Araluen Creek Restoration Project - Upper Deua Community Liaison Officer
Cath Harrison was employed as the Upper Deua Landcare Community Liaison Officer. She was engaged by the Committee to support project delivery on the ground. This role involved producing the monthly newsletters, liaising with stakeholders, preparing media releases and in general keeping on top of all aspects of the project.
As Community Liaison Officer, Cath co-ordinated orders, deliveries, preparing plant species list, tubestock for re-vegetation, tanks, troughs, fencing to exclude livestock from the project sites enabling for successful remediation. She liaised and worked with participating landholders to ensure the project was a positive and beneficial experience, as well as doing lots of background work in preparation for revegetation days.
Cath says: “I love the Araluen community and I love this kind of work, being part of such a dedicated group and a very worthy environmental project. We have a lot of damage to fix in the creek and the 13 sites set for remediation will secure positive outcomes for the environment, water users and landholders in the lower catchment. Since the 2019-2020 Black Summer Fires we are up to flood number 14 and 1,000mm of rainfall already this year. So, it’s critical for our community to pull together, identify the problems and do the work, just like we are now and attract further funding to enable us to continue into the future.”
Cath is also an ‘unofficial’ historian and documenter for the project, often found on site taking lots of photos of tanks being delivered, before and after photos of erosion control measures, workshops etc. Cath has been a member of the Upper Deua Catchment Landcare Group since its inception in 1996. She is custodian of many photos of the rich history of this Landcare Group and the valley.
Cath says: “fixing only one section of the creek is a band-aid. We need to unite and do the whole creek, from the top of the escarpment down to the Araluen Creeks confluence with the Deua River. It’s a massive job to fix the damage after being dry for so long, then being burnt followed by numerous flooding events. Our poor old valley has been through the wars in the last couple of years. It’s up to us now to try and fix it.”
Upper Deua Catchment Landcare and Upper Shoalhaven Landcare Council would very much like to thank Cath for her dedication to the job over the extended life of the project, as well as all the extra volunteer hours and travel contributed to the project. We couldn't have done it without you!
Job Description
If your Landcare group is interested in taking on Community Liaison Officers similar to Cath's role, an example of her job description can be found HERE.
Newsletters
You can find summary of newsletters compiled and prepared by Cath HERE.
Project Summary Report
The full copy of Cath's Araluen Creek Restoration Project 2021-2023 Report with project photos can be found HERE.
Cath Harrison photographing rootballs installed along the Araluen Creek at project site 7 in May 2023. Photo: E Brinkley