SHORTLAND WETLANDS Site Management Plan – version 1 2013- 2023 Photo by Carolyn Gillard 2010 SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 - 2023 The Wetlands Centre Australia PO Box 292 WALLSEND NSW 2287 Phone 02 49516466 Fax 02 4950 1875 Email [email protected] Web www.wetlands.org.au ii SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 – 2023 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Author 1990 Geoff Winning 2002 Update Peter Ekert 2013 Update Ken Conway/Paul Trute Editors Christine Prietto Carolyn Gillard Review Panel Paddy Lighfoot Steve Wisniewski Ken Bayliss Geoff Nicholls Carolyn Gillard Jenny Castles Stephen Schmidt John Simpson Alan Stuart Paul Trute Cal Cotter (HCRCMA) Mary Greenwood Paddy Lightfoot Georgina Usher (SEWPAC) Louise Duff Community consultation workshop participants Carolyn Gillard Paddy Lightfoot Jenny Castles Steve Wisniewski Cal Cotter (HCRCMA) Paul Trute Matt Stow Ken Conway Stuart Greville (RPS Consultants) iii SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 – 2023 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III 4.4.2 Values ................................ 30 TABLE OF CONTENTS IV 5.0 SOCIAL VALUES 32 INTRODUCTION 2 5.1 CULTURAL HERITAGE ........................ 32 1.0 ABOUT THIS PLAN 3 5.2 EDUCATION .................................. 33 5.3 COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT ................... 35 1.1 PURPOSE OF SITE MANAGEMENT PLAN ......... 3 5.4 RESEARCH ................................... 35 1.2 MANAGEMENT AIMS ............................ 4 5.5 PARTNERSHIPS ............................... 36 1.3 CONSULTATIVE FRAMEWORK ................... 4 1.4 LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK AND POLICIES ....... 4 6.0 ECONOMIC VALUES 37 2.0 ABOUT THE WETLANDS CENTRE 7 6.1 RECREATION AND TOURISM ................... 37 6.2 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CAPACITY 2.1 HISTORY ....................................... 7 BUILDING ......................................... 39 2.2 THE WETLANDS CENTRE TODAY ................ 8 2.3 FUNDING ....................................... 9 7.0 MANAGEMENT AIMS 40 3.0 SITE LOCATION 10 7.1 AIMS ......................................... 40 7.2 KEY RISKS.................................... 42 3.1 SHORTLAND WETLANDS ...................... 10 7.2.1 HYDROLOGY AND POLLUTION .............. 42 3.2 THE HUNTER ESTUARY ....................... 10 7.2.2 PEST PLANTS .............................. 43 3.3 IRONBARK CREEK CATCHMENT ............... 11 7.2.3 PEST ANIMALS ............................. 44 3.4 HEXHAM SWAMP ............................. 11 7.3 MANAGEMENT ACTIONS FOR NATURAL VALUES 46 4.0 NATURAL VALUES 14 7.4 MANAGEMENT ACTIONS FOR SOCIAL VALUES . 63 4.1 ECOLOGICAL CHARACTER .................... 14 7. 5 MANAGEMENT ACTIONS FOR ECONOMIC VALUES RAMSAR ROLLING REVIEW: ....................... 14 .................................................. 67 4.2 FLORA OF SHORTLAND WETLANDS ........... 15 8.0 ORGANISATION 71 4.2.1 Description .......................... 15 8.1 FUNDING ..................................... 71 4.2.2 Values ................................ 16 8.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND WORK FLOWS 4.2.3 HWCA Nursery ...................... 17 .................................................. 72 4.3 FAUNA OF SHORTLAND WETLANDS ........... 18 8.3 MONITORING ................................. 72 4.3.1 Birds .................................. 18 8.4 REVIEW ...................................... 73 4.3.2 Mammals ............................ 21 4.3.3 Amphibians and Reptiles ......... 23 9.0 REFERENCES (TO BE UPDATED) 73 4.3.4 Re-Introduction of the Green and APPENDICES 79 Golden Bell Frog .......................... 24 APPENDIX 1: MAPS ............................... 79 4.3.5 Fish ................................... 26 APPENDIX 2: CRITERIA FOR RAMSAR LISTING OF 4.3.6 Macro-Invertebrates .............. 26 SHORTLAND WETLANDS ........................... 84 4.4 HYDROLOGY ................................. 28 4.4.1 Description .......................... 28 iv SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 – 2023 APPENDIX 3 ENTRY IN THE DIRECTORY OF Appendix 6.6 Reptiles recorded at IMPORTANT WETLANDS ........................... 85 Shortland Wetlands in 2010 ............ 111 APPENDIX 4 PLANT SPECIES LIST .............. 88 Appendix 6.7 Bats of HWCA and APPENDIX 5 SHORTLAND WETLANDS FLORA Surrounding Wetlands ................... 111 RESTORATION 98 Appendix 6.8 Fish species recorded at Annual Planting Record ................. 101 Shortland Wetlands ...................... 112 APPENDIX 6 FAUNA SPECIES LISTS ........... 102 Appendix 6.9 Macro-Invertibrates .... 112 Appendix 6.1 Bird Species .............. 102 APPENDIX 7 VISITOR PROFILES TO BE APPENDIX 6.2 BUTTERFLIES OF THE UPDATED 113 WETLANDS CENTRE ...................... 