Natural Resource Management Regions

Abstract Natural Resource Management (NRM) Region boundaries and those NRM Region boundaries making up Regional Delivery Partner (RDP) management units, previously described as National Landcare Program (NLP) management units. Of these RDP management units those that overlap Remote Indigenous Procurement Policy (RIPP) areas by more than 50% are also identified as remote RDPs. The NRM Regions dataset is maintained for the purpose of authoritative reporting on the Australian Government"s NRM investments. The dataset is designed to cover all Australian territory where Australian Government funded NRM projects might take place and includes major islands, external territories, and state and coastal waters in addition to the NRM regional boundaries. Whilst the boundaries of NRM Regions are defined by legislation in some states and territories, this dataset should not be used to represent legal boundaries in any way. It is an administrative dataset developed for the purpose of reporting and public information. It should be noted that from time to time the states and/or territories may revise their regional boundaries in accordance with local needs and therefore alterations to either the attribution or boundaries of the data may occur in the future. Current Version As part of Phase Two of the NLP the Australian Government"s NRM investments will be delivered with RDPs across 56 management units. These replace the previous NLP management units used in NLP Phase One. They are officially referred to as "Regional Delivery Partners for Environmental Protection, Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Services 2022". The spatial data for RDP management units are derived from the NRM Regions spatial data, as described below. The 2022 dataset defines NRM Region boundaries and RDP management units in a single dataset, thereby overcoming version control issues with the previous approach of publishing separate data layers for each. To handle a variety of required derivations, a fundamental set of 64 NRM Region map objects was first defined. This can then be compiled using various queries on non-spatial attributes. For example, as set out below, we can define 56 continental NRM Regions and 8 off-shore NRM regions, or island sub components of NRM regions located on the continent. Across these a total of 56 RDP management units can also be defined. To identify those NRM regions located on the Australian continent, a "continental" field (yes/no) has been included, for the first time, in the 2022 dataset. It allows differentiation between off-shore and continental regions, and accommodates that some NRM regions (ie one each in NSW and Tasmania) have both a continental part (eg North Coast, NSW) and an off-shore part (eg North Coast - Lord Howe Island). In accordance with the Australian Government’s Remote Indigenous Procurement Policy (RIPP) and its application to NRM regional investment, we have identified 16 RDP management units with more than 50% overlap with RIPP areas, as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). A RIPP field (yes/no) is included in the attribute table. The data structure allows either NRM Regions, RDP management units and those RDPs overlapping RIPPs to be mapped from the single dataset using the NRM_REGION, RDP_NAME and RIPP fields respectively. NRM_ID, RDP_ID and RIPP fields may also be used. The 2022 version updates the previous version (2020). In total, the 2022 version dataset comprises 64 NRM map objects for 62 NRM regions. These comprise 56 mainland regions (of which two have associated islands as separate map objects), the Torres Strait NRM region, and a further five external territories. Four of these external territories are islands and one is classified as Marine NRM. Using the RDP_NAME or RDP_ID fields to map Regional Delivery Partner management units will result in 56 RDP management units. These comprise: 54 mainland RDP management units (two of which have island components); Torres Strait; and a "Marine NRM" management unit. The Marine NRM unit combines Australia"s Territorial Sea (from 3 nautical miles to 12 nautical miles) and Australia"s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) (to 200 nautical miles) as well as Ashmore and Cartier Islands, Christmas Island, Cocos Keeling Islands and Heard and McDonald Islands. It excludes coastal waters (to 3 nautical miles) which are part of the terrestrial RDP management units. It also excludes the Australian Antarctic Territory and Norfolk Island. The 2022 version was derived from the former NRM regions series (latest version was 2020), originally established in 2006 as the "Natural Heritage Trust II (NHT2) Region Boundaries" dataset. Changes to the 2020 version in creating the 2022 version include the following: Natural Resource Management Regions * "Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges" NRM_Region split into "Green Adelaide" and "Hills ad Fleurieu" * Added two new NRM_IDs (4011 for Green Adelaide and 4012 for Hills ad Fleurieu) Regional Delivery Partner