HEVAE Instream Value NSW: Ecological Health Scores for River Reaches

The dataset contains standardized ecological value scores for river reaches in New South Wales, Australia, based on a 2018 update incorporating threatened fish species data. It applies the High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems (HEVAE) framework, combining four criteria—diversity, distinctiveness, naturalness, and vital habitat—into a composite score for each River Style reach. These scores, standardized from 0 to 1, are designed to identify and prioritize aquatic ecosystems of high ecological value for management and conservation.

Use Cases

• Prioritizing conservation and restoration efforts based on standardized HEVAE scores for river reaches.
• Assessing the impact of land-use changes or development proposals on aquatic ecosystem value.
• Informing catchment-scale planning by comparing the relative ecological value of different river segments.
• Monitoring changes in ecological value over time by comparing scores from different assessment periods.

Strengths

• Scores are based on a multi-criteria framework (diversity, distinctiveness, naturalness, vital habitat) endorsed by the Australian Commonwealth Government.
• The distinctiveness criterion was updated in 2018 using modeled threatened fish species distribution data from DPI Fisheries.
• Scores are standardized per catchment, providing a relative scale from 0 (lowest) to 1 (highest) for comparison.

Limitations

• Specific column names, row counts, and data size are not provided in the source metadata.
• The dataset's license and detailed authorship are not explicitly stated.
• The description notes a platform migration, which may indicate potential data access or format inconsistencies.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW Water), incorporating data from DPI Fisheries.

Collection Method

Calculated by combining scores from four individual geospatial criterion layers for each River Style reach, with scores standardized by catchment.

Time Range

Assessment includes data up to at least 2018.

Freshness

2026-05-22 21:46:20.812668

Geography

New South Wales, Australia.