Full Title
Monitoring of Living Murray Icon Site Wetlands within the Mallee CMA Region
Contact Person
Oliver Scholz
Project Team
Rebecca Keating, Susie Ho, Iain Ellis, Peter Fraser
Funding Body
Murray Darling Basin Commission
Duration
Details
Outcomes
Scholz O., Meredith S., Suitor L, Keating R. and Ho S. (2005). Living Murray icon site wetlands within the Mallee CMA region: monitoring program designs and 2004-05 monitoring results. Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre, Lower Basin Laboratory Mildura VIC.
Scholz, O., Meredith, S., Keating, R., Suitor, L., Ho, S. and Ellis, I. (2006). The Living Murray Initiative: Monitoring within the Mallee CMA region 2005-6. Report prepared for the Mallee Catchment Management Authority, Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre LBL report 3/2006, June,132pp.
Summary
Background
The Living Murray Initiative (MDBC) is a long term program of collective actions aimed at returning the River Murray system to a healthy working river. This is to be achieved by delivering 500GL of water as environmental flows to targeted wetlands within 6 Icon Sites. Two of these Icon Sites (and 5 targeted wetlands) lie within the Mallee CMA region; the Lindsay-Mulcra-Wallpolla Island floodplains and Hattah Lakes. Demonstrating environmental benefits of delivered environmental flows will involve the development and implementation of long-term monitoring programs. This project is being largely undertaken by the MDFRC.
Objectives
- To provide scientifically rigorous monitoring programs for key Living Murray Icon Site wetlands.
To date ecological and flow objectives have been developed for each wetland. These have been incorporated into conceptual response models from which testable hypotheses have been formulated and scientifically robust monitoring programs designed.
Method
The monitoring of key identified ecological values has commenced. These include groundwater, surface water, algae, invertebrates, fish, waterbirds, turtles and both aquatic and terrestrial vegetation.