management units * Changed "National Landcare Program Management Units" to "Regional Delivery Partners for Environmental Protection, Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management Services" * "Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges" split into "Green Adelaide" and "Hills ad Fleurieu" * Added two new RDP_IDs (4011 for Green Adelaide and 4012 for Hills ad Fleurieu) * "Torres Strait", "Green Adelaide" and "Marine NRM" added * to match note *management unit covered through other financial arrangements * "South West Queensland", "Maranoa Balonne and Border Rivers" and "Condamine" combined into "Southern Queensland" with light grey dotted line to denote NRM borders. Currency Date modified: 2022 Modification frequency: None Data extent Spatial extent North: -6.9° South: -45.5° East: 159.4° West: 109.7° Source information This dataset is provided by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. * [Feature Server] * [Metadata] * [Public listing] Lineage statement Original NHT layer Data was supplied from state GIS data for: * NSW - Catchment Management Authority Areas * QLD - Queensland NRM Regional Boundaries * SA - NRM Regions * TAS - Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment NRM Regions * VIC - Catchment Management Board Boundaries * WA - NRM Regions of Western Australia * NT - 1:100 000 State Border and Coastline * ACT - 1:100 000 State Border The data supplied for TAS and WA was supplied in shapefile format with Qld, NSW, VIC data supplied in ArcInfo Export format. As there is only one NRM region for NT, this was derived from the coverage 1:100 000 Coastlines and State Borders. All source coverages were projected to Geographics, and consistent attribution was applied. All source coverages were appended, and the result cleaned with 0.0001 tolerances. On inspection of the state data it was noted that the borders and coastlines used were different amongst those datasets supplied by states and territories. The 1:100 000 Geoscience Australia (formerly AUSLIG) state borders and coastline were appended to the coverage in an effort to standardise the series at a national level. Slither polygons along common boundaries were eliminated, and a final check of attribution conducted. In February 2004, new NSW NRM regions (CMA boundaries) were supplied to DEH. The existing NSW regions were replaced by the new boundaries, which are largely amalgamations of the existing regions (the number of NSW regions was reduced from 20 to 13), however there were also a number of minor boundary changes. The 1:100 000 Coastlines and State border was retained and only internal boundaries updated. In addition to the new NSW boundaries, a number of changes were also made. * Minor updates were made to VIC, SA, WA and Qld region names * Attributional corrections made to some islands and regions * Islands in Bass Strait were assigned to Vic or Tas as according to the Aus100k dataset * Some islands in Bass Strait containing sliver polygons corrected * New numeric code assigned to each region February 2005 * Torres Strait boundary updated as per the Bilateral Agreement. Was derived from the latest GBRMP boundary (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, July 1 2004), the Australia/Papua New Guinea border (Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System, Geoscience Australia 2001), the boundary of Australian territorial waters (Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System, Geoscience Australia 2001), the 11 degrees south latitude and the coastline of the mainland (Geoscience Australia 1:100000 coastline). These changes also resulted in an altered Cape York region boundary. * The Qld marine zones were changed to the 3nm limit (Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System, Geoscience Australia 2001), as well as some minor changes to internal region boundaries supplied by QLD State * Marine zones to the 3nm limit (Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System, Geoscience Australia 2001) were added to Tasmania. The marine zone was divided amongst the regions by extending the region boundaries beyond the coastline in the same direction. The boundary between South and North West was determined by locating the mid-point of the harbour (derived using a series of buffers). * Macquarie Island and corresponding 3nm limit was added to South NRM region in Tasmania (Geoscience Australia 1:100000 coastline and Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System, Geoscience Australia 2001) * An incorrectly labelled polygon was corrected from terrestrial to marine in Northern Gulf. * The border between East Gippsland and North East (VIC) was updated using data supplied by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. * The dataset was integrated to the Geoscience Australia 1:100000 coastline with a cluster tolerance of 0.00005 degrees. The resulting NRM dataset aligns exactly with the coastline. August 2005 New NRM boundaries were provided by the South Australian Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation. These boundaries were added to the national dataset. The SA coastline was sourced using the Geoscience Australia 1:100,000 Coastline. The new SA boundaries include a marine component to the three nautical mile limit. November 2006 Region names updated to remove / and replace with - (i.e. Hawkesbury/Nepean became Hawkesbury-Nepean). Region was removed from region names where applicable (i.e. South West Region became South West). 