NC CMA Wetland design workshop - Kerang

Background

The North Central CMA are currently developing a waterbird recovery plan to ensure that across the northern North Central region, an adequate mosaic (area and distribution) of high-quality wetland habitat is provided to support recruitment and survival of all waterbirds that are regular users of the region.

Community input into the development of the plan is critical because a large proportion of wetlands occur on private property, and so landholders and land managers are a key in delivery of wetland and waterbird recovery.

Running in parallel is an opportunity access funds to deliver on the themes identified in the Waterbird Recovery Plan thus far. These themes were presented at the recent CMA round table event being:

• Physical habitat restoration
• Restoring hydrological regimes
• Managing threats
• Research priorities
• Building landholder capacity

Possible funding is significant and requires the approach of a consortium. Building on previous successes Wetland Revival Trust, Blue Carbon Lab (part of RMIT), Murray Darling Wetland Working Group and North Central CMA are developing a waterbird recovery and wetland restoration project in response to the Commonwealth Governments Drought Resilience Funding. A key partner in delivering wetland restorations projects is farmers, because majority of wetlands occur on private property.

We intend for landholders and land managers to design the project and indicate interest in restoring wetlands and recovering waterbirds on farm should the project be successful.