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Based at Howlong on the banks of the Murray River downstream of Albury
NSW, Riparian Management Services (RMS) is an environmental consultancy
business specialising in river and wetland management.
| Riparian Land: "Any land which
adjoins, directly influences, or is influenced by a body of water"* |
The management of riparian land is an important component of environmental
management. From small watercourses in the headwaters of a river
to major estuary systems, our diverse riparian ecosystems support an array
of life and provide many resources that sustain human society. The
need to manage our rivers with care has been recognised for a very long
time as the following quote, taken from The Sydney Gazette of
9th October 1803, demonstrates. Listed under “General Orders”,
and in response to emerging river bank erosion problems caused by the over-clearing
of bank-side vegetation, Governor King declared that:
“From the improvement method taken by the first settlers on
the sides of the Hawksbury and creeks in cutting down timber and cultivating
the banks, many acres of ground have been removed, lands inundated, houses,
stacks of wheat, and stock washed away by former floods, which might
have been prevented in some measure if the trees and other native plants
had been suffered to remain, and instead of cutting down to have planted
others to bind the soil of the banks closer, and render them less liable
to be carried away by every inconsiderable flood …”
“As several settlers have been and are now fencing on the lower
part of the Hawkesbury, along the Napean, South Creek, and George’s
River, in situations where the above evil may be prevented, it is hereby
directed that no settler or other person to whom ground is granted or
leased on the sides of any river or creek where timber is now growing,
do on any account cut down or destroy, by barking or otherwise, any tree
or shrub growing within two rods [about 10 meters] of the edge
of the bank, except for an opening one rod wide to have access to the
water.”
Unfortunately, hardly anyone took any notice … (Click
here to view the 9th October 1803 Sydney Gazette)
Our aim:
Riparian Management Services aims to combine the best available
science, our experience and old-fashioned practicality to produce
environmental rehabilitation plans and on-ground projects that really
work for our customers. |
*Definition taken from Price, P. & Lovett, S. (eds) 1999, Riparian
Land Management Technical Guidelines, Volume Two. LWRRDC, Canberra
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