What are the resource demands and outcomes of rapid environmental assessment techniques?: A case study on the Burrangong Creek Catchment, NSW, Australia

The management of Australia's natural resources is an increasingly important issue. As our population grows, it continues to place demands on our river systems, soils and natural flora and fauna. In response, widespread research and comprehensive management must be applied. The current state of our natural systems and the changes that occur due to human impact need to be documented in order to understand the complex processes involved and attempt to minimise any detrimental effect. Communication between interest groups such as resource managers, government bodies, research institutes, scientists and the general public is vital to determine the range of perceptions and values placed on our natural environment. The development of methods to assess the condition of the Australian environment must incorporate these value systems in order that it may be managed appropriately. For decades, in countries all over the world, ecologists, hydrologists, fluvial geomorphologists and aquatic botanists have spent years in libraries, laboratories or in the field attempting to understand the complex functioning and the numerous interactions involved in river systems. In the past few decades, the concept of river 'health' was introduced to aid communication of complex ideas between the scientific community and the public. Conflict arises when attempting to define the goals of achieving a 'healthy' river, as subjective judgement is used and environmental, societal, economic and political goals are often different. River managers, government funding bodies and the public need to understand scientific ideas and research. Therefore, the results are often compiled into various general and specific river indices also known as Rapid Environmental Assessment Techniques for measuring river health. Indices of river health have been developed in many regions worldwide in response to a need for scientific research or management plans. The general aim of this project is to assess three current Australian river indices in order to understand the resources required to apply them and the outcome that is achieved. Each of the indices, Queensland's Anderson Method, Victoria's Index of Stream Condition (ISC) and New South Wales' Pressure, Biota, Habitat Stream Assessment (PBH) has been developed within the human defined boundaries of the Australian state system. Each has been created to satisfy a particular State's river management requirements and as a result each has different requirements, structure, detail and results. This project has been designed to allow direct comparison of these three indices on the Burrangong Creek catchment in New South Wales. It is intended for the results of this research to be useful in aiding the selection of an index appropriate to a particular purpose. River managers and researchers may be interested in the resources required to complete application of each of these indices and the scientific rigour and detail expected of its results