The Richmond River upper catchment is currently sitting on a C- in the Richmond River Ecological Health Report Card. That grade has held across multiple rounds of monitoring in the upper catchment. It’s not a surprise, the catchment has been through floods, landslides, and years of sediment loading, but it’s not a number we can accept without doing something about it.
One of the ways we track river health is through water bugs aka macroinvertebrates. Macroinvertebrates, the insects, worms, crustaceans, and larvae living in creek beds, are sensitive indicators of water quality. Some species only survive in clean water. Others can handle poor conditions. The mix of species at a site tells us a lot about what’s going on in that creek.
Citizen scientists
Since 2023, Richmond Riverkeeper has been running the Richmond River Ecological Health Program with freshwater ecologist Dr Brendan Cox and River Ecology Australia. The program trains and coordinates citizen scientists across the mid to upper catchment to collect macroinvertebrate samples and contribute data to the report card. The data is real, it goes into a published assessment that we use for advocacy and to track whether conditions are changing over time.
This month and next, we’re running a series of Bugs and BRUVs workshops at creeks across the catchment. No experience is needed. On the day, participants collect and identify water bugs at the creek, then lower a BRUV, a baited remote underwater video camera, into the water to see what fish are present. Dr Cox leads each session and walks participants through the identification and what it means for creek health.
Three workshops are coming up:
Upper Eden Creek, via Kyogle — Saturday 27 June
events.humanitix.com/bugs-and-bruvs-upper-eden-creek
Tucki Creek, Goonellabah — Saturday 11 July
events.humanitix.com/bugs-and-bruvs-tucki-creek
Mulgum Creek, Nimbin — Saturday 25 July
events.humanitix.com/bugs-and-bruvs-mulgum-creek-nimbin/tickets
All workshops run 10am–2pm. Refreshments are provided. Flexible pricing applies, with student, concession, and mob tickets available, plus a members discount.
The program is funded through the Australian government’s Emergency Response Fund, administered by NSW Reconstruction Authority’s Northern Rivers Recovery and Resilience Program, and delivered through the North Coast Regional Landcare Network’s Caring for Catchments project.
To see the report card and learn more about the program, visit richmondriver.org.au/report-card.
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