The Maria River is located near Kempsey on the New South Wales north coast. The river’s headwaters are in Kumbatine National Park and it joins the Hastings River 54 kilometres downstream. The catchment of the river is about 42,536 hectares; about 17% of this is in national parks and reserves and 17% is in state forests.
A detailed assessment was made of the upper third of the Maria River and its subcatchment which flows through, or close to, the Kumbatine and Maria River National Parks. The lower reaches of the river mainly flow through private land and a somewhat degraded landscape.
The upper Maria River and its tributaries within the Kumbatine and Maria National Parks met many of the criteria for wild rivers. However, it was not recommended for declaration as a wild river because this part of the river occurred on a number of different tenures. Five kilometres of the upper Maria River occurs in reserves which is divided into 4 sections separated by other tenures (state forest and freehold). Only those sections within reserves may be declared wild rivers. It was considered impractical to declare these sections of the river at this stage, but declaration of the upper Maria River could be reconsidered should additional sections be reserved or subjected to conservation agreements in the future.
