Tomago Wetland restoration project
Winner of the 2013 National Trust of Australia’s Award for Conservation, and 2014 Engineering Excellence Award.
Winner of the 2013 National Trust of Australia’s Award for Conservation, and 2014 Engineering Excellence Award.
Since 2004, WRL has been working in collaboration with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) and the Department of Primary Industries (NSW Fisheries) to transform the Tomago Wetlands site from a large acidic landscape into a restored productive tidal wetland. The wetland is being created to compensate for migratory wading bird habitat destroyed elsewhere in the lower Hunter River estuary.
The project has been joint-funded by NSW Fisheries, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Hunter Region Local Land Services (formerly Hunter River Catchment Management Authority) with in-kind support provided by WRL. Advice and assistance from the Hunter Bird Observers Club (HBOC) has been provided throughout the project.
The specific challenge faced by the Tomago Wetland Restoration Project was to design and build a system that would naturally encourage salt marsh regeneration, an ecological community in serious decline in NSW. Salt marsh requires very specific hydrological and water quality conditions. The engineering challenge was to deliver the right volume of water, to the right place, at the right depth, at the right time and at the right salinity to allow nature to flourish and generate salt marsh.
Previous projects have taken a trial and error “shot gun” approach to restoration with limited success. The engineering design and assessment approach applied to research, planning and on-ground solutions at Tomago Wetland sets a new standard in engineering practice and has been highly successful.
Key features of the project include:
The recent sighting of thousands of migratory shorebirds is the best demonstration that the project achieved what it set out to accomplish.
Parts of this restoration project were funded by the NSW Government under the Marine Estate Management Strategy. The ten-year Strategy was developed by the NSW Marine Estate Management Authority to coordinate the management of the marine estate. WRL would also like to thank NSW National Parks and Wildlife Services, the Department of Primary Industries (NSW Fisheries), Hunter Bird Observers Club and Hunter Local Land Services for their valuable contributions.
Images of birdlife at Tomago provided by Ann Lindsey, Hunter Bird Observers Club.