What Do We Do?
MRWMG works in partnership with local communities to set-up water schemes, revegetate degraded sites, manage local plant and animal pests, conduct tree plantings, run education and youth programmes at local schools, and raise community awareness of ecologically sustainable development.

When Were We Formed?
In 1990, a conference on watershed management for the Mitchell River was held at Kowanyama. Out of community concern shown at this conference, the Mitchell River Watershed Management Group (MRWMG) was formed with a vision of a cooperative approach to management of the catchment, sustainable management of natural resources, and maintaining and enhancing biodiversity. The formation of the MRWMG was a new and innovative approach in Queensland at the time. The primary interest of the group is in creating a balanced approach to the use of catchment resource.

Who Is Involved?
It is important to have all members of the community working on local projects therefore MRWMG works with Traditional Owners, pastoralists, schools, researchers and research organisations, as well as tourism, fishing, mining, conservation and local, state and Australian government organisations to help secure a sustainable future for the Mitchell River catchment.

The group also has representation from all local councils, industry groups, State Agencies and Landcare Bodies including the Peninsula Landcare Committee. The MRWMG Community Engagement Program covers Irvinebank Landcare Group, Julatten Community Association and Cattle Creek Landcare whilst MRWMG also supports the Kowanyama Land Office and actively engages with the Traditional Owners of the Mitchell catchment and their representative groups.

Where Do We Work?
The Mitchell River catchment area spans three Natural Resource Management regions: the northern gulf region managed by the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group, the Cape York region managed by Cape York Regional NRM, and the Wet Tropics region managed by Terrain Natural Resource Management . As the MRWMG is unique in covering all three areas it works closely with all three groups and provides a round-table forum to discuss and exchange ideas and information.

Where Do We Get Our Funding From?
The MRWMG was formerly funded through the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) via the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group.  However, since the Australian government replaced NHT with Caring for Our Country , a much more targeted approach that identifies very specific outcomes for funding and has overlooked the need for supporting the community engagement and extension work previously carried out by landcare and catchment groups such as MRWMG, the Group has not received the same amount of core funding. As a result we have been unable to continue the same level of support of community landcare groups in Irvinebank, Julatten and Cattle Creek as under NHT. We have been successful in obtaining specific project funding under the Australian Caring for Our Country and the Queensland governments Q2 Coasts and Country programs, and this funding has included project administration costs. However, we will need to source additional funds from non-government sources, by either administering projects in partnerships with other groups and the community or by delivering specific parts of projects, to cover our core operating costs, support community groups and carry out extension work in the catchment to the same degree we have in the past.

Mitchell River Watershed Management Group meeting, Karma Waters July 2007
Meetings are held regularly throughout the year in different parts of the catchment.