EcoCover used successfully
in Bellinger River rehabilitation project
In May 2008 Bellingen Shire Council decided to tackle an important river rehabilitation project with an unusual solution.
In what could be an Australian first, the Council laid a new land-management system or groundcover known as EcoCover along one of the most scenic and visual parts of the Bellinger River – near the main part of town as part of the Jarret Park Riverbank Revetment works.
EcoCover is a groundcover that conserves water, controls weeds, promotes plant and crop growth, reduces erosion and eliminates or reduces herbicide use.
The section of the Bellinger River where EcoCover was laid is widely used by the locals on a daily basis and is the scene of various events, including Bellingen’s annual jazz festival.
Because this part of the river is highly visible to the township, it was important that the rehabilitation work did not detract from the appearance of the river bank.
That’s where EcoCover came into its own. According to Bellingen Council spokesperson, Ian Turnbull, EcoCover looks great too.
“It was important that we used a groundcover that looked neat and tidy. Jarret Park is in the centre of Bellingen and is utilised daily by locals and visitors. The annual jazz festival holds a riverside concert on the site with up to 3000 visitors.”
Ian said the fact that EcoCover is totally organic was important to the people of Bellingen, who are very environmentally friendly and would prefer a biodegradable product over black plastic or shade cloth.
“The revetment works were undertaken to stop riverbank erosion progressively eating away the park every time we had rainfall events,” Ian said.
The EcoCover system proved to be very robust.
According to Ian, EcoCover passed the town’s biggest test when, after a flood, it remained in place “Despite heavy rain and a subsequent flood, EcoCover has for the most part remained in place and helped protect the riverbank.
“About 40m of the 130m length of riverbank covered with EcoCover was under one metre of water for a couple of days. All the EcoCover stayed in place.
At one stage we lost a small amount of the groundcover, but this was still acceptable to the community as it is biodegradable and presented no threat to the aquatic environment,” Ian said.
Another advantage of EcoCover was its ability to meet Council’s triple bottom line performance indicators.
“Council, when planning the project saw the opportunity to meet not only its environmental needs but in a true triple bottom line manner, consider seriously the social implications of choosing EcoCover,” Ian said.
Ian said the council would certainly consider using EcoCover for similar work.
Statement Ends