Restoration Plan
Summary

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The approach to restoration planning

The framework has been important in making clear the roles of the key players and the research team. The key players - through community workshops, a catchment-wide survey, and the Watershed Torbay project steering committee and sub-committees - have been the major drivers in developing the vision and objectives for the restoration plan.

The technical advisory group and contract researchers have provided information on possible actions to meet the objectives, adding to those suggested by the community and the steering committee. The technical advisory group has provided information about the current state of the catchment and provided a better understanding of how the catchment works. The key role of the technical advisory group has been to give their assessment of how effective the proposed actions would be in working on the key issues.

The steering committee, with an emphasis on the community representatives, has then made judgments about how practical the proposed actions would be to implement and how acceptable they are - that is, how willing landholders would be to undertake proposed actions. Integration of research information, local knowledge and the values held by the community has been critical in the decision-making process.

Through the project it has been recognised that work on a range of elements of change is needed to support the planning process. Communication work to build pressure for change and develop a shared vision has been undertaken throughout the project. The building of local skills through field days, workshops, presentations by researchers and development of trials has been important in developing capacity to change and is a strong element in the restoration plan. While the Watershed Torbay project has focused on the preparation of the restoration plan, the Torbay Catchment Group has continued to gain financial support to undertake on-the-ground works. This has been important for maintaining local enthusiasm for catchment repair work.

The restoration plan is based on the need to keep working on all key elements of change:

  • pressure for change
  • clear, shared vision
  • capacity to change
  • actionable first steps