Drought and flooding rains: the Murray-Darling Basin water rights balancing act

Floods brought the Macquarie Marshes back to life, but landholders need guaranteed environmental flows to help maintain a healthy marsh ecosystem that also supports businessesSign up for the Rural Network email newsletterJoin the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the communityAfter two wet years, you can jump in a channel on Garry and Leanne Hall's property on the edge of the Macquarie Marshes in northwestern New South Wales and quickly find yourself surrounded by wildlife.Magpie geese, spoonbills, whistling kites, swamp harriers: the list ticked off by visiting bird enthusiasts has been extensive in the past season. The Hall's cattle graze on the marshes, accompanied by the egrets, which pick the insects off their backs as they move through the long grass.Top to bottom: Ibis in the Macquarie Marshes (Wammerawa); the Macquarie Marshes benefited from the eastern states floods. Continue reading...