The Ramsar Archives

Australia: Mangrove wetland to be a public reserve

(7 January 1998)

[Reprinted from the Canberra (Australia) Times online edition, this article covers a significant step for wetland conservation in New South Wales, Australia.]

Mangrove wetland to be a public reserve

The NSW Government has just spent $1.25 million to reclaim a 220ha mangrove wetland for a public nature reserve at Cullendulla Creek, near Batemans Bay, blocking development plans that included a canal development, town houses or a caravan park.

The acrimonious public fight between environmentalists and supporters of the development over the future of picturesque Cullendulla Creek divided the coastal town.

The reserve features a large tract of intact mangrove and associated bird and marine wildlife, as well as Aboriginal archaeological sites, including middens, or mounds of stone tools. The creek is sometimes a frolicking ground for dolphins.

Earlier this century, big sailing ships were able to make their way up the creek to the Princes Highway, but the shifting sands which are characteristic of that kind of coastal estuary, but which environmentalists say are exacerbated by human interference with the waterways, mean that today it is so shallow it is possible to walk the same distance.

More recently, the area has been a popular place for four-wheel drive enthusiasts and illegal campers, but the environmentalists are hopeful this will change when the Eurobodalla Shire Council takes responsibility for the foreshore management as part of the preservation agreement deal struck with the state government. The remainder of the reserve will be managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

A trained ecologist and biologist, Jenny Edwards, was at the forefront for the environmentalists in the battle to save Cullendulla Creek.

She is a member of a group called Coastwatchers, a band of about 150 dedicated and determined nature preservationists who are helping the South Coast live up to its marketing as "The Nature Coast".

The environmentalists opposed proposals put to the shire council on the grounds of the unsuitability of the area for residential development.

Ms Edwards said old maps of the area showed the shore line had changed several times in the past century. It was not known whether this was because of rising sea levels or the circulation of the sand.

"Shifting sandy foreshores are a problem for nearby existing residential developments.

"It's flood-prone area and so it was pretty clear that it wasn't a good place for residential development; to get it just a little bit above flood level they would have had to reshape the whole area and bring in fill, and that would have destroyed the dune complex and put out of context any Aboriginal sites."

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 7 January 1998, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.