Macleay River Floodplain Project
The NSW Government has brought in wide-ranging reforms to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our waterways. The Macleay River Floodplain Project (MRFP) is an initiative of council to improve the environment. It is a partnership between government, community and industry to find common ground and improved outcomes for coastal floodplain management.
The MRFP is a positive development and an exciting move towards improving the environmental problems associated with the Lower Macleay Floodplain.
The Macleay Valley consists of approximately 11,500 km2 of catchment above Kempsey and almost 400km2 of floodplain below Kempsey. The objective of the MRFP is to establish a consensus approach to improving the overall environmental condition and water quality of the Macleay River floodplain. This will be achieved by establishing landholder management groups and the development of individual area management plans.
Council set up the MRFP in January 2000 with assistance from NSW Fisheries and Department of Land & Water Conservation.
Initially, the MRFP has focused on priority areas identified within the Macleay Floodplain Management Plan, Macleay Wetland Management Plan, Upper Belmore Floodplain Management Strategy and the DLWC ASS Hotspot Report.
The MRFP has been functioning for just over 7 years. Over this period many exciting and positive environmental projects have been developed and implemented on the Macleay River and Upper Maria River floodplains. As well as developing a number of onground environmental projects, the MRFP has been actively involved in developing a communication strategy such as Council’s web page *. The aim is to inform the broader community of the efforts of the MRFP and floodplain landholders to address environmental issues associated with both floodplains.
