Freshwater Protected Area Resourcbook

Appendix 5.
Methods for waterway classification and assessment

Extract from Nevill 2001.
Assessments for river classification, as well as management and rehabilitation principles, stress the importance of baseline geomorphic characterisation of rivers. Geomorphic studies provide a base for an assessment of freshwater conservation values from a biophysical perspective⁵⁰³. Such studies can be followed by prioritisation of river management and rehabilitation works, looking at recovery potential both from geomorphological and biological points of view.

For freshwater systems, It appears important to initially apply a “geomorphic template” as the basis of:

• 
  ecosystem characterisation,
  
• 
  assessment of conservation value, and
  
• 
  the development of management priorities.
  

Reserves along rivers need to be assessed and managed for their representative (or special) geomorphological and ecological values, while some sites can be used as geomorphological benchmark sites which may be used to guide future rehabilitation works and management programs.

The following tables provide information on classification and assessment studies and methods potentially applicable to the development of freshwater ecosystem inventories and reserve systems.
Table A5.1

Classifications which may be used for Australian inland aquatic ecosystems

Adapted from Dunn 2000.

Classification focus	Scope	Source
River type or characterisation	Identified 39, then 16 river types in Victoria, using hydrology and geomorphology overlays. Used to establish representative river reserves.	LCC, Victoria 1989, 1991
River type or characterisation	Broad class of rivers in landscape context: 4-11 types for each drainage division in WA.	WA Water Resources Council 1992, Water and Rivers Commission 1997.
River styles	Means of characterising catchments and river sections, developed for NSW.	Brierley 1996, 1999
Geomorphic characteristics	Hierarchical approach to describing valley forms.	Frissell 1986
Stream order	Classification of stream by catchment area.	Strahler 1957
Hydrology	Require hydrogeomorphic characterisation of Australian rivers	Naiman 1992
Habitat types	Typology of functional in-stream habitats. Selected habitats used in AusRivAS sampling protocol.	Harper 1995
Classification focus	Scope	Source
Substrate types	Size of substrate units	Harper 1995
In-stream functional habitats	In-stream flora, including algae and non-vascular plants.	Harper 1995
Riparian habitats	Based on vegetation and geomorphic structures.	Harper 1995
Riparian vegetation communities	River habitat survey and manual developed for UK; uses broad riparian architecture categories.	Raven 1998
Riparian vegetation communities	Foreshore assessment of condition. No Australia-wide classifications.	Pen and Scott 1995
Macroinvertebrate communities	AusRivAS provides information on expected communities for region and river type.	Simpson 1999
Wetlands	Classifications of freshwater wetlands into 20 types.	Ramsar Convention Bureau 1996; DEH 1997
Wetlands	Defined 7 types of wetlands for the Paroo River based on hydrology.	Kingsford & Porter 1999

Table A5.2

Summary of methods for waterway assessment used overseas.

See Table 5.1, Chapter 5 above for Australian approaches to waterway assessment.

(Table adapted from Qld EPA 2000, Dunn 2000, and Phillips et al. 2001)

Name of Method	Category of Method	Technique	Focus/Criteria
SERCON (UK) (System for Evaluating Rivers for Conservation)	Ecological value	A broadly based technique for assessing conservation value. Uses six criteria which are relevant to nature conservation assessment. River Habitat Survey forms part of method, followed by a scoring system with weightings.	Naturalness Representativeness Physical diversity Species richness Rarity Special features
River Habitat Survey (UK)	Condition assessment	Assesses habitat quality of rivers and streams based on their physical structure. Uses a data base of habitat requirements, site/reach classifications and association of flora/fauna with different habitats. [Note: currently being integrated with SERCON].	Bank and channel physical attributes Land use Understorey vegetation Riparian trees Channel Dimensions Additional Features
RIVPACS (UK)	Condition assessment	The RIVPACS software package predicts the macroinvertebrate fauna to be expected at a river site in the absence of environmental stress. The model compares the observed with the expected fauna, to assess the biological quality of a site. [Note: RIVPACS was the basis for AusRivAS].	Macroinvertebrates used to: Assess biological quality Infer environmental impact
Wild and Scenic Rivers (US)	Conservation and recreation value	Applies to rivers in a free-flowing condition, and evaluated on the basis of one or more outstanding scenic, recreation, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, or cultural values.	Wild (naturalness) Scenic Recreational
Heritage Rivers(Canada)	Conservation and recreation value	A co-operative program developed by the Canadian provincial, and territorial governments to identify and preserve rivers of importance. The criteria for preservation range from natural heritage (physical attributes, geography, flora, fauna etc) to indicators of Canadian history and recreational appeal. See Appendix 14 for more details.	Physical attributes Significant flora and fauna Historical Recreational Naturalness
Pusey et al.(1999)	Ecological value	Developed for rivers in the wet tropics of Queensland, the method uses 10 criteria, 7 of which relate to nominated flora and fauna groups. Uses an unweighted rating system and reports the overall conservation value as green, red or amber, based on rules of combination.	Ecosystem function Flora and fauna of conservation interest Invertebrate diversity Flow regime
‘Expert System’ approach to the assessment of rivers (South Africa)	Conservation value	A method for assessing the major conservation attributes of rivers and communicating these in a conceptually simple manner	Naturalness/condition Diversity or richness Rarity/uniqueness Special features
A protocol for assessing natural values of New Zealand rivers (NZ)	Ecological value	Provides a description of ecological values using a numerical, expert panel assessment method.	Naturalness/condition Diversity or richness Representativeness Rarity/uniqueness Special features

Table A5.3

Possible sources and methods of information collection in regard to ecosystem representativeness.

After Dunn 2000.

Attribute	Indicator / evidence	Information sources
Representative river system or section.	River system or section typical of bioregion.	Remote sensing, airborne video, river styles assessment, river habitat survey.
Representative river features.	River features typical of river type or style.	River styles assessment, river habitat survey.
Representative hydrological processes.	Fluvial and hydrological characteristics typical of that class of river processes.	Long-term, continuous and consistent datasets only available for certain river types.
Representative aquatic macroinvertebrate communities.	Biota typical of macroinvertebrate communities for the river type and region.	AusRivAS, surveys.
Representative in-stream or riparian flora or communities.	In-stream or riparian macrophyte communities typical of biota for the river type and region.	AusRivAS, surveys.
Representative in-stream fish communities.	Fish communities typical of the river type and region.	Biotic Index (fish) NSW.