In February 2011, the Shire of Collie adopted the Collie River Vision Statement and Rationale which was prepared based on the advice of the Shire’s Weed and Waterways Advisory Committee, river experts, key documents as listed in the Related Documents panel to the right, and extensive public consultation.

During 2011 the Shire will be developing and implementing projects to achieve the Collie River Vision.  As at February 2011, existing and proposed projects included:

  • Revegetation of 3,500 sqm of the northern shoreline of the river near Coombes Street Bridge;
  • A program to improve environmental flows and reduce the prevalence of Nardoo by lowering the maximum height of the boards over summer at weir structures and revegetating areas that become exposed with reeds and rushes; and
  • Trials to determine effective and efficient ways to remove Nardoo from areas where river conditions cannot be modified to reduce excessive Nardoo growth.

A brief history of efforts to date follows.

In 2008 the Shire commissioned the Collie River Revitalisation Plan June 2008 (see the Related Documents panel on the right) which was prepared by Dr Peter Davies from the Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management at the University of Western Australia.

In accordance with the recommendations of the Plan, in 2009 and 2010 the river stop boards were removed during winter.

A key recommendation of the Collie River Revitalisation Plan was to investigate the feasibility of establishing environmental flows by management or removal of the stopboards at the Venn St and Roberts Rocks wiers.  A feasibility report was prepared focussing on the Venn St stopboards called “There’s a river under there” which was  adopted (with some minor changes) by Council. The report can be downloaded from the related documents panel on the right.

The report “There’s a river under there” completed the feasibility phase that enabled development of a Vision Statement for the Collie River.

During November and December 2010 extensive public consultation on a draft Collie River Vision Statement was conducted, and in February 2011 Council amended and adopted the Collie River Vision Statement following consideration of public submissions.