In planning for environmental flows in the Boort wetlands, North Central CMA has worked with Barapa Barapa and Wamba Wemba Traditional Owners and Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (trading as DJAARA) to identify opportunities to engage on environmental water planning and delivery, now and in the future.
The wetlands and surrounding land in the Boort region are rich in cultural heritage, with sites and artefacts of cultural practices present throughout the landscape. The rivers and floodplains are valued as food and fibre sources and contain many sites of significance (such as camp sites and meeting places). Environmental watering supports values such as native fish, waterbirds and turtles, and promotes the growth of culturally important plants that provide food, medicine and weaving materials. The presence of water itself can be a cultural value, as well as the quality of the water, as healthy water promotes a healthy Country.
The Dhelkunya Dja (Healing Country) Country Plan 2014-2034 describes their aspirations around the management of rivers and waterways and articulates Dja Dja Wurrung peoples’ support for the reinstatement of environmental flows as an overall objective for the management of water on Country.
Increasing the involvement of Traditional Owners in environmental water planning and management, and ultimately providing opportunities to progress towards self-determination within the environmental watering program, is a core commitment of the VEWH and its agency partners. This is reinforced by a range of legislation and policy commitments (for example the Water Act 1989, the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework, Water for Victoria (2016)) and, in some cases, agreements under the Traditional Owner Settlement Act 2010. Where Traditional Owners are more deeply involved in the planning and/or delivery of environmental flows for a particular site, their contribution is acknowledged in Table 5.7.3 with an icon. The use of this icon is not intended to indicate that these activities are meeting all the needs of Traditional Owners but is incorporated in the spirit of valuing that contribution, and indicating progress towards this objective.
 | Watering planned and/or delivered in partnership with Traditional Owners to support cultural values and uses |
DJAARA is completing a Water For Country ‘Gatjin’ Strategy to set the vision, objectives and targets for cultural water on Country. Aboriginal Waterway Assessments (AWAs) planned to be undertaken in 2022-23 will feed into the Strategy. Through the Water For Country ‘Gatjin’ Strategy DJAARA will integrate data from completed AWAs into water planning processes to better influence how water is managed on Country (such as through the Seasonal Watering Plan process).
The North Central CMA is committed to working with DJAARA including their local family group Yung Balug, to enable the proposed watering at Lake Boort while managing cultural heritage, to the satisfaction of all partners. This includes the inundation of culturally significant plant communities.
In early 2022, Barapa Barapa and Wamba Wemba Traditional Owners went on a field visit to Lake Leaghur, Lake Meran and Little Lake Meran. The group discussed which Boort and central Murray wetlands to water in 2022-23, and supported the proposal to water most of the actively managed wetlands on their Country and to allow Lake Yando to go through a dry phase. The group also indicated a preference to water Little Lake Meran over Lake Leaghur (if water supply is an issue) as the fringing black box trees are looking stressed. The group indicated that they are very interested in undertaking Aboriginal Waterway Assessments (AWAs) at several of the Boort wetlands in the future – in both wet and dry phases.