Are our river improvement works really making a difference to stream health? Earth Tech Engineering (Earth Tech) was engaged by the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority (GBCMA) to assess riparian vegetation, habitat and stream condition at riparian enhancement sites within the upper Goulburn Catchment. This information was used to establish condition benchmarks at these sites and will enable the assessment, in the future, of the success of riparian protection and enhancement initiatives.

Thirty sites chosen for riparian enhancement and protection works were assessed using the 2004 Index of Stream Condition (ISC), the Rapid Habitat Assessment (RHA) and the Vegetation Quality Assessment (VQA) as agreed with GBCMA. Other 'Riparian and Instream Health' parameters were also recorded at each site. These assessment methods encompass a range of terrestrial and instream habitat, stream health and physical form condition indicators.

Earth Tech assessed stream condition and established benchmarks at 30 riparian enhancement sites within the upper Goulburn Catchment. This information will help to quantify changes in vegetation and habitat condition following different types of works and hopefully qualify the assumption that different types of works lead to an improvement in vegetation and habitat quality and stream health. It is anticipated that the data will indicate an improvement in the condition of vegetation and habitat quality at works sites over time - even if an improvement is not obvious at a catchment scale ie: from the regular DSE ISC program. This will be useful in justifying funding decisions or highlight areas were more works are required.