На форуме по реке Хантер обсудили природное управление паводками и восстановление экосистем

A map of the Hunter River catchment on display at the Hunter River Forum. Given the outlook for a hot, dry summer thanks to the arrival of El Nino, flooding in the Hunter River and its tributaries seems less of an issue than a looming bushfire season. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue reading All articles from our website The digital version of Today's Paper All other in your area But perhaps now is the ideal time to take a long, hard look at the Hunter catchment to be better prepared for future flood events. Brett Miners, general manager Hunter LLS with guest speakers Professor Ian Rutherford and Professor Kirtie Fryirs at the 2026 Hunter River Forum. At last month's Hunter River Forum held in Singleton, flood management was one of the main topics of interest. A recurring theme at the forum was the importance of adopting natural flood management. The Hunter River Forum 2026 held at the Singleton Civic Centre. Natural flood management involves work across the whole river catchment to increase water storage in natural systems such as soils, contours and wetlands, making the rivers messy by increasing vegetation along and within the riverbank and riverbed and by de-synchronising peak flows from tributaries to lessen flood levels downstream. But according to river management experts speaking at the forum, this type of management can usually work successfully in minor, moderate and some major floods but not in catastrophic floods such as those experienced in the Wilsons River at Lismore in 2022 or the Manning River in 2025. Returning to the forum was Professor Kirstie Fryirs who was one of the guest speakers at the 2024 event where she introduced her wish to see more messy rivers. This time she spoke more about flood management and the use of natural systems to improve river management. She noted how the Hunter River had changed over the decades from its most degraded during the 1950s and 1960s and then started its recovery phase that included major flood mitigation works and management of the Hunter River catchment. "We are now seeing strong signals in the Upper Hunter of natural flood management success," she said. "But we are not seeing those same changes in the Goulburn or Wybong rivers - in fact they are going backwards. "The standout in natural flood management is the Wollombi Brook which I would says is a world leader." Despite the challenges, Prof. Fryirs told the audience to not become despondent but rather continue the work with riparian vegetation, in-stream woods and rough river channels. "Allow the floods across the floodplains and wetlands and look at land use changes with reforestation," she said. One of the aims of natural flood management was also to slow the flood peaks down by backing up water in a tributary. However this may result in higher, longer floods in the Hunter's tributaries so there will have to be some tough decisions made with resulting trade-offs. As the other guest speaker Professor Ian Rutherford said flood management and land use planning will involve costs and benefits. "De-coupling flood peaks by slowing down one tributary through revegetation and changes in riparian areas is what we are looking to achieve," he said. "We have to repair the damage from the past and be honest about what is possible in the future. All of this may impinge on the rights of private individuals because they may have to forgo benefits for the good of the community." He said local councils have to play an active role through their planning decisions to protect rivers and floodplains from development. "Look at the cost of the Lismore flood. The lessons learnt from that disaster is don't develop the floodplains in the first place," he said. A community planting day with a fantastic crew of Wollombi Valley locals and 500 Lomandra longifolia plants now have a new home on the banks of Wollombi Brook. Picture Hunter LLS Wollombi Brook reached a record during its flood in July 2022 almost wiping out the village of Broke and causing major infrastructure damage to roads, bridges and vineyards. While work to restore the village and the infrastructure was undertaken, so was repairs to the Wollombi Brook itself. Hunter Local Land Services senior land services officer Lorna Adlem spoke about that work at the forum. She described the work as involving habitat recovery and restoration as the flood had caused significant erosion and deposition changes along the Brook. Among the animals affected by the destruction was the platypus whose refuge pools were washed away or were filled in. Other affected animals was the native water rat and the short-necked turtle. Among the flora affected was the Hunter River Red Gum. "We involved the community and landholders, we conducted surveys of the animals as the platypus is a cryptic animal so landholders had a better chance of seeing them and recording their presence," she said. Ms Adlem said this work attracted more than 100 participants and was partnered with Wollombi and Broke Landcare groups. "It was a catchment wide program which we consider to be highly successful thanks to everyone working together with a common aim to restore what was lost," she said. Tributes & Funerals Notices Hayes, Anne 2026 Published 11 Jul Fenwick, Nadine Mavis 1933 - 2025 Published 17 Jul Sellis Kyriakos "Kerry" Late Of 2024 Published 2 May Blayden Patricia “Pat” Alice Passed 2024 Published 22 Feb More Tributes & Funerals Notices As it happens Breaking news alert Be the first to know when news breaks. Weekly Today's Paper Alert Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! Weekdays The Echidna Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. 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