Summary

• Watershed Torbay was established in 2001 as a national demonstration project to undertake whole of catchment waterways restoration. Funded by Land & Water Australia through the former National Rivers Consortium, the aim was to further develop and test approaches to waterways management at a whole catchment, rather than river reach scale, and to share the learnings and successes throughout Australia.
  
  
• Watershed Torbay adopted a number of key approaches to ensure its successful development and implementation. These included action learning, civic-science, social marketing, `best bet' on-ground works in parallel with research and planning, and using a learning log to capture learnings and demonstrate adaptive approaches.
  
  
• This Technical Guideline presents reflections from key participants - government agencies, researchers, representatives from different sectors of the local community, and the staff working on Watershed Torbay. This information will demonstrate how the Watershed Torbay approach has substantially equipped the community to embark on an ambitious restoration project, as well as providing valuable learnings for others involved in natural resources management about how to successfully engage local communities.
  
  
• The development of the Torbay Catchment Restoration Plan is the key outcome from the project. Ultimately, the success of this project will not be fully demonstrated until the Catchment Restoration Plan has been implemented, and improvements are made in the state of the catchment.
  
  
• In recognition of the achievements of Watershed Torbay, it was awarded the Thiess National Riverprize in 2006.