2006 Base Layer The base layer for this dataset is the Natural Resource Management (NRM) Region Boundaries (formerly known as Natural Heritage Trust II (NHT2) Region Boundaries (2006)). This base layer has been periodically reviewed and built on to develop subsequent datasets. The original 2006 base layer included an offshore component for regions in SA, TAS and QLD. Offshore components for the other States and the Northern Territories were created using Geoscience Australia"s AMB 2006 coastal waters data. Mainland region boundaries were checked with all state and territory agencies resulting in changes to the internal mainland boundaries for QLD and WA. The amended boundaries were sourced from the relevant agency from these States. Geoscience Australia"s Geodata Coast 100K 2004 dataset was used for mainland state/territory borders. The AMB 2006 data was used to define the offshore boundaries between the States and the Northern Territory. Offshore boundaries between NRM Regions within a State were produced by extending region boundaries at 90 degrees to the state 100k coastline unless otherwise requested by state or territory agencies. 2009 version This version included updates to: the internal boundaries within WA and Qld; the seaward extent of coastal regions, which were extended to the 3 Nm coastal waters limit for all States and the Northern Territory; the inclusion of more offshore islands (and coastal waters); and the addition of external territories and their 12 Nm territories sea. The coastline has been removed from the data in line with the decision to extend all coastal NRM Regions to the outer limit of the adjacent coastal waters. It should be noted that the removal of the coastline means that islands lying within the outer limit of the Coastal Waters adjacent to the mainland are no longer depicted as separate features in the data. For example the many islands in Shark Bay WA are not displayed as separate entities in this dataset as they fall within the expanded (marine) extent of the Rangelands NRM Region in the new dataset. Users intending to create sub-continental scale maps to communicate locations of NRM regions boundaries are recommended to use additional layers containing coasts and near shore islands (as well as state/territory borders and major towns if required). Not all coastal waters for the States and/or the Northern Territory have been included in the data. The primary consideration was whether land based activities might affect the adjacent waters. For the 2009 and subsequent datasets, coastal waters adjacent to the mainland and islands contained in the Geodata Coast 100K dataset are included. Significant islands include Macquarie Island (Tas) and Lord Howe Island (NSW). Australia"s External Territories (Heard and McDonald Islands, Cocos Keeling Islands, Christmas Island, Ashmore and Cartier Islands, and Norfolk Islands) have also been included in the 2009 and subsequent versions. The reporting region for these islands is the area within the outer limit of the 12 Nm Territorial Sea adjacent to each of these External Territories as sourced from the AMB 2006 data. Specific issues relating to the development of the 2009 version for each State are described below: - WA- Data supplied from different WA regions contained overlaps around the Perth NRM. The Perth NRM confirmed that the NRM bodies work across neighbouring regions. As these boundaries remain ambiguous (and are not defined in any legislation) the Australian Government Land and Coasts settled on the boundaries in this dataset for the purposes of reporting. - NSW - Jervis Bay was added to the Southern Rivers NRM region after consultation with the Australian Government Land and Coasts NSW Team. Lord Howe Island was added to the NSW dataset as a part of the Northern Rivers NRM Region. The NSW Catchment Management Authority (CMA) Hawkesbury-Nepean, provided the marine NRM divisions between theirs and Central-Rivers, identifying that their northern regional boundary bisects Lion Island. - VIC - The Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) provided a state NRM dataset for this update. Their boundaries matched the pre-existing NRM Region Boundaries dataset, except for one small area between East and West Gippsland. Victoria agreed to use the pre-existing NRM boundaries in this area. The addition of the 3Nm coastal waters component for Victoria presented a challenge in defining the offshore boundaries between Port Phillip and Westernport and the neighbouring NRM Regions of Corangamite and West Gippsland. The islands on the western shore of Port Phillip Bay in the vicinity of Queenscliff (Swan Island