Urban Rivers and Catchment Program
- Project value$1.7 million
- Contractor nameBurnie City Council NRM team
- Completion Date18 February 2028
Burnie City Council was successful in obtaining $1.7 million in grant funding through the Australian Governments Urban Rivers Catchment program.
$200 million was shared across the nation to help restore the health of our urban waterways for native plants, animals, and local communities.
Nearly nearly half of all nationally listed threatened animals - and a quarter of threatened plants - occur in urban areas. They actually share these areas with 96% of Australia’s population.
The Urban Rivers and Catchment program will improve 9 kilometres of riparian corridor in the catchments of Romaine Creek and Shorewell Creek to benefit locally endemic freshwater crayfish and other native species.
It will exclude stock access to waterways, remove environmental weeds, undertake revegetation with local native species, and install several gross pollutant traps.
This program has a 3-year projected timeline, and has commenced as part of Burnie City Councils Annual Plan and Budget for 2025-26.
Project Updates:
June 2026
Thousands of locally native plants are being established at Romaine Reserve as part of Burnie City Council's Urban Rivers and Catchments Program.
Residents may have noticed tree guards appearing throughout the Romaine and Shorewell Creek catchments in recent weeks, marking the beginning of another important stage in restoring these waterways and improving habitat for local wildlife.
Last week, four groups of Hellyer College Outdoor Education students contributed to the effort by planting 500 native plants, helping deliver the 3,000 locally native species planned for this section of Romaine Reserve.
The revegetation program is also being supported by local contractors Artisan Greencare, Titania's Garden Services, Healthy Country Services and Four Seasons Forestry Services.
Burnie City Council thanks the students, teachers and contractors involved in the project, which will help create healthier ecosystems and greener spaces for the community to enjoy for years to come.
June 2026
Students from Hellyer College's Outdoor Education program have once again teamed up with Burnie City Council to help protect local waterways and wildlife.
Across four separate classes, students removed a total of 615 kilograms of rubbish from local waterways, helping improve the health of these important environments and protecting threatened species and other native wildlife.
The clean-up effort continues a successful partnership between Hellyer College and Burnie City Council that has been ongoing for the past three years. During that time, students have removed a combined total of 1.5 tonnes of rubbish from local waterways and reserves.
The partnership extends beyond clean-up activities, with students also assisting Council with revegetation works at Romaine Reserve.
Burnie City Council thanks the students and staff at Hellyer College for their ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and their valuable contribution to protecting and enhancing Burnie's natural areas.
February 2026
Through the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program funded by the Australian Government, BCC is rehabilitating 9 km of Romaine and Shorewell Creek to improve the water quality and habitat of endangered species and other animals that live there. Council so far has established 28 agreements with landowners to progress works on their land.
This project has commenced, and you may have noticed contractors doing weed control along the creeks. Other things that are progressing in the rural areas are the installation of fencing to remove stock from the creeks and providing off-stream watering points to improve the water quality for stock. Fencing off the creeks will improve the water quality for the animals that live in it by allowing either the natural regeneration of plants or the project will provide local native plants for landowners to plant in these fenced areas.
In the urban areas, council will also be controlling weeds and revegetating large areas of previously mown land that will increase the vegetation buffer for the creek’s inhabitants. Some of these inhabitants that we regularly see are the Giant Freshwater Crayfish, Burnie Burrowing Crayfish, Latham’s Snipe and Swift Parrot.
Council will also install Gross Pollutant Traps at three sites in the Shorewell Creek, to stop sediment and contaminants from entering the creek. We will also be arranging clean-ups of rubbish in the creek and will be looking for volunteers to help with planting along both creeks in autumn and winter.