Wetlands Management

Restoring Natural Flows

Pilby lagoon, Managing wetland hydrology can greatly improvement wetland vegetation cover and diversity

There are a diverse range of wetlands in the Murraylands including permanent rivers, streams and creeks (including waterholes), permanent and brackish lakes, intermittent or seasonal lakes, streams and creeks.

With water diversions and regulation both interstate and within South Australia, the flows in the River Murray have declined by two thirds. The floodplain wetlands along the River now face either permanent inundation, due to the locks and weirs holding artificially high pool levels, or are subjected to more frequent 'human induced' droughts. Either way, the wetlands and associated ecosystems have suffered through being denied the natural wetting-drying cycles to which they evolved over many thousands of years.

To turn this situation around, natural water regimes are being trialled at certain wetlands in the Murraylands.

The following wetlands are managed by the Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH) and are located on either a National Park and Wildlife reserve or crown land:

• Morgan lagoons
• Ngak Indua Wetlands
• Causeway Wetland Complex (Causeway Lagoon, Little Duck Lagoon, Winding Creek & Old Loxton Road Lagoon)
• Pilby Wetland Complex (Pilby lagoon, Pilby Creek & Lock 6 Depression)
• Pipeclay Billabong
• Slaney Billabong
• Werta Wert Lagoons
• Lake Limbra
• Lake Littra

The Wetland Officer within Conservation Programs is responsible for wetland planning, management and monitoring of wetlands on DEH land.

Wetland Monitoring

Monitoring the ecological response of a wetland to management is critical in determining the success of a management action and can be used to adjust or change future management. In order to assess the ecological response a series of parameters relevant to the management targets have been identified for each individual wetland in their respective management plan. Monitoring parameters usually include aspects of water quality, vegetation, fish, frogs and waterbirds.

Katarapko and Eckert Creek Demonstration Reach for Native Fish

The Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) Ministerial Council approved the Native Fish Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin in May 2003, a 50-year strategy to help restore native fish populations of the Basin. The strategy has a theme of "rehabilitating aquatic habitats and ecological processes in the MDB through management actions designed to restore healthy native fish communities". The Strategy identifies the demonstration reach concept as a positive way to engage the public and learn from practical examples of rehabilitation.

See Katarapko and Eckert Creek Demonstration Reach map (150Kb PDF)

The purpose of demonstration reaches is to show, by example, how river rehabilitation can be achieved by well-integrated actions. Actions could include riparian rehabilitation, alien species management, re-snagging, improving water quality, restoring environmental flows, fish passage and aquatic vegetation. The successful rehabilitation of a reach will enhance community awareness and support, provide compelling models which can be used elsewhere in the Basin, attract the attention of funding agencies and boost scientific knowledge of rivers and fish.

The Katarapko and Eckert Creek floodplain includes; The Splash, Sawmill and Piggy Creeks (with a total length of approximately 38 km). Four wetland complexes (Katarapko Island Horseshoe Lagoons, Katarapko Island swamps, Ngak Indau and Eckert Creek wetlands) with a total area of approximately 230 ha (See Demo Reach Map.pdf). The majority of the site is within the River Murray National Park, (Katarapko). However, within the project area and adjacent to Eckert Creek, there is land held by the Gerard Reserve for Aborigines, three private landowners and crown land that is in the process of being given to the Berri Barmera District Council.

See Katfish Reach Draft Implementation Plan
See Department for Environment and Heritage Wetlands web page