Cattle farmer plants 14,000 trees to help slow flow of flood water

Jeff Imeson is a man who is not afraid to get his hands dirty.

The retired NSW Police officer and fourth-generation cattle farmer has helped to plant about 14,000 trees on his 107-hectare property at Coffee Camp near Nimbin.

"There's not a lot of trees out here and we always started out with the idea that we wanted to re-wild it, make it a productive farm but put some native plants back on it," he said.

"With some [regenerators] and some funding, we've done this in two years.

"But it'll take about seven to 10 years until we can get that canopy to block out that sun, stop the weeds growing and change the environment for the better," he said.

An Added Bonus

Last month the CSIRO released a study into engineering solutions to reduce flooding effects in the Richmond catchment.

However, state and federal governments have also been funding work on nature-based solutions, the so-called "soft" approach to flood mitigation, which encourages revegetation of riparian zones higher up catchments to reduce soil runoff and slow the flow of floodwater.

For Jeff Imeson, it was a means to an end.

With 2.5 kilometres of river frontage, his property was a perfect candidate and he received $200,000 to plant trees.

"We wanted to put trees back to where they probably shouldn't have been taken in the first place," Mr Imeson said.

His is one of 35 Northern Rivers properties funded under the Caring for Catchments scheme, which has seen more than 84,000 native trees and native grasses planted along 40 kilometres of riverbank.

The future of flood mitigation

NSW Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin said nature-based solutions (NbS) could help the region adapt.

"It's based on scientific principles and it actually complements if there's other structures and things in place," she said.

"Some people have asked me if [nature-based solutions] will stop floods, no it won't stop floods and it'll be hard to stop a 2022 flood."

The Australian National University's Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions was commissioned by the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) to produce national guidelines on using nature-based solutions for flood mitigation.

The team is currently working with communities in NSW and Queensland to evaluate the efficacy of NbS programs in flood-prone catchments.

Senior researcher Jason Alexandra said if water could be slowed higher in the catchment, "then the flood peak is typically lower and longer".

"Nature-based solutions [put] the emphasis on using natural process like the way forests regenerate, by designing with nature rather than finding a different kind of solution," he said.

"It's the principle that's important, that is, slow the water so it can do more work where it lands, rather than running off rapidly.

"It's very much dependent on the specific location, so we don't want to go thinking there's a simple solution," said Dr Alexandra.

Flowing in the right direction

NEMA said in a statement that while nature-based solutions had a role to play in building flood resilience, "levees, pumps and drainage upgrades remain essential in major flood events".

"Nature-based Solutions complement these investments by redirecting or slowing water before it reaches this infrastructure, while also reducing erosion, improving water quality and supporting long-term catchment health," it said.

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