Wetland Management Articles

A method for rapidly and simply assessing the health of estuarine wetland ecosystems that require management, conservation and/or rehabilitation has been developed. Called the Estuarine Wetland Health Assessment Project, it is included in the Wetland Assessment Techniques Manual for Australian Wetlands. This manual also includes assessments for other types of wetlands including Freshwater ecosystems.

The NSW Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Verity Firth, launched the Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Action Plan on 5 May 2008, a guide to protecting and improving the region’s natural resources over the next 10 years.

The Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority (SMCMA) has released a process for prioritising environmental work in Sydney’s wetlands on their website. The prioritisation technique was developed for the CMA by Wetland Care Australia. The project reviewed 8 other assessment methods to ensure a high standard of assessment yet remain relevant to the unique environmental pressures of Sydney.

WetlandCare Australia will shortly finalise their ‘Wetland Rehabilitation Guidelines for Great Barrier Reef Catchments’. This product was developed with funding through the Queensland Wetlands Programme, a joint initiative of the Australian and Queensland Governments.

The Guideline is an 80+ page document containing a wealth of information about how to manage and rehabilitate wetlands in coastal Queensland. To accompany the Guidelines a series of Case Studies and Fact Sheets have also been produced.

Conservation and management of wetlands on private and government owned lands is assisted by NGOs. A short description and contact details are supplied for; Australian Wetlands Alliance, Conservation Volunteers Australia, the Hunter Wetlands Centre, Wetlands International, Wetland Care Australia, and, World Wide Fund for Nature Australia.

These organisations provide a contact point for people wanting to be involved in the conservation of wetlands in Australia.

At www.ConserveOnline.org, The Nature Conservancy has launched a complete overhaul of the free online tools supporting knowledge-flow and coordination between environment and conservation efforts around the world.

The Federal Government will invest $2.25 billion over five years on a new program to restore the health of Australia’s environment and build on improved land management practices.

The Caring for Our Country program will deliver funding to local communities through a simple, ‘one-stop shop’ covering the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Landcare, Environmental Stewardship and Working on Country programs.

A generous gift of land has given Bush Heritage a new reserve in New South Wales. Supporter Louise Sylvan donated her 55 hectare property ‘Nameless’ and, at her request, it will be known as the Bush Heritage ‘Nameless’ Sylvan Reserve.

The Paroo River Wetlands in NSW are the latest addition to the list of internationally important wetlands recognized under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. These magnificent wetlands become Australia’s 65th Ramsar site.

The Healthy Waterways Report Card is the public face of an intensive 12-month Ecosystem Health Monitoring Program coordinated by the SEQ Healthy Waterways Partnership, which provides grades for 18 catchments and 18 estuaries in SEQ and nine marine zones within Moreton Bay. The area covered by the monitoring program ranges from Noosa in the north, south to the New South Wales border and west to Toowoomba and includes a rating system ranging from ‘A for excellent’ to
‘F for fail’.

Overall, SEQ estuaries and Moreton Bay showed an improvement in ecosystem
health, associated with upgrades of wastewater treatment plants and lower rainfall and run-off, reducing inputs of sediment and nutrients from rivers. There was little change in the overall score of our freshwater streams compared to last year.