SAM MASON | Ecologist
Rivers of change:
a real world experience
Embarking on my industry placement was an important step in my university journey as well as my life thus far. After meeting with university mentors, I was presented with the opportunity to undertake my internship with Scenic Rim Regional Council and the Resilient Rivers Initiative (RRI). RRI is a program spearheaded by the Council of Mayors with a focus to create integrated approaches to management across South East Queensland catchments. Part of this mission is to develop a rapid riparian assessment tool that can be used by consistently amongst councils and NRM groups to ensure a robust methodology that provides scientific rigor through reliable data management and monitoring. Myself and fellow intern, Courtney Cummings, were brought on board to begin the initial research and development phase of the task. Our goal was to research existing tools, determine their suitability across a range of indicators, and adapt these for an SEQ context. This experience was conducted under the supervision of three Catchment Officers: Anna Shera, Miriam Nyrene, and Chris Hoffman.
As part of our research, we conducted several field studies with landholders and attended industry workshops to determine the priorities for the region. The expected deliverables for the project encompassed a preliminary tool that could be tested in the region for use by experts and members of the community, as well as supporting documentation to educate stakeholders on the importance of riparian environments. Future aspirations for the project include developing a streamlined data management system and the conversion of the tool to a digital application for use on handheld devices.
In order to achieve the desired outcomes for our placement, we developed a strategic plan that was guided by a GANTT project schedule. We broke down our timeline into four phases: research and planning, writing and design, testing, and review. Within each phase, we assigned sub-tasks that contributed towards each deliverable. To ensure seamless collaboration between ourselves and our supervisors, we used a range of digital applications including MS Team, google sheets, and office 365 online word processing. This allowed us to keep abreast of changes in real-time and coordinate effectively. To maintain momentum on the project, we divided tasks to align with our strengths. As an environmental management student, Courtney focused on research and development of supporting documentation, while I worked on composition and content of the tool, which reflects my background in design and ecology. This maximized our productivity when working apart, which was beneficial during many periods of flood interruptions and sickness. These interruptions did have impacts, particularly during the testing phase, however, we mostly stayed ahead of schedule.
A critical moment during the development of our tool occurred during week five. As this point, our goal had been to make a tool that could be picked up and used by both landholders and experts. After developing an initial design, we realized that instead of reflecting the needs of both audiences, we had design that lacked scientific rigor while failing to entice time-poor landholders. Despite feeling somewhat dejected, we embraced this new insight and decided that two designs were necessary. While this may seem obvious now, it was only through our experimentation that we were able to build a better solution.
With renewed focus, the design of the revised riparian assessment tool for expert users came together quickly and was based on a methodology developed by researchers in North Queensland, The Tropical Rapid Appraisal of Riparian Condition (TRARC). We identified this tool as having robust scientific credentials and a scoring system that translated well for data management and monitoring. We adapted and redesigned elements to fit South East Queensland's unique species, pressures and geography. After initial testing, it was obvious the tool provided the necessary depth and ease of use. With each subsequent trial in different landscapes, we documented the experience and made slight refinements. Part of our plan included testing in environments of differing ecological value to establish benchmarking. This is an ongoing process and will improve with each site that is tested.
My internship with the Scenic Rim Regional Council and the Resilient Rivers Initiative was invaluable and reinforced my commitment to the field of Ecology. Being part of a dynamic team and contributing at the inception of project was thoroughly rewarding. A key learning was recognising that science is a continuum and it is okay to build upon the work of others. Early on I placed pressure on myself to create everything from scratch but I quickly realised this was not feasible and counterproductive, considering the years of research and development put into the tools we were researching. Reaching out to Ian Dixon, the creator of the original TRARC, was a pivotal moment. His spirit of generosity in allowing me to adapt his work for our purposes reflects the best of our science community and the desire to create real change.