Dataset
NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
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New South Wales River Styles spatial dataset

The NSW River Styles is a spatial dataset that contains over 220,000 km of river length in NSW and records information (attributes) for each discrete section (reach) of river using the River Styles Framework.

A River Style is a discrete river type, defined according to its valley setting, planform, bed material and assemblage of geomorphic units. The River Styles Framework is an approach to geomorphologically informed river management that was developed at Macquarie University (https://riverstyles.com/river-styles-framework). The four stages in the River Styles Framework, cover the description of river morphology, interpretation of behaviour, assessment of condition, prediction of river recovery potential and prioritisation of river management
Assessments use a range of data including recent and historical imagery, elevation data, along with field assessments to validate the desktop assessments and gather better data on bed material, and geomorphic features and condition. Individual reaches are then considered in context of upstream and downstream reaches and then broader sub-catchment and catchment scale processes, threats and connections, such as erosion and sediment transport, landuse and riparian vegetation.

Data and Resources

Metadata Summary What is metadata?

Field Value
Language English
Edition 1.0
Purpose The River Styles Framework can help us identify rare and threatened river forms across NSW. It can also help to describe individual rivers, assess their current geomorphic condition and forecast whether a river is degrading or recovering. This information will help inform our management of our rivers by: • knowing what kind of river you’re working with • recognising and treating underlying physical environmental issues, rather than just the symptoms • developing and using monitoring, evaluation and reporting protocols that measure physical condition for the river type in a consistent way • integrating and aligning environmental decision-making across agencies and disciplines by using a consistent and verified framework • understanding the relationships between the physical structure of river systems, habitats and ecological populations • prioritising management actions to be more strategic and efficient with use of water resources.
Frequency of change As needed
Keywords WATER
Metadata Date 2023-07-24
Date of Asset Creation 2023-07-19
Date of Asset Publication 2023-07-24
License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Geospatial Topic Environment
NSW Place Name NSW
Extent

Dataset extent
Temporal Coverage From 2008-01-01 - 2023-03-31
Datum GDA94 / NSW Lambert
Legal Disclaimer Read
Attribution NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water asserts the right to be attributed as author of the original material in the following manner: "© State Government of NSW and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water 2023"
Groups Department of Planning and Environment—Water