I close my eyes and I visualise the magnificent Snowy River as it was, 60 years ago: its huge gush of water powering down the river, cursing the rocks as it ever so gradually smooths them over with its sheer strength; the sound of all the wildlife surrounds the place in healthy trees which are home to many; the snow melting at the top of Mt. Kosciusko and gradually winding down the 2200 meters towards sea level, gaining momentum as it goes further down the decline; adventure hungry men, canoeing down the mighty river when they could cap size and no longer be. The Snowy is awaiting a devastating doom in little years to come: the Snowy River Scheme. The Snowy River’s beautiful flow will be stopped; the wildlife and vegetation will die; the rocks will be frozen in transformation. The Snowy River Scheme which is now introduced has actually caused all of these things, and it has been absolutely terrible. Aside from the fact of the farmers getting their water for their business, the whole place is dying and the scheme has made a massive impact on the place. Other than just the scheme affecting the place, even the small things like camping along the bank can have bad affects, so we as humans need to be very aware of our impact on the environment.

The significant features of the Snowy River and its environment, I believe, are one being the huge flush of water it receives after every winter. What happens is that the snow at the top of Kosciusko melts and provides an extreme amount of water to come crashing through. This is very significant because of the amount of wildlife cycles it “kick starts” is unbelievable, because the water that comes through gives them a fresh start basically. Also, the riparian zone is very essential for this river. This zone is basically a mixture of fallen leaves, twigs, and other little things you may find on the forest floor. What it does, it when the rain falls down, the water hits the floor and gathers up mud or ash and stuff along its way to a catchment or river. The riparian zone filters the water so it comes out relatively clean when it goes into the river. So without this, our waters wouldn’t be very pleasant.

The ecosystem there is very significant too, but then again, so is everywhere else. I’ve been taught that even the slightest removal of one little thing as small as a mosquito can end up in disaster. Also the logs and rocks in the Snowy are home to many fish and bugs. If they were to be removed, the fish would be exposed to predators and the bugs would die. If it happened on a much larger scale, a lot would suffer, in turn the ecosystem being unstable.

Some of the changes I’m starting to see around here are some increased water flow, but only by a couple of percent of what it used to be. Also the amount of rubbish that is around wasn’t here a while ago and it hasn’t been a very good thing for the place around me.

Thank you for coming with me along my mind journey.

Corey- Werrimull P-12 School