The release this week of a CSIRO report warning that Australia will be hotter and drier in the coming decades brings to the fore the importance of river management projects such as the Macquarie River Restoration Project (MRRP).

The project is a community driven initiative of Macquarie Rivercare Inc, funded for two years by the National Heritage Trust in an effort to deter riverbank degradation and weed infestation in the Macquarie and Campbell catchments.

With the CSIRO report predicting that stream flows in the Macquarie River catchment will fall by up to 20 per cent by 2030, issues of restoration in the catchment become all the more important.

A free public seminar and field trip next week (Wednesday 16 May) will throw the spotlight on the work of the Macquarie River project by providing information about the best methods for restoring riverbank vegetation to this fragile environment.

Macquarie Rivercare Inc. will hold the seminar with staff from the Environmental Studies Unit at Charles Sturt University's Bathurst Campus on Wednesday 16 May.

The seminar will be followed by a community field trip to some of the project's demonstration sites to show the group's progress over the last 18 months.

Degraded banks and erosion, weed and willow infestation are some of the problems facing the riverbank areas within the catchments, according to Research Associate with CSU's Environmental Studies Unit, Chris Bloomfield.

Ms Bloomfield commented: "There's a great deal of willow clearance going on. Willows are seen as a big problem because of their high water intake and the problems they cause for landholders adjoining rivers, but there needs to be greater emphasis on replacing them with something better. We'd like to see willows gradually and sensibly removed and replaced by native species."

Ms Bloomfield said the MRRP aims to set up demonstration sites to show the public what works best in restoring riverbank vegetation.

All interested members of the community are invited to attend both the seminar and field trip commencing at 11.00am in the seminar room, Building S15, on the Bathurst Campus.