On-ground River Protection & Restoration (NRMT90030)

This subject is concerned with demonstrating a series of principles that apply to the selection, design and implementation of on-ground river and water protection and restoration projects in rural and urban settings. The content will focus at an activity level and at a site scale. Subject material will present a range of techniques but will focus on understanding selection and applicability rather than providing prescriptive methodologies..

The selection and application of techniques will address principles such as:

• achieving balance,
• promoting stewardship,
• achieving landscape scale change,
• adaptive management,
• proactive management,
• flexible programs that are enabling not prescriptive.

Topics will include techniques in rural and urban settings for:

• managing quality and quantity of runoff
• managing riparian zones,
• controlling exotic species,
• providing instream habitat,
• providing fish passage
• achieving environmental flows
• managing stormwater
• providing for rainwater and stormwater reuse
• creating and/or managing wetlands
• floodplain management,
• reconnecting rivers and floodplains,
• managing sand and sediment,
• erosion control, and
• responding to floods, wildfires and other natural disasters.

The structured remote learning component will review available techniques and familiarise students with the selection and application of techniques as preparation for activity sessions during the four-day intensive component of the subject. Students will also work remotely on their project, which for this subject will involve the selection and application of a technique in response to a real catchment management issue. The four-day intensive face-to-face session will focus on the knowledge needed to select and apply particular techniques and use of the “Technical Guidelines for Waterway Management”. As the fulcrum of this session, students will select and apply techniques in real situations.