Join us for the RBMS Melbourne Seminar – Tales from the catchments: Development opportunities in river health

Bill Moulden (Melbourne Water), Lisa Duncan & Jarod Lyon (Waterway Management Twinning Program), Ian Rutherfurd (University of Melbourne) will reflect on their involvement and participation in professional development opportunities in river health in Victoria.

Bill Moulden – On Secondment to Wurundjeri Land Council as a Water Policy Advisor

Bill’s scientific expertise is in vegetation and hydrology. He has been working in the field of environmental water management and irrigation for the last 15 years in Victoria, and the Pilbara and southwest regions of Western Australia. More recently he has worked as an environmental water planner at Melbourne Water for the last six and a half years.

Bill has been on secondment to Wurundjeri Land Council since September 2017 as a Water Policy Advisor and is supporting the Wurundjeri community to realise the opportunities presented by the passage of the Yarra River Protection (Willip-gin Birrarung murron) Act and Water for Victoria. He is proud to work for the Traditional Owners of the land on which his children were born and would like to acknowledge the strength and commitment to justice of Wurudnjeri Elders past present and future.

Lisa Duncan and Jarod Lyon – RBMS Sponsored participants in the 2018 Twinning Program

Lisa Duncan and Jarod Lyon were ‘twinned’ through the Waterway Management Twinning Program coordinated by the Glenelg Hopkins CMA and the Australian River Restoration Centre. This program pairs river management professionals from across south-eastern Australia through a mentoring relationship that enables them to share ideas, build capacity and extend networks.  The ultimate aim of the Program is for participants to feel renewed, supported and excited about their role in delivering world class river protection and rehabilitation projects.

Jarod is a Principal Research Scientist in Applied Aquatic Ecology at the Arthur Rylah Institute. Lisa at the beginning of the program was a project officer at the Goulburn Broken CMA working on environmental water management in Barmah Forest, she then undertook a 6 month secondment to the Victorian Environmental Water Holder during the middle of the program and finished the program as a consultant in the Waterways and Catchments group at Jacobs. Lisa and Jarod worked together on a project looking at the re-introduction of Southern pygmy perch to Barmah Forest. The mentoring relationship extended beyond the fish stocking project as Jarod also helped Lisa navigate a period of significant career change throughout the year.

Ian Rutherford – Graduate Certificate in Catchment and Waterway Management

Ian is a fluvial geomorphologist with a passion for rehabilitating catchments and streams. Ian is the President of the Institute of Australian Geographers and has worked as an Associate Professor at the University of Melbourne and as the Director of River Health with the Department of Environment and Primary Industries.

Ian will be involved in a panel discussion and share his involvement with the Graduate Certificate in Catchment and Waterway Management offered at the University of Melbourne.The objective of the course is to improve the capacity of organisations and individuals to deliver their roles and responsibilities for rural and urban waterway management by increasing the depth and diversity of knowledge and skills of professionals practicing in the waterway management industry. The course is delivered by a combination of distance learning and intensive periods of face-to-face teaching on campus or at regional centres in Victoria.