How a smart partnership is amplifying environmental outcomes for wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin.
What do you get when you join forces with others trying to achieve the same good things, and recognise the benefit of combining knowledge and resources to do so? A perfect match where everyone wins – especially the environment.
For many years now magical things have been happening in hard-to-reach Australian wetlands. Joint knowledge and resources have been focussed towards getting access to them, and restoring them to places of beauty and health. It’s all in the name of ensuring the frogs, fish, birds, animals, plants, trees and humans that rely on them are able to live and flourish.
This has been thanks to a partnership between the Murray Darling Wetlands Working Group (MDWWG) and the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH). The two have worked together for over a decade now, to deliver around 6,000 megalitres of water to wetland sites in southern New South Wales through ongoing projects. This has been done alongside landholders, First Nations people, and state governments, to achieve great results for wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Wetlands are a critical part of our natural environment. They reduce the impacts of floods, absorb pollutants and improve water quality. They provide habitat for animals and plants and many contain a wide diversity of life, supporting plants and animals that are found nowhere else. They are vital for environmental, economic, social and cultural reasons. There are 16 internationally important Ramsar wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin.
Saving the Murray hardyhead
One example of the great work of the partnership is the reintroduction of threatened Murray hardyhead into Little Frenchman’s Creek that borders
Wingillie Station in south-western NSW on Barkindji Country. The Murray hardyhead is a small fish up to 9cm long with an amazing ability to survive in saline water. It is listed nationally as a threatened species and prior to the work of the MDWWG and CEWH, together with NSW Fisheries, Hazel L Henry Farmland Nature Refuges, Nature Glenelg Trust and Western Local Land Services, had been considered extinct in NSW for over a decade.
In 2018 and 2021 populations of Murray hardyhead were moved into Little Frenchmans Creek from the Riverland region of South Australia. The MDWWG then managed the delivery of water from the CEWH and the Environmental Water Trust to support the fish to survive and breed. Monitoring has identified that the species has survived and thrived in the wetland, multiplying at an incredible rate annually and able to be used as a source for other new populations.
Bringing Middle Wetland back to life
Another example is the watering of the northern proportion of Middle Wetland near Jerilderie on the Billabong Creek, in New South Wales. This part of the wetland had been declining due to being isolated
from the floodplain for some time, until new infrastructure was installed, funded by Murray Local Land Services, to enable the pumping of water to that part.
Working with the land managers and using the installed infrastructure, the MDWWG help deliver water for the environment to the northern part of the wetland and hold it there to achieve a more natural wetting and drying cycle. By restoring a more natural watering regime to Middle Wetland, the environmental values of the Billabong Creek floodplain and Yanco Creek have been enhanced. Vegetation and tree health has improved, and bird and frog populations have increased. Water for the environment is delivered there through a collaborative arrangement with the land manager Rice Research Australia Pty Ltd, CEWH, MDWWG and NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
New phase of partnership and new faces
A recent boost to the way in which the MDWWG and the CEWH are working together is set to increase the environmental outcomes to be achieved, and further empower First Nations people to care for Country. A new 5-year plan sets out a strategic approach for the CEWH and MDWWG to partner together until 2028 which aims to:
- expand the geographical area the MDWWG has traditionally worked in, to include South Australian wetlands, the lower Darling/Baaka valley, the New South Wales and Victorian Murray, Lower Murrumbidgee and Lachlan valleys, with potential for sites in the northern Basin
- continue to invest in relationships with First Nations people to share knowledge and support greater decision making and participation of First Nations people in decisions about environmental water management on their Country
- help communities understand the importance of water for the environment, by sharing stories and information and involving them in environmental watering.
There is so much more to be achieved by working together. Through the partnership, the CEWH and MDWWG will continue to broaden and strengthen their relationship established over many years to achieve outcomes with water for environment.
A key first step in getting moving on this new phase has been the appointment by the MDWWG of a dedicated First Nations Cultural Liaison Officer, and new Environmental Water Manager.
Proud Bangerang/Wiradjuri woman, Ji Atkinson has recently been appointed to the role of Cultural Liaison Officer for MDWWG. Ji is working under the new 5-year plan to support greater participation of First Nations people in decisions about environmental water management on their Country. She is an emerging leader of the Bangerang Nation, and is passionate about caring for Country, environmental conservation and protection of cultural heritage.
Maggie McDonald has recently been appointed as an additional Environmental Water Manager for MDWWG. Maggie will play a key role in increasing the MDWWG’s capacity for delivering water for the environment to wetland sites. Maggie has experience working in natural resource management and community engagement in the Murray-Darling Basin and the Northern Territory. She is passionate about building genuine relationships with community members, including First Nations peoples, to be able to deliver the best outcomes for local people and the environment.
About the Murray-Darling Wetlands Working Group
The Murray-Darling Wetlands Working Group (MDWWG) is a not-for-profit organisation with over 30 years of experience delivering hundreds of projects that have helped to rehabilitate wetlands on public and private property across the Murray-Darling Basin, benefiting the environment and community.
They believe in the power of relationships. Working with community, landholders, First Nations people, government, science, knowledge and business, the group aims to restore our wetlands to places of beauty and health for people and all the frogs, fish, birds, animals and trees that rely on them to live and flourish.
The MDWWG has demonstrated capacity, extensive knowledge and experience and an impressive reputation in managing and delivering water for the environment for priority ecological outcomes. They have strong capability in engaging as a non-government entity with private landholders and community, which is of great importance to the work of the CEWH.
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About the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder
The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder is a statutory position established under the Water Act 2007 and is responsible for managing the Commonwealth environmental water holdings. Since October 2022, Dr Simon Banks has held the role of the CEWH. He’s supported by staff within the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
Commonwealth environmental water must be managed to protect or restore the environmental assets of Murray-Darling Basin, to give effect to international agreements including the Ramsar convention. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia’s largest river system, which covers more than a million square kilometres across south-eastern Australia. Its rivers, creeks and tributaries traverse Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia. As the holder of Commonwealth environmental water, the CEWH considers the entire Basin in planning and using environmental water, managing the national interests of this complex and important river system.
