A REFERENCE CONDITION DEFINED BY GOOD MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR RIVER PROTECTION.

C.L. Sellens¹, R.H. Norris¹, and B.C. Chessman². ¹Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia, ²Department of Land and Water Conservation, Sydney, NSW, Australia

Reference sites with good management practices (GMPs) can provide a benchmark against which to assess river condition. A GMP reference condition can be used in disturbed regions where a pristine or minimally disturbed reference condition can not be established. Protocols for selecting reference sites based on GMPs have been developed and used to select reference sites in urban Canberra, Australia, and surrounding areas. A predictive model for the assessment of aquatic macroinvertebrate assemblages was developed from macroinvertebrate and habitat data collected at these sites. Test sites were assessed using both the predictive model based on GMPs, and a standard AUSRIVAS (Australian River Assessment Scheme) predictive model passed more test sites the the standard AUSRIVAS model. The suggests that a reference condition based on good management practices may need to be used cautiously if ecological values are to be protected in impacted regions.