Traveston Dam threat to a decade of restoration of the Mary Rivet

The banks of the Mary River and its tributaries were once covered with rainforest species that protected the banks from erosion during floods. However these streams have generally become wider and shallower as a result of clearing, with many banks actively eroding, destroying valuable ecosystems and river flats in the process.

The Mary Catchment has been identified in studies as an aquatic biodiversity hotspot and contains a
number of endemic endangered species. Over the past decade, millions of dollars in government funding for river restoration has helped landholders and other interested community members to establish programs for
restoration of the Mary River catchment. In 2004, the Mary River community was awarded the coveted National Rivercare Award. Now legislative and policy changes empowering the State Government and water corporations to capture, store and transfer large quantities of water out of the catchment into the proposed South East Queensland water grid, place these successful restoration activities and the community that has
participated since 1995 at risk.