A waterways management framework for Western Australia

The State of Western Australia (WA) occupies one third of the Australian continent. The hydro-climate varies enormously from the tropical monsoon region in the north, through all erratic, semi-arid climate of the northwest and interior. to temperate regions of the south. Most waterways in the State are intermittent. with summer flow in the north, winter flow in the south and ephemeral flows in the northwest Perennial streams are comparatively rare geographically. For Much of WA there is insufficient water quality and riparian vegetation condition data to make comprehensive, objective assessments of the health of waterways. In many parts of the State, a comprehensive assessment of the values and condition of, and threats to, waterway ecosystems has not been undertaken Most information and management is centred oil the southwest land division and there is comparatively little known of waterways elsewhere However, regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) groups and other organisations are mapping, classifying, evaluating and prioritising their waterway activities. This paper presents and describes the development of a State-wide waterways management Framework. The framework is based oil values-threats models and allows assessment of waterways' attributes even when comprehensive or inadequate data is unavailable It is also capable of incorporating objective and Subjective information so it could prove valuable to waterways managers operating in relatively remote regions where rapid appraisal-type assessments are required.