Riparian habitat is a key component of river health monitoring and assessment. Several rapid assessment methods exist, largely based around selections of representative sites within a catchment and often stratified. The vegetation is then assessed at each site using transects or similar for a number of habitat attributes (cover, weeds, regeneration, bank structure etc). However, such approaches remain spatially limited and restricted by site inaccessibility. Furthermore, the results are difficult to extrapolate out to the broader spatial scales over which many issues of concern operate. 

Video assessment techniques have been employed in community based assessment of mangroves for a number of years. MangroveWatch Shoreline Video Assessment Method is a world recognised rapid assessment method that uses volunteers and relies on assessments of shoreline habitat condition from continuous video recordings, thus covering extensive shoreline distances. The video is analysed for a number of features that relate to shoreline ‘condition’. We have adapted this methodology to assess riparian condition along  the Russell River and Babinda Creek in the Wet Tropics of northern Queensland with a view to developing a RiverWatch programme for community volunteers to easily collect information in a standardized format. We assessed a number of indicators of riparian and in channel structure and health using two different platforms (boat and helicopter). This programme can be implemented cheaper and more widely than other rapid assessment methods, also providing a permanent video archive of condition across enormous river lengths and an important baseline against which future changes could be assessed.