Healthy waterways underpin our lifestyles and livelihoods. When waterways thrive, so do we.
There’s many people and groups around the region working
to improve reef and waterway health. We think their work
should be celebrated. We’re committed to telling their
stories and hope that it sparks important conversations.
2025-2028 Focus: Continue to support cane growers to refine applications of nutrients and pesticides Catchment: Russell-Mulgrave, Johnstone, Tully, Herbert Investment: $7 million Funder: Australian Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM, Canegrowers (Cairns, Innisfail, Herbert), Sugar Research Australia
2020-ongoing Focus: Benchmarking framework for urban water management practices in relation to water quality risk Catchments: All LGA's in the Wet Tropics Funder: Queensland Government Investment: $88,000 Delivery Partners: Wet Tropics Waterways
2023-2026 Focus: Regenerative agriculture, local market/supply chain development and improved water quality Catchment: Barron River catchment Investment: $3 million Funder: Queensland Government and Sustainable Table Delivery partners: Sustainable Table
2023-2026 Focus: Streambank repair and remediation to reduce sediment into waterways Catchment: Herbert catchment Investment: $2.3 million Funder: Queensland Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM
2024-2026 Focus: Improving crop nutrient use efficiency, productivity and water quality Catchment: Herbert, Tully/Murray, Johnstone, Russell/Mulgrave Investment: $2.44 million Funder: Queensland Government Delivery partners: SRA, Tropical Ag Services, Farmacist, Canegrowers Innisfail, TCPSL
2024-2026 Focus: Local water quality data to show how land management practices influence water quality Catchment: Herbert Investment: $2.6 million Funder: Queensland Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM, JCU
2024-2028 Focus: Co-design and delivery of a place-based project with the community Catchment: Herbert Investment: $2 million Funder: Queensland Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM, Hinchinbrook Shire Council, Canegrowers Herbert, HCPSL, TropWater and others.
2024-2025 Focus: Development of a regional strategy to guide investment Catchment: All Investment: $1 million Funder: Australian Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM
2024-2030 Focus: Remediation of high priority erosion sites Catchment: All Investment: $31 million Funder: Australian Government Delivery partners: Terrain NRM
Focus: Reduction of fine sediment runoff from erosion Catchment: Herbert catchment Investment: $3.25 million Funder: Great Barrier Reef Foundation and Australian Government's Reef Trust Delivery partners: Terrain NRM
Martine joined the Wet Tropics Waterways team as a Science Technical Officer in early 2024. She is an environmental scientist and ecologist and has worked on water quality and aquatic ecology projects as a consultant and in private industry for over 20 years. She is using her experience in statistical programming and database development to develop new systems for the Report Card.
Richard has been the Science Technical Officer for Wet Tropics Waterways since 2016. His role involves producing the annual results for the waterway health assessment of the wet tropics region using data from a wide range of sources, to present as scores and grades, as well as developing new indicators to address knowledge and monitoring gaps. He works in collaboration with technical staff at other regional report cards.
Richard has a background in freshwater ecology research projects and environmental assessments with CSIRO, University of Queensland, Queensland Government and as a consultant. For a long time he’s been interested in freshwater aquaculture and continues this interest through farming freshwater crayfish, alongside other farming activities.
Simon has over 30 years’ experience advocating for waterways across academia, government and the private sector. He started out in marine botany with a fascination for seagrass, mangroves and macroalgae, and has gone on to lead major environmental initiatives both in Australia and overseas. He has established report cards in eight countries.
Rowan is a conservation scientist with a background in wildlife science and tropical ecology. She holds a Bachelor of Wildlife Science from the University of Queensland and has recently completed a Master of Tropical Biology and Conservation at James Cook University.
Rowan brings experience in science communication, with a strong interest in connecting people with conservation outcomes. In her role with Wet Tropics Waterways, she supports initiatives that combine scientific knowledge with community outreach to help protect the Wet Tropics and Great Barrier Reef catchments, and to strengthen collaboration between researchers, stakeholders, and the wider community.