Montagu and Welcome River Catchments: High Conservation Value Asset Descriptions Report (National Water Initiative – Australian Government Water Fund. Report 5/6 Report to the Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values Project, Water Resources Division, Department of Primary Industries and Water)

This document describes a set of high conservation value river and wetland assets within the South Esk River catchment. It is one of five reports prepared under the Australian Government Water Fund (AGWF) focussing on high conservation value river and wetlands identified by the Tasmanian CFEV (the Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values) framework. The assets described here are those located in areas likely to be directly affected by decisions made under the Water Management Plan for the South Esk River catchment. The purpose of this report is to provide a summary of information on the biophysical characteristics and condition of assets of high conservation value for the purposes of: Describing the natural values (Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values (CFEV) ‘biophysical classes’) and current condition of key, high conservation value river and wetland assets in the catchment. Listing the priority management issues at each asset, and the priority management actions for their protection/restoration. Listing the water-management related issues which need attention at each asset. The term asset used in this report refers to either: a specific wetland – mapped as a shape (or ‘polygons’, in GIS terminology) at the 1: 25,000 map scale. a group of adjacent lengths of river channel, made up of individual river sections (or ‘lines’) mapped at the 1: 25,000 scale. The biophysical descriptions provided here are based on elements described in the Tasmanian CFEV framework, supplemented by descriptions derived from focussed field surveys. The descriptions provide information on: The natural values (CFEV biophysical classes) at each asset – those characteristics which are or would be present in the asset under natural conditions. The current status or condition of the asset – both as measures of departure from the natural state and in relation to particular symptoms of condition (e.g. weeds). The descriptions target values, condition and management issues associated with: For river assets: instream and riparian vegetation, fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, fluvial geomorphology, overall river section and catchment status. For wetland assets: within-wetland and riparian vegetation, overall wetland and proximal catchment status. Data on both natural biophysical classes and condition of the assets is provided from the CFEV database and the field surveys. A comparison of the information reported in the CFEV database and that found from the field surveys is also used to ‘validate’ aspects of the CFEV framework i.e. to assess the degree to which the CFEV data accurately represents the values and condition of river and wetland assets. This analysis is the subject of a separate report from this project (see Davies et al. 2007), as well as of a report from a related NRM-funded project.