The RARCrec: A rapid riparian vegetation assessment method for use in river systems undergoing vegetative and geomorphic recovery

Monitoring the condition of returning vegetation over time is essential for effectively managing riparian vegetation. Rapid riparian assessment methods are standard tools for capturing a suite of variables relevant to river health and are accessible to a range of users with different levels of experience. Monitoring efforts are particularly important for rivers undergoing degrading impacts and subsequent management interventions. In coastal catchments of New South Wales, Australia, vegetation is returning to rivers that were historically cleared for agriculture and are now experiencing geomorphic recovery. We present a rapid riparian assessment method for rivers undergoing vegetative and geomorphic recovery in this region. It addresses a gap in available rapid assessments by providing a methodology that can be used at sites with no historical analogue. Our assessment method adapts and extends a widely used method called the Rapid Assessment of Riparian Condition (RARC) to capture the quality of returning riparian vegetation along recovering rivers (rec), including native species diversity and vegetation structure (hence the name RARCrec). The RARCrec incorporates four sub-indices – vegetation cover, native species richness, proportion of native to exotic species, and features of vegetation health – to produce an overall vegetation condition score that classifies sites as poor, moderate, or good condition. Scores for each sub-index are assessed for the vegetation strata (groundcover, graminoids, midstorey, vines, and canopy) on the landform units of river bars, benches, and floodplains. The RARCrec has been designed to be sufficiently general for use in the main Vegetation Formations in coastal New South Wales and has been trialled at 36 sites across this region. Assessments can be conducted within half a day by two technically competent users and can be used to monitor vegetation condition over time to inform where to prioritise implementation of management activities. Field methodology and data sheets, including a scoring system, are provided to support the implementation of the RARCrec.