Ecological Vegetation Classes.
The condition of Corangamite’s coastal waters is generally good, with low levels of nutrients, turbidity and bio-contaminants, and generally good light penetration, due to reasonably low turbidity. Biological habitats include kelp forests on shallow rocky reefs, sponge and coral gardens and deep rocky reefs, seagrass on sandy seabeds, and mangrove and saltmarsh on sheltered intertidal sediments.
In the words of the Wadawurrung people:
“Our coastal country stretches from the Werribee River, it takes in the Avalon Coastal reserve, Jilang (Geelong) – stingaree bayside, the Bellawiyn (Bellarine) Peninsula and down along the Barwon, Torquay and Airey’s Inlet coastline.
Our sandy beaches, rock pools, rocky platforms and reefs were and continue to be places of abundance for harvesting food and resources like crustaceans, shellfish and kelp.
The coastal woodlands and Anglesea heathlands hold stories that teach us of cultural practices like the moonah woodlands which are disappearing putting our marriage stories at risk. Our Wiyn (grass trees) which we use for fire and spears are badly affected by disease.
The coast holds cultural significance for Wadawurrung People today. With the number of people who call our coast home and come to visit increasing, there is more pressure on the coastal plants, animals and sites.”
Wadawurrung Healthy Country Plan
