Original story at Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority
The dedication and hard work of staff from various government agencies to restore tidal connectivity to the Tomago Wetlands on the Hunter River has been recognised with a National Trust Heritage Award.
Clear skies at a recent bird survey in the wetlands
Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project Manager, Peggy Svoboda, was pleased that the restoration picked up the Conservation Natural Heritage Award.
‘It’s well deserved given the impressive transformation I’ve seen in the wetlands’, Ms Svoboda explained.
‘During this month’s survey with the Hunter Bird Observers Club one member of the team reminisced about how dry it had been prior to tidal flows being restored.’
‘Now gum boots are compulsory at Tomago Wetlands.’
Twenty years of work culminated in the recent managed opening of the Tomago floodgates by National Parks and Wildlife Service and has resulted in a spectacular restoration of the part of Tomago Wetlands that lie within Hunter Wetlands National Park.
Hunter Bird Observers Club member Ann Lindsey said she is happy to have been given the chance to witness the transformation of a barren, weed-ridden grassland to a fabulous wetland full of life.
‘Thousands of ducks have returned to roost on the saltmarsh islands or feed in the open waters’, Ms Lindsey explained during the survey.
‘Migratory shorebirds, most of them threatened species, find a safe place to spend the summer months again and our own resident shorebirds feed happily in the muddy water the year round.’
‘As I watch this scene I feel immensely satisfied, but also I am constantly amazed at how our birdlife has bounced back so quickly when given the conditions for their survival.’
Ms Svoboda explained that there are significant areas of the original restoration plan for Tomago Wetlands that lie adjacent to the national park site.
‘When these are restored, they will greatly add to the valuable work completed to date and continue to help redress loss of key habitat elsewhere in the estuary.’
The effort at Tomago Wetlands was initiated in 1993 through the CMA's Kooragang Wetland Rehabilitation Project (KWRP) which brought together State Government natural resource management agencies, local councils, industries and community groups, who formed a shared vision of ecological restoration.
Funding for the restoration was provided by the Recreational Fishing Trust, the Federal Government’s Caring for our Country Program, Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority and the Office of Environment and Heritage’s Parks and Wildlife Division.
Researchers from University of NSW’s Water Research Laboratory were also involved. Ongoing monthly bird surveys are conducted by the Hunter Bird Observers Club.
For more information on the Tomago Wetland Rehabilitation Project visit the Water Research Laboratory website -
http://www.wrl.unsw.edu.au/site/projects/tidal-restoration-and-wetland-creation-at-the-kooragang-nature-reserve-tomago-nsw/
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