AshWatch !
Goulburn Broken Region Post Fire Monitoring Project
What is AshWatch about?
In December 2006 a lightning storm ignited
bushfires across the Victorian high
country, stretching from Woods Point to
Tatong and many places in between. By
late January 2007 the fires had merged and
covered a total area of 1,080,088 hectares,
burning the majority of the upper
catchment in the Goulburn Broken Region.
As a result of the bushfires, high amounts
of vegetation surrounding our local
waterways have been burnt. This means
that there is potential for high loads of
sediment including ash, silt and other
materials to enter the rivers when rain
events occur.
As a response to the bushfires, the
Goulburn Broken Waterwatch team and the
Goulburn Broken Catchment Management
Authority, are initiating a community post
fire monitoring project known as
AshWatch.
AshWatch has been developed for the
community to participate in a coordinated
monitoring project that will provide
communities and agencies with valuable
information on the recovery of fire affected
rivers and their aquatic inhabitants.
The project aims to monitor both physical
and chemical parameters in each fire
affected area. The fire affected areas will
be compared with non-fire affected areas to
assess how the rivers are recovering after
the fires.
Water quality monitoring equipment and
training will be provided to you by
Waterwatch. This will enable you to collect
high quality data from a site along your local
waterway. Your results will be sent to your
Waterwatch Coordinator and your data will
then be recorded and a report created.
To join the project contact..
Danielle Beischer
Ph. 5832 1133
Mob. 0437 981 544
Email:
danib@iinet.net.au
Tamara Bruce
Ph. 0400 936 595
Email:
bruce.tamara@yahoo.com.au