Networking for the environment

His ‘chair’, in the Shepparton office, we might add, has a commanding view of the Goulburn River banks and a stretch of parklands peppered with bush and red gums.

Appropriate for a man with the task of overseeing the health of our rivers and lands around Victoria’s largest river and a large swathe of northern Victoria.

Everyone has an opinion about the quality of the river, and Carl has one too.

He believes the health of the river has improved over the past 20 years, and that we are seeing a result for the time and money invested into the catchment. And he has the data that supports this.

For example, there are more brolgas in the catchment these days with water delivery into key breeding wetlands contributing to the advancement of the species.

The Goulburn Broken CMA also coordinates the environmental flows down the Goulburn River, which can create controversy.

“In the end if you have everyone annoyed you know you are somewhere on the right track!” Carl said with a wry smile.

“It’s how you can use it best and how do you achieve your goals.

“And we know, for example, you can’t put water in every area every year.”

He lifted his head above the environmental parapet last year when he suggested that the Goulburn River had enough environmental water for the moment, and he counselled governments not to buy any water out of the Goulburn system.

The point he was making, was about managing the water already available, not simply dumping large volumes into the waterways.

“Our role is to protect and enhance the resilience of the Goulburn Broken catchment. “That’s about community, the environment, water and land.

“And it’s about understanding the challenges that come along and what we can do about those. In some cases helping with transformation or recovery after shocks, like droughts, floods and fires.

“We work really hard to stay connected across the catchment to help understand how we can respond to those challenges.

“We use things like our Regional Catchment Strategies which say: here is the catchment, here are the critical attributes, what are we doing to manage, protect and understand those attributes, and what does the future look like and how can we achieve that future?”

A budget of $15 million might sound modest when you look at the size of the catchment, but Carl says a lot can be achieved with partnerships.

“We need to ask how can we do that? How can we achieve something? How can we make a difference? That might involve one, two, three or more other parties.”

He’s also aware that projects involving multiple stakeholders can get bogged down.

“It’s about doing; not just talking about it.”

He draws on the mentoring of Goulburn Valley water industry heavyweights Denis Flett, Bill O’Kane, Ken Sampson and Chris Norman, whom he has worked for over the years.

“It’s about cutting through the confusion, providing clarity of purpose and delivering on the ground.”

When Carl started work 43 years ago in the construction division of Goulburn-Murray Water’s forerunner, the State Rivers and Water Supply Commission, he was only responsible for himself.

Now he has to manage an organisation with about 50 people across three sites.

A large part of the annual budget is devoted to human resources.

“Our principles are about helping people make a difference and not get in the way too much,” he said.

“We employ smart people who can make a difference.”

Gouburn Broken CMA Board chair Sarah Parker said Carl had 17 years of work in the natural resource field with the CMA.

“Having already built momentum in his role as interim CEO, Mr Walters has re-established the Gouburn Broken CMA as a leader in innovation in the natural resource management sector,” she said.

“Mr Walters has well-established and respected relationships with key stakeholders, particularly within irrigation and regional communities, bringing significant credibility and reinforcing the authority’s role in sustainable catchment management.”