Water dependent vegetation Environmental Outcomes Monitoring and Research Program 2023-2024

Abstract

It is important to know how and why water-dependent native vegetation respond to changes in the amount of water in our rivers and on our floodplains. This information allows the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (the department) to consider and protect the needs of native vegetation living along our rivers and on our floodplains when we make water management decisions. Water-dependent native vegetation communities depend on riverine flooding for part of their life cycle. They include river red gum forest and woodlands, coolibah and black box woodlands, lignum shrublands and wetlands of billabongs and channels. These communities are critical components of healthy riverine environments. In the NSW Murray Darling Basin, the Basin Plan (2012) and water sharing plans developed under the NSW Water Management Act (2000) guide river management. These documents provide for the sustainable management of rivers and set out how water is shared between people and the environment. Water sharing plans establish access rules and ensure the long–term sustainability of resources by requiring water users to hold licences to take water.