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.
MRWMG currently has a 177 financial members (as of 1 December 2009) and is governed by a 6 member Executive Committee with a staff of a Coordinator and Projects Officer, with part-time administration and volunteer support. The following executive committee members were elected at the AGM held at Dimbulah on 26 November 2009.
Chairperson
Marceil Lawrence
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Deputy Chairperson Estelle Waia
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Secretary
Ian Adcock |
Treasurer
Rob Ryan |
Executive Member
Alwyn Lyall |
Executive Member
Michael Yam
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Coordinator
Bill Sokolich
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Projects Officer
Brynn Mathews |
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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 (for which there is currently no NRM body), 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 via the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group. However, since the new Australian government replaced NHT with Caring for Our Country 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 Caring for Our Country program, 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 be able to support community groups and carry out extension work in the catchment to the same degree we have in the past.
