Project Description
Damien Cook, ecologist and co-founder of the Wetland Revival Trust (WRT) outlines the project planning process the WRT are using to implement their goals outlined in the Blueprint for Action which include
- Ensuring restoration is based on sound science and practical knowledge:
- Embedding the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in their work processes
- Basing restoration on appropriate local indigenous reference ecosystems;
- Establishing a technical steering committee utilising state and local experts;
- Improving knowledge of ecological restoration by trialling innovative restoration techniques and sharing/collaborating with the broader restoration community
The aims of the WRT are to
- PROTECT – Advocate for the best possible management of high value wetlands and waterways at the landscape scale on both private and public lands
- RESTORE-Restore degraded wetlands in the southern Murray darling Basin, prioritising those of high cultural and ecological significance.
- SOUND SCIENCE- Using SERA (Society for Ecological Restoration Australia) guidelines and basing restoration on appropriate local indigenous reference ecosystems.
- BUILD RELATIONSHIPS- Consult and develop partnerships, especially with local Indigenous groups
This lunchtime webinar was co-hosted by AABR Vic and ECA Vic
If you would like to join AABR visit https://www.aabr.org.au/about-aabr/joining-aabr/
If you would lie to join ECAVic visit https://ecavic.org.au/membership/
From AABR News 160- Online Event Summary by Matt Hall
Photo: Mick Connolly
In late August, the Australian Association of Bush Regenerators Victoria (AABR Vic) and ECA Vic co-hosted an online lunchtime presentation by Damien Cook, ecologist and co-founder of the Wetland Revival Trust (WRT) titled ‘Kicking Goals in Wetland Restoration’.
WRT is a not-for-profit organisation founded by Damien and Elaine Bayes established with the primary purpose of providing landscape scale restoration of degraded wetlands in Northern Victoria that are of high cultural and ecological significance. Importantly, WRT aim to deliver this restoration effort across both public and private land.
Wetlands are important at a landscape level for the ecological services they provide (such as nutrient filtration and flood mitigation) in addition to providing vital habitats, and seasonal refugia, for threatened flora and fauna.
However, of concern is the fact that wetlands are one of the most endangered ecosystems globally due to land development and altered flow regimes. It is estimated that approximately 2/3 of Victoria’s wetlands have been destroyed since European settlement, primarily due to drainage for agricultural expansion (VEAC 2010).
Wetlands can also be difficult to understand, and therefore difficult to manage, as they are often dynamic communities that can have multiple forms (i.e. wet phase and dry phase) requiring different management approaches. They can also be influenced by unpredictable episodic flooding events. For this reason, wetland management is necessarily adaptive by nature.
With this in mind, one of the primary challenges facing wetland restoration practitioners will likely be situationally relevant practical knowledge regarding past site history, ecological observations and land management practices. In acknowledging that wetland management can involve making decisions from positions of uncertainty, WRT have developed some fundamental principles which govern how they plan and deliver their program of works. These are outlined in the WRT Blueprint for action and include the following:
- Ensuring restoration is based on sound science and practical knowledge;
- Embedding the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in their work processes;
- Basing restoration on appropriate local indigenous reference ecosystems;
- Establishing a technical steering committee utilising state and local experts; and
- Improving knowledge of ecological restoration by trialing innovative restoration techniques and sharing/collaborating with the broader restoration community.
Photo Mick Connolly
Damien used the case study of WRT’s restoration works at Wira-Lo station, located on the Loddon River Floodplain in North-Central Victoria, as a conduit for outlining the project planning and implementation process that WRT have worked through since beginning works at this location in 2015.
Wira-Lo wetlands are located on the traditional land of the Barapa Barapa people and have been managed by Dairy Farmers, Jill & Ken Hooper, since the early 1990’s. Now of retirement age, the Hoopers were quick to recognise the ecological significance of their property and, in particular, the importance of the property’s riparian areas and episodic wetlands. Through his work Damien has built up a relationship with the Hoopers over the years and has been diligently working to transform what were formally irrigated agricultural paddocks into vibrant wetland communities. Importantly, it must be stressed that this can be achieved while keeping parts of the land productive and landholder livelihoods intact. In fact, finding a balance between sustainable agricultural output and ecological restoration on private land is fast emerging as one of the key challenges of our time as society seeks to both feed an ever-growing global population, mitigate the drivers of climate change and preserve the natural beauty and utilitarian potential that exists within functional natural ecosystems.
In order to continue and build on the good stewardship of land at this location, WRT have been able to raise funds sufficient to purchase Wira-Lo and provide ongoing ecological restoration and management.
Environmental water is an important tool for restoration and, if applied correctly, can be considered to be a restoration accelerator. However, as the saying goes, the poison is sometimes in the dose with evidence that too much water has previously contributed to the loss of mature Red Gums at Wira-Lo due to drowning or possibly an intolerance to high salinity levels caused by rising water tables as a result of previous irrigation regimes.
The challenge is to deliver the right amount of water, in the right place, at the right time – no easy feat.
Damien explained that some species of flora are well suited to post-flood recruitment while others have been introduced via a mixture of direct seeding and pockets of temporarily netted wetland plantings. This practice, plus time, have resulted in transformational change in some areas of the property.
The improvement in vegetation community quality has resulted in a number of significant fauna species returning to Wira-Lo since restoration works have begun including Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis), Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa), and Magpie Geese (Anseranas semipalmata).
Ever humble despite his revered status within the ecological community, Damien shared a number of learnings which have come from WRT’s work at Wira-Lo to date including:
- The importance of collecting good baseline data and establishing a comprehensive monitoring regime inclusive of photo points.
- Observational data and records are invaluable, this may relate to the way that natural floodwaters typically recede, which areas retain water the longest post flood and which species respond well to post flood conditions.
- Carefully staging works strategically and allowing recently restored areas to stabilise before embarking on the labour intensive, step-change transformation of a new area.
Some exciting funding opportunities are also emerging including the development of a ‘Teal’ carbon sequestration accounting method and the potential utilisation of the proposed federal Nature Repair Market. Involvement in these schemes may help an increasing number of wetland restoration projects become economically viable for landholders in the future.
To conclude, we were treated to an interesting and inspiring presentation by a leader in practical ecological restoration. ECA Vic are grateful to Damien for kindly sharing his knowledge and learnings with us and thank AABR Vic for inviting us to collaborate with them in the delivery of such a worthwhile activity.
References: VEAC (2010) Remnant Native Vegetation Investigation Discussion Paper.
