Region: Upper Murray

Legal Number: LEGL/93-167/1

Plantation: Shelley

Conservation Priority: High

93-167bMarch 01: View looking east. Completely razed plantations. Shelley plantations stretch for an approximate 20 km x 14 km in the headwaters of the Murray River system.

Plantation within Australian Newsprint Mill (ANM) Ltd area of supply.

Plantation within Carter Holt Harvey (now owned by International Paper) area of supply.

Plantation within Boral Timber (Tumbarumba) NSW area of supply.

Plantation within Dominance Industries (Alpine MDF Industries) area of supply.

North East Victoria Plantation Map here

This plantation was very likely to be aerially sprayed with 2,4,5-T between 1968 and 1977. The Dioxin TCDD may still exist in soil in this plantation. For more historical data on 2,4,5-T click here. For more information concerning the continuing health crisis concerning 2,4,5-T please forward to here.

Herbicides Used by Hancock in Pine Plantations - North East Region Victoria

Plantation Possibly located on Tin Mine tailings: Tin was first worked in the Koetong area in 1873. In June that year, stream tin was being worked on Koetong, Dry Forest, Burrowye, Pheasant and Cudgewa Creeks and their branches. Stream tin was worked in much the same way as alluvial gold; the upper soil (called 'stripping') on the creek flats was shovelled away until tin-bearing washdirt was exposed; sluicing was then carried out.

Water Catchment Area: LAKE HUME SUPPLIES WATER TO BELLBRIDGE, TALLANGATTA. MURRAY RIVER SUPPLIES WATER TO ALBURY/WODONGA, TANGAMBALANGA, KIEWA, RUTHERGLEN, YARRAWONGA, COBRAM, BARMAH, ECHUCA , KERANG, PIANGIL, SWAN HILL, ROBINVALE, MILDURA

Plantation lies inside Lake Hume Designated Water Supply Catchment.

THREATENED FISH NOTES - CUDGEWA CREEK: Stocked with Trout Cod and Murray Cod. Also has Blackfish and Mountain Galaxias. Silt is major problem into its lower reaches.

Responsible Authority: Towong Shire Council

Plantation Catchment: Numerous tributaries of Beetoomba Creek North Branch/Cudgewa Creek/Murray River

Catchment Managment Authority: North East Catchment Management Authority

Hancock Watch site visit Mar 01: Massive plantation. Huge management concerns. Entered plantation from Pheasant Creek Reserve. Headed east into recently cleared horizon logging. There were some small buffer zones surrounding some of the (Beetoomba Creek north branch) and some of the tributaries, however the extend of the logging completely overshadowed any sense of environmental concerns. Good to see some buffer zones maintained.

Upper Murray River: The Upper Murray Basin is drained by numerous small streams which comprise part of the headwaters of the Murray River. All the rivers, except the lower reaches of the northern streams, flow through inaccessible, heavily forested mountain country. The two best trout waters are the Cudgewa and Nariel Creeks. Koetong Creek is being stocked with Trout Cod as part of a program aimed at establishing additional viable populations of this endangered native fish species.

Cudgewa Creek, Cudgewa: Rises in heavily timbered country, then flows through grazing land, gravel, rock and mud bed. Erosion of banks and siltation requires control. Carries mostly brown trout average 480g, maximum 900g, rainbow trout to 450g and abundant river blackfish. Spiny freshwater crayfish are present. Lower reaches contain some redfin and occasional Murray cod to 6.6kg. Trout Cod are reported to be still present in the middle reaches. Last stocked with trout by Department in 1969. No further trout stocking will be considered because of the viable Murray cod population and reported Trout Cod.

Source: A Guide to the Inland Angling Waters of Victoria by BR Tunbridge, PL Rogan, CA Barnham. Department Conservation and Environment. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, 123 Brown St, Heidelberg, 3084. (4th ed - 1991)

The distribution of Trout Cod is more restricted than in the past (Cadwallader &Gooley 1984). They were once widespread in the Murray-Darling system, mostly in the upper reaches (e.g. Mitta Mitta, Ovens, King and Goulburn Rivers), though recorded as far downstream as Mannum in South Australia (Cadwallader & Backhouse 1983, Cadwallader & Gooley 1984). In Victoria the only known viable population occurs in Seven Creeks, upstream of Euroa between Gooram Falls and Polly McQuinns Weir, and originates from fish translocated from the Goulburn River in 1921 and 1922.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (CNR) and its predecessors have released fish into Koetong, Hughes, Ryans and Buffalo Creeks and the Coliban and Broken Rivers. There are also unconfirmed reports of Trout Cod in a number of waters, including the King, upper Ovens, and lower Goulburn Rivers, and Cutting, Narial, Cudgewa, Morses and Broken Creeks.

93-167a March 01: 'Pheasant Creek Flora Reserve' - an island in a sea of cleared pine.

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