Riparian Recovery Program

The significant rainfall and flooding associated with the Monsoon Trough event in February 2019 resulted in a number of environmental impacts to catchments, including gully erosion, streambank retreat and sedimentation.  The runoff generated from the Monsoon Trough event also caused increased pollutant Loads to flow to the environmentally sensitive Gulf of Carpentaria. Environmental recovery actions are required across the affected area to improve the condition of catchments following the event. These actions will stabilise riparian zones and streambanks, lead to improvements in water quality, and enhance the resilience of Queensland waterways to future disaster events.

The objective of the Riparian Recovery Program is to provide funding assistance under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements to identify environmental impacts from the North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough 2019 and to rehabilitate and restore riverine, wetland and riparian environments affected by the event.

The outcomes that this will achieve are in line with the Australian and New Zealand School of Government Environmental Recovery Outcomes specified in ‘A Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Disaster Recovery Programs’ (March 2016).

Outcomes include:

• The natural environment operates to maintain or restore healthy biodiversity and ecosystems,
• Recovery actions do not generate further risk to the environment,
• Protection and management of waterways, the Gulf of Carpentaria for the enjoyment of current and future generations,
• Restoration of flood-impacted areas to a more resilient landscape
• An increased understanding of the risk of future disasters on the environment and an improvement in the ability of the environment to resist impact and recover from disaster events.

Project Partners: Southern Gulf NRM and Neilly Group Engineering

This project is funded by Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements: North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough 2019; an initiative jointly funded under the Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements