Tomago Wetlands Wetlands
Tomago, New South Wales, Australia
Restoring a salt marsh’s hydrology regime with large-scale engineering. Hunter Wetlands National Park lies along the Hunter River estuary in southeastern New South Wales. Because it provides foraging habitat for migratory wading birds along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway, it is a designated wetland of international importance. However, due to sea level rise and an enhanced tidal range, the salt marsh ecosystem in the park has been under threat, experiencing ecosystem loss. To combat this loss and provide a nature-based solution, New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, working with researchers from the University of New South Wales Sydney, restored a 450-hectare area of low-lying and drained land called the Tomago Wetlands. In 2007, the restoration began by installing novel tidal control gates and reintroducing tidal inundation to 250 hectares. In 2012, the project restored an additional 62 hectares; and in 2015, the team restored the final 138 hectares. This project, one of the first large-scale intertidal restoration projects in Australia, has successfully expanded the park’s salt marsh habitat and established significant foraging grounds for migratory avifauna—including over 5,000 birds in a single month. Additionally, the site remains an important test case for ongoing research linking hydrodynamics, geomorphology, and ecology in Australia.
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