$25.9m earmarked for a water quality program in the BBB
The Great Barrier Reef Foundation (GBRF) is in the process of appointing a Regional Program Manager to plan and implement the delivery of its $25.9million Bowen Broken Bogie (BBB) Water Quality Program.
NQ Dry Tropics has submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) to manage GBRF’s regional program. This is an open and competitive process, and if successful, NQ Dry Tropics will build on and continue the efforts of the LDC project.
The successful applicant will be announced later this year.
The GBRF program aims to reduce 332,000 tonnes of fine sediment from entering Great Barrier Reef waters each year.
Last year, an initial GBRF grant process identified two projects totalling $6.8million in the BBB.
NQ Dry Tropics successfully secured $5 million to continue land management and rehabilitation efforts of the LDC project. Read about it here.
The $6.8million is part of the $25.9million allocation.
The BBB Water Quality Program is being funded through the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s partnership with the Australian Government’s Reef Trust.
The Burdekin River Basin is the highest priority for reducing fine sediment entering the reef under the Reef 2050 Plan.
Why are funds being directed to the BBB?
Listed on the World Heritage Register in 1981, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) covers 344,000 square kilometres and is the world’s largest coral reef system. It extends along 2,300km of the Queensland coast and comprises about 3000 reefs.
The Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan, a joint commitment of the Australian and Queensland governments, commits to improving the water quality entering the reef. To monitor this, pollutant load reduction targets have been established to protect reef health and resilience.
The Landholders Driving Change (LDC) project, managed by NQ Dry Tropics, is a Major Integrated Project (MIP) funded by the Queensland Government through the Queensland Reef Water Quality Program.
The project was initiated on a recommendation by the Great Barrier Reef Water Science Taskforce, in its May 2016 report, with objectives to improve water quality leaving the Bowen, Broken and Bogie (BBB) river catchments and to increase landholder stewardship to minimise impacts on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
The BBB catchment covers an area of 11,718 square kilometres — about 8.3 per cent of the Burdekin River Basin — but the BBB contributes almost half of the fine sediment exported to the GBR. For this reason, it is a targeted hotspot for sediment and nutrient reduction.
The BBB catchment is divided into seven major subcatchments: Bogie River, Bowen River, Broken River, Glenmore Creek, Little Bowen River, Pelican Creek and Rosella Creek.
The dominant land use is grazing with 92 per cent of the catchment under grazing management.
Work begins at Glen Bowen Station on the second large-scale gully remediated by the Landholders Driving Change project.
The area stabilised and turning green after the first rain on the completed work.