Understanding our River Landscapes

Darling River at Garston Station, NSW

This part of our site enables you to explore how Australia's rivers and riparian areas function, in scientific, managerial and social terms. We have brought together the myriad of interacting processes and human values that surround riparian management in Australia. In the past, we have tended to conduct research by investigating individual aspects of riparian vegetation, such as the stream shading it provides, erosion control, and wildlife preservation. This is the most effective way of finding out how these processes work, however, we now need to draw this information together so that we can start to understand the different interactions and processes that occur to make our rivers and riparian areas such special places to be.

Getting started...

Shaded Stream, Bland Creek near Temora, NSW

There are two entry points for you to start your exploration - they are river values and river types. In river values you can see the range of ways people value their rivers. These then lead you to riparian management aims that are aimed at protecting one or more of these values. By taking this approach you are also linked to the processes, such as shading, erosion control and buffering, that are being affected by management actions.

If you start from river types, you begin with the processes that are most significant in each type of river. From there you can explore the various riparian management aims (benefits) that each process provides. This approach keeps management activities and riparian processes at the centre of the material, before linking you to the values that people place upon these parts of the landscape.

• River Values
• River Types

River Values Diagram

Land | Scenery | Heritage | Recreation | Wildlife | Water