Commonwealth Long-Term Intervention Monitoring Project: Stage 1 Mid-Term Review and Evaluation

2.3LTIM Project delivery

As noted above, the primary aim of the CEWO LTIM Project is to evaluate the ecological response of Murray-Darling Basin water-related assets to the added Commonwealth environmental water. This is to be achieved by evaluating these ecological responses at two scales: the Area-scale and the Basin-scale.

The Area-scale evaluations are provided by the seven Selected Area teams. Each Selected Area team was required to provide a detailed MEP before they commenced. The MEP were developed using a standard template, and with technical advice from the technical advisory group led by MDFRC. Each Selected Area team was required to draft a MEP using the standard methods developed through the program logic design phase undertaken by MDFRC. The MEP were reviewed by the technical advisors and feedback provided to CEWO on each of the MEP.

We provide a ‘high level’ assessment of these MEP’s and the Selected Area 2015-16 annual evaluation reports in Section 4.1 below, but have not undertaken a detailed review of the various programs, the data collected, the analysis of these data, or the interpretation (evaluation) of the data. Such a detailed review should be undertaken.

The ‘Basin Matters’ team led by the MDFRC provide the Basin-scale evaluations. The development of the Basin-scale evaluation is described in the LTIM Project Logic and Rationale document (Gawne et al. 2013) and the Basin Evaluation Plan (Gawne et al. 2014). Six ecological indicators, Basin Matters, underpin the Basin-scale evaluation:

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  Ecosystem diversity – the aquatic ecosystem types (e.g. wetlands, rivers, streams) that benefited from Commonwealth environmental water;
  
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  Hydrology – river flow and wetland water regimes modeled with and without Commonwealth environmental water;
  
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  Stream metabolism and water quality – rates of in-stream primary productivity and decomposition, salinity and pH;
  
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  Vegetation diversity – plant species’ responses with respect to extent, diversity and condition;
  
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  Fish – short- and long-term responses of fish with respect to movement, condition, abundance and diversity; and
  
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  Generic diversity – effects on diversity of all biota from monitoring and observations.
  

The Basin-scale reports are based on the data and evaluations contained in the Selected Area reports (Gawne et al. 2014) and on Category I indicator data collected by the Selected Area teams. Those for 2015-16 are reviewed in Section 4 below.

Finally, the information in the Basin Matters evaluation reports is brought together in a ‘Basin-scale Synthesis Report’ that provides an integrated assessment across the three themes of the Basin Plan: biodiversity, ecosystem function and resilience (Gawne et al. 2013). Basin-scale evaluations are done annually (to date done for 2014-15 and 2015-16) and for the cumulative 5-year period (to date done for 2014-16) (Gawne et al. 2017).

3Review of LTIM Project structure

3.1Logic and rational - Alignment with the Environemtnal Watering Plan objectives/requirements

The Basin Plan was released (November 2012) and the Basin-wide Environmental Watering Strategy (BEWS) was completed in 2014 (MDBA 2014). The BEWS, a part of the Environmental Watering Plan (Chapter 8 of the Basin Plan), is intended to help environmental water holders and waterway managers plan and manage environmental watering at a Basin-scale, and over the long term to meet the environmental objectives (MDBA 2014). Expected outcomes by 2024 for four components of the Basin’s water-dependent ecosystems are the focus of the BEWS; these include river flows and connectivity; native vegetation; waterbirds; and native fish (MDBA 2014). The BEWS is the means by which the Environmental Watering Plan objectives are assessed.

Annual environmental watering priorities for the Basin are prepared to inform annual planning and prioritisation of environmental watering across the Murray ̶ Darling Basin. They are developed to meet the long-term outcomes in the BEWS and aim to deliver the Basin Plan's objectives of protecting and restoring the Basin's rivers, wetlands and floodplains (MDBA 2017).

3.2Implementation

As outlined in Section 2, the structure of the LTIM Project was developed over a two-year period (2012-2014) by the CEWO in collaboration with a team of technical advisors coordinated by the MDFRC. Activities over a five-year period (2014-2019) will include:

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  Area-scale evaluation – monitoring and evaluation of the ecological response of water-related assets to Commonwealth environmental water (CEW) in the seven Selected Area sites;
  
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  Basin-scale evaluation – aggregation and integration of this area-scale data and knowledge to provided Basin-scale evaluation of the ecological response of water-related assets to CEW;
  
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  Temporal evaluation – both the Area-scale and Basin-scale evaluations are done annually, and will also be done cumulatively over 1-5 years as the program is rolled out;
  
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  Adaptive management – the LTIM Project is built around the assumption that there will be a number of ‘learnings’ as the project is rolled out, and that these need to be captured and used to modify technical and decision-making aspects of the Project during time, as well as inform water planning decisions (see definition of adaptive management as per Basin Plan in Section 5).
  

The Project structure is logical and has been very well planned (see Figure ). Additionally, the LTIM Project objectives are well focused and sensible (see Section 2.1), although adequately addressing them in five years will be challenging.

The three main structural components of the Project are (Figure 1): the seven Selected Area teams, the Basin Matters team, and the CEWO Water Delivery teams. The seven Selected Area teams are contracted to collect data in their areas for two purposes:

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  First, to provide data of relevance to the Basin-scale evaluations, i.e. addressing the first objective above. Largely standard methods (Category I indicators) are being used for this monitoring, with these data being analysed and use by the Basin Matters team in their Basin-scale evaluations, with some input from the Selected Area teams (see also below);
  
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  Second, to provide data and analyses of more relevance at the local scale, and to address the second LTIM objective above. For this purpose, Category II and III indicators are being monitored and evaluated.
  

Additionally, the Selected Area teams are all interacting closely with the CEWO water delivery teams (and their various Stakeholder Advisory Groups) in planning annual environmental water delivery regimes, and in reporting back to these groups on the ecological outcomes of each particular environmental watering event. This aspect is covered in more detail in the Adaptive Management section below (Section 4.3).

Figure : Schematic of LTIM Project development and output phases and operating structure