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New tool helps wetland rehabilitation

November 10, 2004

A tool aimed at helping local communities decide which wetlands should be saved will be launched later this month by scientists from the University of New England.
Specifically, the computer-based tool will help wetland management agencies to analyse wetlands in the Clarence River catchment.
These include important wetlands such as the Everlasting Swamp, Shark Creek and the Broadwater coastal wetlands, all in the Grafton and Maclean areas.
“Wetlands are under threat throughout the world,” explained Dr Paul Frazier, a Senior Lecturer in UNE’s School of Natural Resources and Management.
“Increasing populations are placing ever-increasing pressure on these ecological hot-spots.
“The North Coast of NSW is one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions and this project targets wetlands in the Clarence River catchment.”

Last year, the research team from UNE received a $40,000 grant from the Northern River CMA through the National Heritage Trust to conduct a pilot study into the region’s wetlands and to assess their condition and plot any changes.
“Communities living near these wetlands are looking at prioritising certain wetlands for rehabilitation,” Dr Frazier said.
“This tool, based on a Geographic Information Systems (GIS), will allow those communities to make an objective decision based on all information available.”
He said current decisions on wetlands made by Government agencies and local communities were being made with fundamental knowledge gaps. UNE researchers are seeking to fill these knowledge gaps with ongoing collaboration with the Northern Rivers CMA..
“High-spatial and hyperspectral satellite imagery were also used to develop cutting edge wetland mapping and monitoring procedures that will assist us to understand our wetland resources.”
On Monday, November 29, more than 40 people from the local area – including representatives from Northern Rivers CMA, NSW Fisheries, National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Clarence River City Council and land holders – will attend a special workshop to launch the tool.
During the day they are expected to use the tool to make a catchment-wide assessment and to look at monitoring vegetation in Little Broadwater and Micalo Island, for example.
“Using this tool, the communities can then go away and decide which is the best wetland to rehabilitate and from there decide how to spend their money, planting trees, building levees or whatever.”
The team from UNE expects to extend its study on other wetlands and is aiming to attract more funding to look at solving some of the ecological problems surrounding these areas.


Posted by Lydia Roberts at November 10, 2004 02:52 PM