Eastern Cape York
Water Quality Program
About the program
The Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program is undertaking early interventions in ‘less-disturbed’ Great Barrier Reef catchments by addressing threats to water quality in eastern Cape York including erosion from fire, roads, tracks and gullies.
The work takes place across eight coastal catchments - Annan, Endeavour, McIvor, Starke, Jeannie, Howick, Wakooka, and Muck, covering 631,000 ha of eastern Cape York.
Cape York Water Partnership coordinates this work, in partnership with South Cape York Catchments, South Endeavour Trust and Yuku Baja Muliku, Traditional Owners, Cook Shire Council, conservation groups, local land holders and land managers.
The Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program is funded by the partnership between the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Water quality and aquatic ecosystems monitoring
The Water Quality Monitoring Project is monitoring river and coastal water quality with Traditional Owners from the Annan through to the Muck catchments as well as seagrass and wetland monitoring in some locations.
Track erosion and mapping
The Primitive Roads Project involved collaborating across the project area to identify and map priority areas of ‘primitive road’ erosion, carrying out control works at pilot locations and developing Best Management Practices guidelines. This project worked across all land tenures. A primitive road is any unmanaged road or track, this can include any unmanaged dirt road, fence lines, tracks.
Program management
As Program Manager of the Eastern Cape York Water Quality Program, CYWP coordinates and supports collaboration between the project teams and Great Barrier Reef Foundation for an integrated catchment management approach and collective program outcomes.
Fire management
The Fire Management Project worked with Traditional Owners and land owners/leaseholders to develop or update fire management plans, undertake training in fire management, and conduct early dry season management burns, aiming to reduce late dry season burns and the resulting bare ground which is susceptible to erosion in the wet season.
Council roads
The Council Road Project carried out erosion control works with contractors on Council roads (predominately Annan catchment), focusing on priority areas susceptible to erosion and monitoring erosion before and after. Best Management Practice guidelines were developed for construction and maintenance of Council roads.
Gully erosion
The Gully Erosion Control Project carries out control works at priority gully erosion areas, predominantly in the Annan catchment, including monitoring erosion before and after, and assessing cost effectiveness.
Fire management and track erosion
The Fire Management and Primitive Road Erosion Control Project is undertaking fire management and road erosion control projects across 46,000 ha of land owned by South Endeavour Trust in the Annan and Endeavour catchments.
Traditional fire and land management
The Traditional Fire and Land Management Project is planning and working on fire management, water quality monitoring and track erosion on Yuku Baja Muliku Country.