With the health of the Brunswick River known to be fairly poor, a local marine conservation organisation is pushing for its improvement, and the starting point is getting your feedback.
Positive Change for Marine Life (PCFML) is asking locals, landholders, fishers and and river users to take part in short surveys to help protect the much loved river, and the life it supports.
PCFML say, ‘Your feedback gives us direct, on-the-ground information about current behaviours, challenges and ideas – and this is exactly the kind of evidence we take to funders, councils and decision-makers to advocate for better protection of the river’.
The surveys can be found via http://community.pcfml.org.au/surveys available on the Brunswick River Community Hub.
‘Every response helps shape future education, funding and practical actions for our beautiful Bruns River.
Thanks for being part of caring for the Brunswick River – stay tuned for our next event!’
The Significance of the Brunswick River
PCFML say, ‘The Brunswick River (known as Durrumbil) in northern NSW is the principal estuary within the Cape Byron Marine Park and holds immense ecological, cultural, and heritage value. It’s a popular location for fishing, swimming, and boating for people from all across Australia, as well as international tourists. Further, associated wetlands and the surrounding coastline are considered a place of significance for the Arakwal people, the Minjungbal people and the Widjabul people of the Bundjalung Nation’.
‘Pressure from a wide range of threats including development and the changing climate presents a significant management challenge for the Byron Shire community. Left unchecked, a number of cumulative human impacts have the potential to cause irreversible damage to complex ecological systems, decreasing catchment resilience and threatening the myriad values that are integral to the region. Despite this, we’ve been working with a broad range of partners from across the region and beyond to address these threats, enhancing climate resilience, while connecting the community to the natural places that support our culture, our economy, and our way of life. The places that we love’.
Riverbank Rehabilitation Project
As for government agency-led rehabilitation, the NSW government is undertaking the Riverbank Rehabilitation Project.
According to https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/local-land-services/projects/riverbank-rehabilitation, ‘Local Land Services is delivering this project to protect and improve flood-damaged riverbanks across 11 NSW catchments’.
‘The project was developed in response to severe flooding events in 2020 and 2021, which caused extensive damage to riverbanks and waterways across the Hunter, Greater Sydney and North Coast regions.
The NSW and Australian governments committed $48.4 million to support the rehabilitation and protection of flood damaged riverbank sites across 11 catchment areas, including: Bellinger, Brunswick, Clarence, Hastings, Hawkesbury, Hunter, Macleay, Manning, Nambucca, Richmond and Tweed’.
‘The Riverbank Rehabilitation Project will strengthen flood-damaged riverbanks and support land managers by:
- delivering targeted riverbank rehabilitation works focused on the protection of high value rural agricultural, cultural and environmental areas
- supporting land managers to prepare for, respond to and recover from the impact of future flooding events
- identifying opportunities to improve the waterway approvals process’.
The website also has tools and support for landholders
‘Bringing back the Bruns’ program
Byron Shire Council’s ‘Bringing back the Bruns’ program targets around 12km of Brunswick River frontage for weed removal, bush regeneration and native revegetation, especially around Mullumbimby.
Council say, ‘Works since 2023 include removing camphor laurel and other weeds, planting roughly 1,000 native trees, installing nest boxes, and creating habitat features in stumps to improve biodiversity along the river corridor’.
In 2023 and 2024 Council say they received funding to remove Camphor Laurel and other weeds along the riverbank at Mullumbimby. ‘We focused on areas that have high potential for native regeneration. We also planted about 1,000 trees, installed nest boxes, and created habitat holes in tree stumps’.
Coastal Management Programs
As for a Coastal Management Programs (CMP) for the river, Council say, ‘A CMP for the Brunswick River estuary is a future priority’.
They say, ‘A Coastal Management Program (CMP) is an action plan for Council and other authorities. It helps us to:
- address coastal hazard risks
- preserve habitats and cultural uses
- encourage sustainable agricultural, economic and built development in the coastal zone
- maintain or improve recreational amenity and resilience and
- adapt to emerging issues such as population growth and climate change.
‘Coastal Management Programs are developed under the NSW Government’s coastal management framework.’
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
