Walcha Council
Background
Walcha is situated 420 km from Sydney via Thunderbolt Way through Gloucester, and 23 km via Tamworth and the New England Highway.
The Walcha district is a significant primary producing area. It is one of the largest stock carrying areas in New South Wales. The Shire has long been known as a producer of high quality native hardwoods and its importance as a softwood producing area is increasing. It is renowned as one of the best fine wool growing areas in the world.
The natural beauty of the Shire is quite breathtaking. The Shire is home to the magnificant Macleay Gorges and boasts some 205,000 hectares of dedicated national park,wilderness and state forest. Parts of the Werrikimbe National Park are World Heritage listed. The Shire is also a well-known trout fishing mecca, boasting some 1,500 km of trout streams which are home to Rainbow and Brown trout.
The largest township in the Shire is Walcha, which is 1,067 meters above sea level, with the highest point in the district being at 'The Flags' (42 kilometres south of Walcha) which is 1.493 metres above sea level. The Shire covers and area of 6.400 km2.
The population of the Shire is 3,298 which includes approximately 1,700 in the Town of Walcha.
Sustainability Initiatives and Achievements
The High Country Urban Biodiversity Project (HiCUB) is an urban biodiversity and sustainability project in the Walcha, Armidale Dumareq, Uralla and Guyra Council areas which has been funded by the NSW Environmental Trust. The project vision is to create "Resilient, connected communities that are collaborative, skilled, well-resourced and that expand on existing knowledge, practice and networks, resulting in enhanced biodiversity value of our urban areas and the adoption of sustainable use of resources over the long term".
The Walcha project "Apsley River Corridor and Walcha Woodlands" concept concentrates efforts on rehabilitation works undertaken on the Apsley River between the Mill Pond and the Middle Street bridge. It seeks to maximise benefits for biodiversity and community collaboration by addressing the connectivity and health of nearby bushland and encouraging community participation in the project.
The concept can be broken into three main parts. These are:
- River bed modification
- Levee Vegetation Management plan, and
- Bush regeneration and corridor connectivity
Further details on these components of the project are outlined below.
River Bed Modification
The rehabilitation works proposed within the levee follows guidelines from the Walcha Floodplain Risk Management Study. The options include minor alteration of the stream channel to create pools and riffles combined with planting of native wetland plants.
Landscaping materials such as rock/boulders used to create the pools will be up to one metre maximum height above the ground surface and keyed into existing bedrock outcrops. The rocks will be of suitable dimensions and structured to withstand normal high flow velocities.
All excavation and construction areas will be re-vegetated as soon as possible after completion of works during a phased construction process. Any hard landscaping materials used will be planted out well with native grasses and soft vegetation to minimise ground surface erosion during a flow event.
Levee Vegetation Management Plan
All plantings within the levee banks are to be designed with suitable species form and numbers so as not to impede water flow in major flood events. Plantings are designed to accommodate ease of mowing and also to be visually appealing.
Seedings such as grasses and sedges will be planted at short intervals apart according to growth habits in order to reach maximum ground cover as soon as possible. This will reduce weed invasion and the possibility of erosion.
Endemic wetland plants have been selected across all growth forms and include those floating, attached, submerged and emergent. In addition suitable riparian shrubs will be added according to guidelines from the WFRMP.
Bush Regeneration and Corridor Connectivity
An opportunity exists to link both the northern woodland remnant in the common via the gully extending through the showground area of the river and also the southern remnant woodland to the riverine corridor at the mill pond. This concept is reliant on community acceptance and input.
Enhanced connectivily to the Apsley riverine corridor with threatened woodland ecosystems lying to the north and south of Walcha with bush regeneration in these areas would be a major benefit to biodiversity.