The increasing pressures on the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment have resulted in the publication of a new guide by the ACT Government to protect and manage the region's waterways, landscapes, and cultural heritage.

 Produced by the ACT and Region Catchment Management Coordination Group, Walking Together for Country: a collaborative guide to caring for the upper Murrumbidgee catchment  sets goals, focus areas and ideas to guide decisions to manage the environment and water.

The summer of 2019 was a stark reminder that the Upper Murrumbidgee Catchment needs help, the guide says. Record high daily temperatures and extremely low rainfall in the region caused severe drought conditions and critically low flows, reducing sections of the river to a series of stagnant pools. 

 A 'braided network of pressures' that interact and intensify over time’ span economic, climatic, environmental, and socio-cultural domains. Forces such as competing water demands, infrastructure expansion, population growth, and competition for resources place immediate stress on the system. These are compounded by climate change pressures, declining runoff and inflows in the catchment, rising temperatures, and more frequent extreme events such as the summer of 2019.

 These events have seen a severe decline in the abundance of fish abundance and diversity, with species such as Macquarie perch, Murray cod, Trout cod, Silver perch and Two-spined blackfish facing mounting pressures.

 Heavy sedimentation is smothering aquatic habitats, degrading water quality and reducing flows. Invasive weeds, such as willows and Box elder, threaten high quality riparian vegetation, and increasing numbers of pest species such as deer, goats and pigs are reducing groundcover and water quality. On occasions, dangerous levels of bacteria  have closed favourite recreation spots along the river.

The Coordination Group is a statutory advisory body representing the ACT, NSW, and Australian governments, local councils, community and industry representatives, and Traditional Custodians. Its role is to oversee and coordinate water and catchment management across the ACT and the surrounding upper Murrumbidgee River region – upstream of Burrinjuck Dam and including the ACT and surrounding regional areas of Queanbeyan, Yass, and parts of the Snowy Monaro.

 The guideline marks a shift from the prescriptive approach of the ACT and Region Catchment Strategy 2016–46 to a more flexible framework for managing the catchment and draws on the clear message from two community surveys, in 2023 and 2025:  ‘Our rivers are not just a body of water: They are life, memory, identity, and belonging.’