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Natural Freshwater Values and the CFEV Project

The CFEV (Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values) project has been developed to allow the consideration of Natural Freshwater Values in catchment management and this website makes this information available to a wider audience.

The two CFEV tools provide access to slightly different information:

The Site Assessment Tool

This tool provides information on Conservation Management Priorities(CMPs)at a location specified by the user. This tool allows precise queries involving a single ecosystem and returns results that are relevant for the consideration of developments(such as buildings or dams).

The Natural Freshwater Values Browser

This tool provides a broad range of CFEV assessment components including Naturalness, Conservation Management Priority and a range of associated data. It provides one of the simplest ways of querying multiple ecosystems for the purposes of broad scale management, or simple curiosity. The results from this tool should not be used for assessing developments.

CFEV Assessment Components (CMP, RCV, ICV, N-score, and LTS)

The CFEV project has five assessment components that can be considered when looking at an ecosystem, site or location. These are dealt with in detail in the Translation Sheet supplied with all downloaded CFEV reports.

1. Conservation Management Priority (CMP) The importance (or priority) of each site is displayed using colours where Blue = Very High; Green = High; Orange = Moderate and Red = Lower Conservation Management Priority.

2. Representative Conservation Value (RCV) and associated important biophysical class (as predicted under pristine conditions) give an indication of how representative each site is of the biophysical classes to which it belongs.

3. Integrated Conservation Value (ICV) and associated Special Values. This value combines RCV with a measure of the Special Values(e.g. threatened species)present at a site.

4. Naturalness score (N-score) and associated Naturalness drivers. These provide an indication of the condition of a site, using pre-European settlement condition as a baseline.

5. Land Tenure Security (LTS). This provides an indication of the land tenure associated with a site, and this is used to infer a rough assessment of current conservation management.

The derivation of these components is described in the CFEV assessment framework.

The CFEV Project

The Conservation of Freshwater Ecosystem Values (CFEV) (pronounced "see-fev") Project is an initiative of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE). Its aim is to ensure that priority freshwater values are appropriately considered in the development, management and conservation of the State's water resources.

The outputs from this project provide an assessment of the conservation management priorities (CMP) of all freshwater ecosystems throughout the state. Through its comprehensive audit of the state's freshwater ecosystem, CFEV offers the first Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) assessment of freshwater ecosystems conducted in Australia. This gives users the rare luxury of being able to manage all freshwater ecosystems with comparable conservation management information, rather than having access to only limited data on a range of flagship ecosystems.

The CFEV project has completed a statewide audit and conservation evaluation of Tasmania's freshwater dependent ecosystems, which used existing environmental data to develop data sets and identify where aquatic values exist and their overall priority for management. The scope of the audit included an assessment of rivers (including riparian vegetation), wetlands, lakes and waterbodies, saltmarshes, estuaries, karst systems and groundwater dependent ecosystem values.

The assessment framework (see below) complements marine and terrestrial management systems already in place. The Project adopted the values of Naturalness, Representativeness and Distinctiveness (NRD) as the broad assessment criteria to support the implementation of these CAR principles.

A comprehensive technical report, detailing the adopted methodology of the assessment framework, data limitations and results is also currently being prepared and will support the CFEV database.

Find further information on the CFEV Project at CFEV homepage or contact the Project Manager, Danielle Hardie on 03 - 6233 2627 or cfev@dpiw.tas.gov.au.

CFEV assessment framework

The CFEV assessment framework uses information collected as part of a statewide audit, designed to characterise freshwater ecosystems (classification) as well as determine their current (c. 2003) condition (condition assessment). The CFEV assessment framework is driven by three main components, Naturalness (N), Representativeness (R) and Distinctiveness (D). The left hand side of the first part of the diagram below illustrates the assessment of Represenativeness. This is the classification process that is used during the conservation evaluation stage in an assessment of each ecosystem's value as a representative of its kind (as described by up to seven seperate classifications e.g. geomorphology, hydrology, riparian vegetation, etc). The right hand side of the flow diagram shows the assessment of condition or Naturalness. Combining these values means that when ecosystems of similar Representativeness are considered, the more natural example will receive a higher conservation evaluation. The conservation evaluation that incorporates measures of Naturalness and Representativeness is termed the Relative Conservation Value (RCV). Distinctive features of an ecosystem include a diverse assortment of 'Special Values'. These values are incorporated into the conservation evaluation, at a later stage to give an Integrated Conservation Value (ICV). The last step of the conservation evaluation gives a final Conservation Management Priority (CMP), and this re-orders the priorities suggested by the ICV to take into account current conservation management.

Glossary

Biophysical class: Different ecosystems have a different suite of biophysical classes (e.g tree assemblage, fish community etc.) by which they have been described. The CFEV reports detail the biophysical class that a feature is most representative of.

Classification: a characterisation of freshwater dependent ecosystems resulting from the identification of different ecosystem components based on the modelled pre-European extent of a range of physical and biological variables.

Condition assessment: an assessment of the degree of change from the 'natural' or pre-European-settlement state.

Conservation evaluation: a ranking of conservation significance and priorities for management based on identified values and existing condition.

Distinctiveness: an assessment of the type, range and significance of Special Values such as threatened flora and fauna species, threatened flora and fauna communities, priority geomorphic and limnological features and important bird sites.

Ecosystem or Ecosystem feature: any of the seven freshwater dependent ecosystem assessed using the CFEV assessment framework, including rivers, waterbodies, wetlands, estuaries, saltmarshes, karst and other groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Freshwater-dependent ecosystems: those ecosystems that depend on periodic or sustained inundation or significant inputs of freshwater for their ecological integrity.

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems (GDEs): those ecosystems (including the species composition and natural ecological processes) that are determined by the permanent or temporary presence or influence of groundwater.

Karst: landforms (including cave systems) that have characteristic forms resulting from the dissolution by water of rocks, such as limestone and dolerite.

Land Tenure Security: an assessment of the degree to which the different land tenures may be considered to provide secure protection for freshwater dependent ecosystem values.

Naturalness: an assessment of a site's departure from our estimate of its condition prior to European settlement.

Naturalness drivers: these are the condition variables that are combined to give an assessment of Naturalness.

Representativeness: Each ecosystem spatial unit was assigned a set of biophysical classes within the audit process based on natural features (e.g. fish, riparian vegetation, hydrology etc.). Representativeness is an assessment of how good an example each site is of its type (or biophysical class). This descriptor for each spatial unit was used as input to the assessment of Representative Conservation Value (RCV) to ensure that all biophysical classes were adequately represented in the priorities for conservation management.

River section: the section of river in the drainage network between confluences.

Spatial selection: is the process where each ecosystem feature is ranked according to its Representativeness and Naturalness and is ultimately attributed with an RCV.

Spatial units: / individual ecosystem features such as river sections, waterbodies, wetlands, estuaries, saltmarshes, karst (cave systems) and other groundwater dependent ecosystems.

Special Values: these include threatened flora and fauna species, threatened flora and fauna communities, priority geomorphic and limnological features and important bird sites.