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Daly River

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Daly River – Under Threat

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Forests and woodlands go under the bulldozer
The Daly River catchment is covered in vast forests and woodlands, including rare stands of monsoon rainforest. We are lucky in the Top End because these forests are intact and have not been cleared like southern Australia.

Cleared land
Large scale treeclearing in the Daly River catchment 2002

But these forests and woodlands are now under threat and very little has been protected. The latest figures released by the NT Government (Sept 2003) estimate 150 000 hectares will be cleared for large-scale irrigated agriculture.

Gouldian Finch -endangered species threatened by clearing proposals

Native Wildlife – the biggest casualty
Some people may think that animals, particularly birds can easily escape from areas being bulldozed and move into adjacent bushland. Unfortunately this rarely happens. If escaping animals make it away from the bulldozers they face competition from wildlife already occupying the remaining habitat. When one hectare of bush is cleared, most of the animals living there die immediately, or soon after.

In early 2003 the NT Government approved over 7 300 hectares of treeclearing in the Daly River catchment. It is estimated that 1.6 million trees will be bulldozed - this area is home to around 350 000 animals - including sugar gliders, quolls, possums bowerbirds, finches (such as the endangered Gouldian Finch above) and cockatoos.

Soil erosion will silt-up the Daly

Large-scale treeclearing in the Daly River catchment will lead to massive increases in topsoil erosion. Treeclearing removes the protective layer, leaving the soil exposed to the heavy rains of the wet season.

In the Daly River catchment research has shown that treeclearing increases erosion rates up to 100 tonnes of soil per hectare every year (Dilshad et al 1996). This topsoil gets washed into the river channel choking the habitat for fish and turtles.

Pumped dry for irrigation
The Daly River catchment is covered in vast forests and woodlands, including rare stands of monsoon rainforest. We are lucky in the Top End because these forests are intact and have not been cleared like southern Australia.

Irrigated land
Irrigated Agriculture – Daly River

The Daly is a very special river because of its strong permanent flows. Through the long dry season the river receives groundwater flow from a number of natural springs. The NT Government is planning to allow 265 billion litres of water to be pumped from groundwater and surface water flows every year. This is a massive 740% increase on current levels of water use. There is every chance that water levels in the Daly River will drop and wetlands and billabongs will dry up.

Scientific research on the Daly River has shown that pumping out water for irrigation will stress the balance between groundwater and river flows. Reduced water levels will affect the breeding cycles for fish and the threatened Pig Nosed Turtles.

A catastrophic situation would occur if the Daly River stops flowing (Environment Australia 2001).

Increased fish kills

In the Daly River catchment the latest research funded by the Commonwealth Government shows that large scale tree clearing and irrigated agriculture would increase the amount of pollution entering the river in the "big flush" events at the beginning of the wet season. If not managed fish kills could become more common and much more severe (Environment Australia 2003).

Water Lilies in the Daly River area

The Daly – "high conservation river"
The Daly River has extremely high conservation values. It is one of the Northern Territory's largest river catchments - with an area of 52, 577 km2. The main tributary of the Daly is the Katherine River which has it's headwaters in the ancient, sandstone escarpment country of the Arnhem Land Plateau. The upper reaches of the catchment include the World Heritage Listed Kakadu National Park and Nitmiluk National Park with the spectacular Katherine Gorge. Much of the lower Daly River is listed in the Directory of Nationally Important Wetlands.

The Daly is the most diverse river for freshwater turtles in Australia - holding eight of the nine known species. It is one of the few strongholds of the threatened "Pig Nosed Turtle" - the last turtle of its type left in the world. Each dry season Pig Nosed Turtles swim upstream to nest and lay their eggs on the white sand beaches.

The wetlands and forests of the Daly River provide habitat for 22 species of migratory birds listed under the Commonwealth legislation. The River also contains the endangered freshwater sawfish (Pristis microdon) and the critically endangered sawtooth shark (Glyphis sp).

References

»	Environment Australia (2001), Inventory and risk assessment of water dependent ecosystems in the Daly Basin, Northern Territory, Australia.
»	Environment Australia (2003) Recommended environmental water requirements for the Daly River, Northern Territory.
»	Rea et, al (2003) Environmental Water Requirements of Vallisneria nana in the Daly River Northern Territory.

MORE INFORMATION

»	For more information contact: Charles Roche - Freshwater Campaigner The Environment Centre NT PO Box 2120 Darwin NT 0801 Phone: 08 8941 7439 or 08 8981 1984 Email: ecntdaly@iinet.net.au
»	PDF Downloads:
	Need Water Too! (5 August 2003) John Harrison, Executive Officer Amateur Fishermen's Association of the Northern Territory Inc. Murray, Eastern and Trout cod in danger of extinction with the Murray cod just recently listed as vulnerable. Why? To read the full article click here
	Top End's Fragile Balance on Brink (September 15 2003) David Hancock, The Age Daly River under threat from broadscale tree clearing and large irrigation schemes, according to Aboriginal and environmental groups. To read the full article click here
	Daly River Under Threat ( 6 August 2003) Northern Land Council Aboriginal landowners concerned that a NT Government decision to allow the clearing of 7,000 hectares of land in the Upper Daly region will spell disaster on a broad scale.To read the full article click here
	Daly consultations welcome, but more time needed ( 21 November 2003) Northern Land Council Traditional owners in the Douglas/Daly Region have welcomed Chief Minister Clare Martin's intervention in the debate over plans to develop the region, but remain concerned over the short timeframe allotted for the development of a draft Integrated Regional Land Use Plan.To read the full article click here
»	Useful Links:
	Northern Land Council
»	See also: Land Clearing Media Releases

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The Environment Centre of the Northern Territory
3/98 Woods St, Darwin » Postal Address: GPO Box 2120, Darwin 0801 NT
Phone: 08 8981 1984 » Fax: 08 8941 0387 » E-mail: admin@ecnt.org