and Duck Island) and Swan Bay have been included in the Corangamite NRM region. From north to south the border between the Corangamite NRM region and Port Phillip and Westernport Bay NRM region is a line drawn from the eastern arm of Edwards Point to Swan Point, along the eastern shore of Swan Island and between the southern extremity of Swan Island to the eastern extremity of Point Queenscliff. The offshore boundary between these regions is a line drawn directly south from Point Lonsdale to the outer limit of coastal waters. Finally, the offshore boundary between Port Phillip and Westernport Bay and West Gippsland is a line drawn directly south from the town of San Remo to the outer limit of coastal waters. - Tas - The area of Coastal Waters adjacent to the Hogan Group of islands in Bass Straight is divided between Victoria and Tasmania. For the purpose of this dataset the entire area has been allocated to the North NRM region of Tasmania. 2010 Version The major changes to the data for this dataset are that new NRM region boundaries for South Australia which came into effect on 1 July 2009 have been incorporated into the data; and, the data structure (attributes) have been modified. Other more minor changes include: all offshore boundaries between States and/or the Northern Territory were reviewed to be consistent with the agreed coastal waters boundaries as depicted in Geoscience Australia"s AMB 2006 data; the area of coastal waters adjacent to the Cooperative Management Area in Queensland has been included in that region; and, the external territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands has been added to the dataset. 2012 Version This dataset incorporates changes to the NSW NRM regions that came into effect on 12th October 2012 (NSW Catchment Management Authorities Amendment Order 2012). Major changes are: merger of Sydney Metropolitan NRM region into the Hawkesbury Nepean NRM region; merger of Lower Murray Darling NRM region into the Murray NRM region; changes of the boundary of Western NRM region; and changes of the boundary of the Central West NRM region. 2014 Version This 2014 version marks the change in NSW from Catchment Management Authorities (CMA) to Local Land Service areas which will now be used for NRM regions in NSW. Local Land service areas came into effect in NSW on 1 January 2014. A couple of gaps between Cape York and Torres Strait NRMs have been removed. Known discrepancies with published boundaries for several NRM regional bodies in WA (as per the 2009 version) remain in this dataset. Further detail is in the data quality report section below. Updated "North West" and "South East" NRM regions in NSW to "North West NSW" and "South East NSW" to maintain unique NRM names for PMST functionality (July 2014). 2015 Version This 2015 version defines the Peel-Harvey NRM region. The OceanWatch NRM has been recognised but there is no spatial information defined. Several NRM names have also been updated as a result of new information: 1. Fitzroy changed to Fitzroy Basin 2. Burdekin changed to NQ Dry Tropics 3. Wet Tropics changed to Terrain 4. Border Rivers changed to QMDC (Queensland Murray Darling Basin) 5. MacKay Whitsunday changed to Reef Catchments 6. Avon changed to Wheatbelt 7. North West changed to Cradle Coast It also updates the marine portion of the NRM regions to be consistent with the current (2014) Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System (AMBIS) coastal water limit boundary. The majority of these changes resulted in a negligible change to the boundaries (in the order of millimetres). There were, however 5 NRM regions which gained additional islands as a result of the change (Cape York, Rangelands, North, Cradle Coast and South Coast). Islands which were either within the either contiguous with the 3 nautical mile limit or in amongst other islands that were historically included in a region were added to the region boundaries. Coastal NRM region governing bodies were informed of these changes and no objections were received. 2016 Version The 2016 version 2 updates the marine portion of the NRM regions to be consistent with the current (2015) Australian Maritime Boundaries Information System (AMBIS) coastal water limit boundary. It also includes a new unique ID field for sorting purposes (this is explained in detail below). Three NRM names have also been updated as a result of new information from relevant state/territory agencies and/or NRM regional bodies, as follows: 1. “Avon” changed to “Wheatbelt” 2. “North West” changed to “Cradle Coast” The 2016 version 2 maintains definitions established in the 2015 version, including for the Peel-Harvey NRM region and for the OceanWatch Australia Limited NRM organisation (not spatially defined). It also maintains changes made in earlier versions including: the 2014 changes in NSW from Catchment Management Authorities (CMA) to Local Land Service areas; and the 2012 update/formalisation of the 2010 dataset (which was an interim update of the NRM Regions 2009 dataset, released Feb 2009). The original base