Large scale removal of willow trees along local creeks and waterways contributed to the severity of flood damage in Central Victoria, according to a Hepburn environmentalist.Futurist and permaculture co-founder David Holmgren said thousand of kilometres of waterways had been denuded of vegetation best able to slow water and debris that caused damage to farms and towns.Mr Holmgren called it a “scandalous waste” of taxpayers’ money.“It has degraded the ecology of our streams and rivers while making them more vulnerable in the face of increasing threats from both floods and bushfires,” Mr Holmgren said.“The current policies are a new form of environmental vandalism.”Mr Holmgren said willow removal programs had set back central Victorian streams almost to their “gutted” gold-era condition, while subsequent native revegetation programs had failed to restore critical landscape functions.Streamside willow trees acted like a living shock absorber able resist powerful waters, while capturing sediments and nutrients from both normal and flood flows, he said.“No local native tree species have this characteristic,” Mr Holmgren said.Mr Holmgren said it was essential debris from willows and other trees was removed from creek beds within town areas regularly, and he said he had challenged the North Central Catchment Management Authority to a public debate on the issue.But an NCCMA spokesperson said most willows were classified as noxious weeds, and the NCCMA had a legislative obligation to control them.Since its formation in 1997, the NCCMA had undertaken 57 km of willow control at 364 sites along water ways throughout the north central region, the spokesperson said.The spokesperson said the program had cost $1,074,272 of state and federal funding and since recent floods there was community demand for further willow removal.Willows were listed as a weed of national significance, the spokesperson said.