Following on from community drop-in sessions held in February this year, representatives from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) were back in Warren on Monday 26 June to hold further talks and to provide an update on their progress so far.  

Local landholders, as well as representatives from Riversmart and the Warren Shire Council, were amongst those in attendance at the event, which was held at Riversmart’s HQ at the Window on the Wetlands (WOW) Centre. 

“The State Recovery Committee has endorsed the partial removal of two of the Macquarie River debris rafts,” explained EPA representative, Arminda Ryan.   

Ms Ryan, Director, Incident Management and Environmental Health, Environmental Services, is a leading member of the EPA team who are coordinating flood recovery efforts in NSW.   

“As part of the flood clean up and recovery program, we have secured funding for the partial removal of the two anchored log jams,” she said.   

The two log jams, referred to as numbers ‘4’ and ‘7’, are located on the Macquarie River where it runs through the properties ‘Yanganbil’ and ‘Gillendoon’.  

“Within the next few days, we will be advertising a tender for the part removal of the debris,” said Ms Ryan. “Local contractors in attendance at our February meetings will be amongst those to whom we reach out to directly.” 

She advised that key requirements of the tender include removing the debris without causing further environmental damage and ensuring the safety of everyone involved.   

“The task involves removing the debris raft, sorting and classifying the contents and removing contamination from the site," Ms Ryan said. 

" This includes non-native vegetation, waste such as chemical drums, gas cylinders and the other foreign objects which have been spotted amongst the debris. The aim is that a good use will ultimately be found for some of these materials. Of course, naturally occurring vegetation, including native gums, will not be removed from the site and a plan of action is being developed to ensure that side of things is well managed.   

“One thing that we are asking of all potential contractors is that they make a site visit to see the log jams for themselves. To this end, we have been working closely with affected landholders, who have also given us invaluable feedback throughout.”   

PHOTO: Log jam #4

To aid the process, last week the EPA deployed specialised equipment to monitor the river flow and velocity of the water around the log jams. “This data is key to us understanding the behaviour of the debris jams. The data is then collected manually by the scientists,” she said, adding that local observations are also key to the work they are doing. 

Community members flagged the potential impact of the pending release of environmental and agricultural water, which is due to take place in September.   

There were concerns that a rapid change in conditions, if not managed well, could adversely impact the logjams or the efforts to remove them.  

General Manager of Warren Shire Council, Gary Woodman, also raised the issue of two additional sites of concern. 

He referred to debris caught against the Sandy Creek Bridge, as well as an ominous looking log jam located upstream of Warren.   

As a result, the EPA team determined that before leaving they would visit the two sites and have a look for themselves. 

The mood amongst the landholders in attendance was positive, with all saying that they felt progress was being made.  After the meeting Simon Cant, Chairperson of NSW Farmers Warren branch, who has been particularly active in seeking to have the log jams properly dealt with, took the visitors on an onsite tour to inspect ‘log jam 4’, located near his property. 

The day also ended on a positive note for the visitors. “We feel that the information session went well and we are pleased to be making good progress,” Ms Ryan said. 

Further information regarding the Macquarie River rafts can be found on the EPA’s website Macquarie River rafts (nsw.gov.au)