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Priority Crown Frontage Licence Review

Victorian catchment and land managers are working to improve river bank management. The aim is to protect and improve waterway health.

The licence review project, running until mid to late 2010, is part of this. It affects up to 1400 of the 10,000 Crown frontage licences in Victoria.

The project focuses on management of Crown land alongside waterways and will update licences to reflect already improved river bank management and accelerate improvements in priority areas.

For more information, read the project brochure, frequently asked questions or contact your local project officer.

PDF Icon Priority crown frontage licence review (PDF - 1.2 MB)


Frequently asked questions

What is riparian land?
Riparian land is land alongside waterways - land on the banks of rivers, creeks, streams and other waterways.

Riparian land can be privately owned (freehold) or publicly owned, known as Crown frontage land.

There are about 85,000km of waterways in Victoria and about 30,000km of them have adjoining publicly owned land.

The condition of riparian land influences the health of adjoining waterways. For example, grass and vegetation that grows on river banks acts as nature’s filter to keep rivers clean.
Genoa Bridge

What is Crown frontage land?
Crown frontage land is publicly owned land on the banks of waterways.

There are about 85,000km of waterways in Victoria. About 30,000km of them have Crown frontages and just over half (about 17,000km) of that is licensed by the Department of Sustainability and Environment as the manager of Crown lands.

The majority of licenses are issued to adjoining landholders (about 8500 licensees holding nearly 10,000 licences), mainly for stock grazing.

How do I know if I am on Crown land or freehold (private) land?
Contact your local DSE office.

What is the Priority Crown Frontage Licence Review Project?
As set out in the Victorian River Health Strategy 2002 and related regional river health strategies, catchment management authorities and Melbourne Water are progressively reviewing the management of land alongside waterways.

The Priority Crown Frontage Licence Review Project is part of that. Its aim is to improve management of Crown land alongside waterways, recognising that it has a big impact on waterway health. If the land is not managed through stock fencing and control and maintaining vegetation cover, the waterway and water quality can suffer.

The project will do two things:

Who is running it?
The project is a partnership between the DSE, catchment management authorities and Melbourne Water.
Project management staff have been appointed to carry it out, accelerating the work being done to review and improve waterway health in priority areas.

Does this project affect me?
This project affects up to 1400 of the 10,000 Crown Frontage Licences in Victoria. It will affect you if: How do I know if my licence is in a ‘priority’ area and what does it mean for me?
‘Priority’ areas have been identified by CMAs and Melbourne Water based on their river health strategies. They include water supply catchments and waterways with strong environmental, economic, cultural and social values.

If you are in a priority area, you will be contacted by your local project officer offering to work with you to improve waterway health. Participation in the project is voluntary, providing you are already complying with the conditions in your licence.

Do I have to change what I’m doing?
Not necessarily.

If you have already improved your river bank management, this project means your licence can be updated to reflect that and recognise your work.

If you are contacted by project staff about improving waterway health via river bank management, consider whether you are already complying with the conditions in your licence. If you are, you can then choose whether to take part in the project.

Why would I want to change what I’m doing?
Well-managed river banks through managed stock and vegetation are key to keeping rivers healthy. Statewide research shows that more than 32 per cent of land alongside waterways is in poor to very poor condition. The Government is committed to improving this, meaning changes to river bank management are inevitable.

There are many benefits and right now there are many incentives for licence holders to improve their river bank management but they won’t always be there.
By simply fencing off your rivers and managing your stock, you will: You’ll also be contributing to healthier waterways, protecting the resource for communities.

If I fence off the river, how will I water my stock?
Under this project and the broader river bank management reviews, no one will lose the ability to water their stock.

Instead, it is about controlling stock access to rivers via fencing and using off-stream watering points to provide troughs for stock watering. This keeps stock healthier, by providing better quality water to drink, and fencing keeps stock safer.

Research has shown that stock drinking from streams with unrestricted access are often less healthy and gain weight more slowly than stock that drink from off-stream watering points.

If I decide not to take part in the project, does that mean my Crown Frontage Licence won’t be renewed?
In October 2009, the majority of the 10,000 Crown Frontage Licences in Victoria will be renewed for a further five years.

Looking ahead, it is likely that the Victorian Government’s Land and Biodiversity White Paper, to be released later this year, will propose a greater effort to improve river bank management by working with landowners, licence holders and agencies.

How can I take part?
If you have already improved your land management and your Crown Frontage Licence hasn’t been updated to reflect that, it should be when the majority of licences are renewed for five years in October 2009. If you have one of the 800 Crown Frontage Licences in priority areas, your local project officer will be in touch to discuss participation in the program.

Contacts

Please note: Document(s) on this page are presented in PDF format. If you do not have the Adobe Reader, you can download a copy free from the Adobe web site.



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