A 20-year wetlands restoration project on the property of CRPA member Will Eddington has encouraged the return of the landscape’s natural system through livestock exclusion fencing, planting and weeding over 65 hectares.
Richmond Park runs 4,000 merino ewes and has more recently expanded into viticulture.
While Will says he got involved with the project for environmental reasons, there have been flow-on benefits to the farm.
Fencing off riverbanks had stopped the spread of weeds, outcompeted by grasses and pasture, while lambing or grazing livestock could now have more trees to shelter under, he said.
“As the project kept going over the years, it’s become more and more obvious to me that it was really the right thing to do.”
The Internationally significant Pitt Water-Orielton lagoon on Richmond Park is a declared shark refuge and home to various migratory birds and endemic species.
Coordinated by NRM South – which is also a CRPA member organisation – the project included the removal two years ago of a levee which had suppressed the wetland’s natural tide.
University of Tasmania geographer in wetland ecology, Vishnu Prahalad said the return of natural tide flows had transformed the site.
“Since the removal of the levee, the tides have been able to access the site … and flush the site and remove the algae and — over time — improve the condition of the soil, the water quality.
NRM South chief executive Nepelle Crane said the restoration was occurring “quite rapidly”, and while it did not necessarily provide economic return for landowners, she hoped that could change.
“We’re trying to demonstrate what might be possible through emerging markets — so nature, carbon, biodiversity markets — and maybe other ways to diversify a farm, so looking at agri and ecotourism opportunities,” Ms Crane said.
Read more from ABC News: “Wetland ecosystem welcomed at Tasmanian sheep farm after 20-year restoration effort” by Madeleine Rojahn.
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