Healing the Northern Rivers: the research behind the recovery

Understanding flood impacts on estuaries

PhD candidate Muhammad Islami, Professor Kirsten Benkendorff, and a wider team of Marine Science students and researchers have been conducting extensive field sampling to assess the impact of the floods on estuarine ecosystems, which suffered from heavy sedimentation and pollution.

Muhammad’s PhD focuses on how populations of macrobenthic species (such as worms, cockles, and crabs) change over time, what environmental factors influence them, and how flood-related stressors affect these important seabed creatures.

Professor Benkendorff, who supervises the study, emphasised their significance.

“Macrobenthic invertebrates turn over the sediment and keep it aerated. They’re also the basis of the food chain, feeding many of the fish we catch commercially and recreationally,” said Professor Benkendorff.

“Since the floods, we observed a significant accumulation of fine clay and silt, which filled air pockets in the sediment, reducing oxygen levels, which is a major stressor for these invertebrate communities.

“While the lower estuaries near the ocean showed signs of recovery, the upper estuaries continued to experience runoff events bringing in more sediment and heavy metals.”

The Living Lab Northern Rivers

Living Lab Northern Rivers was created as an initiative of Southern Cross University, University of Technology Sydney, and the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Corporation in the aftermath of the floods. It supports regional recovery and resilience through research, community engagement, and technical expertise. Focused on climate-resilient development, the Living Lab partners with governments, communities, industry, and educational institutions to test and implement solutions for living with volatile climates and in flood-prone lands.

You can find the Living Lab at 11 Woodlark St, Lismore. One of the most recent exhibitions at the Living Lab include Circular Timber, a collaboration with local reclaimed timber experts that questions whether valuable timbers from buyback homes across the Northern Rivers can be diverted from landfill and transformed into something new and useful for the community.

Emergency housing solutions

Researchers have teamed up with government and industry partners to develop a bio-based, low-carbon housing system using waste cardboard and under-utilised timber materials sourced from the local area, that could be suitable for emergency housing.

Southern Cross University’s Professor Andrew Rose said he was proud to be collaborating on this project, saying it was incredibly important for regions like the Northern Rivers.

“We’re still trying to recover from the 2022 floods as a community. One of the biggest issues at that time was a lack of potential housing and shelter,” Professor Rose said.

“Not only is this bio-based housing product ideal as something that relates to the circular economy, but it also provides low-cost, high-quality shelter for people who have been adversely affected by disasters.”

The VC Flood Recovery Project Scheme

The VC Flood Recovery Scheme, announced in 2022, saw seven flood recovery projects funded to the tune of $25,000 each. The projects investigated mental health and community resilience, a digital archive of the Richmond River catchment, a mapping of community resources, historical impacts on river health and citizen science to assess riverine ecosystems.

Professor Amanda Reichelt-Brushett, president of the Richmond Riverkeeper group, investigated the long-term effects of human activity on the Richmond River catchment as part of the scheme. She’s also been gathering community feedback on the values and uses that people consider essential for maintaining healthy ecosystems and public safety.

“The 2022 floods opened a channel for new ideas,” Professor Reichelt-Brushett said.

“Investigating historical impacts on current river health in the catchment is an important part of that process, especially if it culminates in policy and practice that supports the natural environment rather than depletes and degrades it.”

A strong theme from the community surveys was people’s interest in engaging with the river. As a result, Richmond Riverkeepers has secured funding to expand RiverFest, a month-long festival celebrating the river and promoting environmental stewardship. For more details you can email Amanda.Reichelt-Brushett@scu.edu.au.

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Another project was ran by lead researcher, Dr Brendan Cox, who created an ongoing citizen science program as part of the recovery scheme, to assess riverine ecosystem health across the catchment.

“The community commitment is there. For this program, we had almost 30 community and indigenous groups doing the sampling, and the message from all that work is clear,” Mr Cox said.

“If the waters of the Richmond River Catchment are to be drinkable, swimmable and fishable again, we need committed partnerships that focus on habitat restoration, enhancing riverbank stability, reducing the loss of our precious soils and reducing pollutant loads.”

The Richmond River Ecological Health Program regularly monitors and reports on the ecological and riparian health of the Richmond River, its waterways, and catchment. These insights are made publicly available by the Richmond Riverkeeper Association and can be accessed here. 

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