layer version of this dataset was released in 2006 as the Natural Heritage Trust II (NHT2) Region Boundaries dataset. Whilst the boundaries of NRM Regions are defined by legislation in some states and territories this dataset should not be used to represent legal boundaries in any way. It is an administrative dataset developed for the purpose of reporting and public information. It should be noted that from time to time the states and/or territories may revise their regional boundaries in accordance with local needs and therefore alterations to either the attribution or boundaries of the data may occur in the future. In total, this dataset now represents 61 NRM regions, two of which have large and remote islands which are distinguished in the spatial data, resulting in 63 map objects. The 61 NRM regions comprise 56 mainland regions administered by 55 NRM regional bodies (the Cooperative Management Area in QLD is jointly administered by the two adjacent regional bodies: the Cape York and Northern Gulf NRM bodies) and seven islands (five administered by the Australian Government as external territories, and two administered by nearby mainland NRM regional bodies, which are shown as separate map objects). The 2016 version 2 includes a new unique ID field in the table structure to allow for sorting based on state, region name and region object (where there is more than one part). 2020 Version The 2020 version updates the previous version (2017) with changes to boundaries of South Australian NRM Regions to align with new regional landscape boundaries (https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/landscapes-sa-boundaries) under the Landscapes South Australia Act 2019 (SA) Act which replaced the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 (SA) Act. Minor edits were made to remove gaps, slivers and overlaps so the new SA boundaries aligned with non-SA NRM Regions. The "Hills and Fleurieu" and "Green Adelaide" Landscapes SA boundaries were merged to form the single 4010 "Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges" NRM Region, although at the request of the data owner, the previous names and internal boundaries were retained within this NRM region. Existing NRM Region names were retained and the following shows the Landscapes SA region -> NRM Region names: Landscapes SA -> NRM Regions Alinytjara Wilurara -> 4020. Alinytjara Wilurara Eyre Peninsula -> 4030. Eyre Peninsula Green Adelaide -> 4010. Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Hills and Fleurieu -> 4010. Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Kangaroo Island 4040. Kangaroo Island Limestone Coast -> 4080. South East Murraylands and Riverland -> 4070. South Australian Murray Darling Basin Northern and Yorke -> 4050. Northern and Yorke South Australian Arid Lands -> 4060. South Australian Arid Lands. Additionally a number of gaps and overlaps in the Western Australia NRM regions were fixed. 2022 Version * This version of NRM_Regions replaces the old NLPMU layer so that Regional Land Management Partners, NRM_Regions including Marine and remote Indigenous Procurement Policy area (RIPP) may be displayed using the one dataset. * ‘Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges’ split into ‘Green Adelaide’ and ‘Hills and Fleurieu’. * ‘Torres Strait’, ‘Green Adelaide’ and ‘Marine NRM’ added to match note management unit covered through other financial arrangements. * ‘South West Queensland’, ‘Maranoa Balonne and Border Rivers’ and ‘Condamine’ combined into ‘Southern Queensland’ with light grey dotted line to denote NRM borders. * ‘Torres Strait’ and ‘Green Adelaide’ symbology changed to grey hatched filling. * The management units are coloured based on their overlap with the Remote Indigenous Procurement Policy area (RIPP). * Remote management units are orange. To be included the management unit needed to have more than 50% overlap with the RIPP. * Non-remote management units are green. * Management units covered through other financial arrangements management units are grey with hatching. Data dictionary All layers ──────────────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Attribute name│Description ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── STATE │State or territory name ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NRM_DESC │Description of NRM region landscape ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RDP_DESC │Regional Delivery Partner ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NRM_ID │NRM unique ID ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NRM_REGION │Name of NRM region ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RDP_NAME │Name of Regional Delivery Partner ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RDP_ID │Regional Delivery Partner unique ID ──────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RIPP │Subject to Remote Indigenous Procurement Policy or not ──────────────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Contact Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, [GeoSpatial@dcceew.gov.au]