Deep in the heart of the riverine gorges of the Upper Murrumbidgee you will find beautiful rock cascades and bottle-brushes with thick trunks gripping the rocky banks, holding on to withstand the high flows that this river would once have regularly endured. These gorges have also long been the home of our iconic native fish species such as Trout cod, Murray cod and Macquarie perch as well as turtles, water rats and platypus.

Spotted: Adventurous volunteers!

Now – thanks to funding from the NSW Recreational Fishing Trusts you may soon also find another special species out there – the adventurous volunteer!

The Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach (UMDR), partnering with the Australian River Restoration Centre and Bush Heritage Australia, have been granted a NSW Department of Primary Industry Fish Habitat Action Grant to support the development of an adventurous volunteer program. This program  will help to look after our precious upper Murrumbidgee River and its inhabitants, and is for those special people amongst us that have an adventurous spirit, a love of paddling and a wish to make a positive difference for the upper Murrumbidgee River and the biodiversity it sustains.

Are you up for a challenge?

The main problem the project will work on is mapping and control of willows and box elders, which are steadily colonising the stream channel and banks affecting native vegetation and water quality and in turn degrading habitat. This in turn impacts on our native aquatic species. Volunteers will paddle in to work sites and use hand tools to carry out weeding activities using a bush regeneration approach. The project is hoping to establish a long term program with which people may want to be involved.

How can you get involved?

The program will be holding trips in November 2018 and in Feb/March & April 2019. Training, paddle craft and tool kits will be provided by the program. If you are interested to find our more, please contact Antia Brademann (UMDR Facilitator) on 0429 778 633 or upperbidgeereach@gmail.com

Feel free to download the flyer (click the image on the right) and share it amongst your networks as well – we appreciate your support 🙂