Clarence Region

The Clarence catchment is located on the far north coast of New South Wales, situated around the City of Grafton.

The Clarence River is the biggest river on the east coast of New South Wales. The catchment is bounded in the west from Stanthorpe to Glen Innes by the Great Dividing Range (Northern Tablelands); by Baldblair, the Doughboy Ranges and The Dorrigo Plateau in the south; and by the MacPherson Ranges, which form part of the border with Queensland, in the north. The eastern boundaries are defined by coastal ranges from Coffs Harbour to Yamba, where the river enters the ocean and the Richmond Ranges north of Iluka. Generally the catchment is characterised in its western extremities by tableland areas which fall away to the relatively large, flat coastal floodplain.

There is a great diversity of vegetation types and wildlife habitats in the catchment, many areas of which are protected in national parks, nature reserves and other types of reserves. Of particular ecological importance are the remnant rainforests of the catchment. These are habitat areas of great species diversity.

Beef cattle production is the major form of land use. Sugar cane is the dominant crop and is grown intensively on the lower Clarence, especially around Maclean, Harwood Island and Palmers Island.

The key catchment management issues are riverbank erosion, gully erosion, invasive weeds, fire management practices an acid sulphate soils.

 

Area (km2)	22,716
Number of sub catchments	56
Tree Cover	65%
Major Land Uses	Grazing and Cropping