109 Visitor Motivation . Error! Bookmark not APPENDIX 6.3 MOTHS OF THE defined.114 WETLANDS CENTRE ...................... 110 Visitor Satisfaction Error! Bookmark not Appendix 6.4 FROGS OF THE WETLANDS defined.114 CENTRE..................................... 110 APPENDIX 8 WETLAND VALUES .............. 115 Appendix 6.5 Terrestrial Mammal APPENDIX 9 ................................ 116115 species recorded at Shortland Wetlands AUSTRALIAN RAMSAR MANAGEMENT PRINCIPLES .............................................. 110 ............................................ 116115 v SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 – 2023 INTRODUCTION Shortland Wetlands Centre Limited was formed in 1986 with two overriding objectives: to rehabilitate a degraded wetland and to foster an understanding and appreciation for wetlands through communication, education and public awareness. It was to become the Lower Hunter’s first successful wetland rehabilitation project, paving the way for three other significant wetland projects in the ensuing years. It was Australia’s first dedicated wetlands centre, modelled on and assisted by the famous Slimbridge in the UK. Today trading as Hunter Wetlands Centre, Australia, it remains Australia’s only dedicated Wetlands Centre managed by a community organisation. This Site Management Plan (SMP) builds on the 2002-2009 SMP, compiled as part of the 2002 successful Ramsar Convention listing process by the then Chairman Christine Prietto and her team of dedicated assistants. This SMP also reflects the Australian Ramsar Management Principles as described in the Commonwealth’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 (EPBC Act) and the Ramsar Convention’s Frameworks for managing wetlands of international importance and other wetlands (2000). It builds on years of progress on the site rehabilitation process, changes to the surrounding estuary as a result of the Hexham Swamp Rehabilitation Project and changes necessary to ensure the financial survival and the changing composition of the staff and volunteer base over time. Today Hunter Wetlands Centre, Australia, represents a mature wetland rehabilitation project involving a complex of restored wetlands and artificial wetlands. The environmental, social and economic values of Hunter Wetlands Centre, Australia, complement values delivered by other wetlands in the Hunter Estuary. Visitor facilities and services offered by the centre, including a new $2.5 million education facility opened in 2011, add important dimensions to those values. The involvement of the community in the rehabilitation and on-going management of the wetlands has become an important facet of the centre's operations as, has the need to promote an active tourism and education face to ensure financial viability. The Hunter Wetlands Centre, Australia is dedicated to maintaining its central role in the conservation of the Hunter Estuary as: a demonstration site for community involvement and wise-use of wetlands; a public access gateway to wetlands in the Lower Hunter; and a national non-government focal point for wetland communication, education and public awareness. The adoption and implementation of this Site Management Plan, along with the guiding principles of its Ramsar site listing, will support Hunter Wetlands Centre, Australia to realise that vision. 2 SHORTLAND WETLANDS – Site Management Plan 2013 – 2023 1.0 ABOUT THIS PLAN 1.1 Purpose of Site Management Plan Shortland Wetlands are located 12 km northwest of the city of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. They cover 45 hectares of freshwater ponds, marshes and tidal canoe trail in the Ironbark Creek Catchment on the Central Coastal Plain of the Hunter Valley. The Wetlands could be described as Urban or Peri-Urban wetlands as they lie within the boundaries of Newcastle City. The primary purpose of this Site Management Plan (SMP) is to ensure we manage Shortland Wetlands Ramsar Site in order to maintain its ecological character and values. It covers the period 2013-2023 and is an update to the two previous management plans that covered the periods 1990-2012. A major review has been necessitated following the 2008 Hydrology and Water Quality Study, the 2010 Environmental Impact Statement – Hydrology and Ecological Restoration, and a further 10 years of restoration works since 2002, coupled with financial imperatives which play a major role in framing this plan. As private owners and Site Managers of a Ramsar listed wetland we are required under the EPBC Act to seek approval prior to undertaking an action within or outside a declared Ramsar wetland if the action has, will have or is likely to have a significant impact on the ecological character of the Ramsar wetland. The action could be a project, a development, an undertaking, an activity or series of activities, or an alteration to any of these things.1 Site Managers/landowners are