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Page Index: Project Background | The Project | Project Achievements
 Mission Statement
For the next 25 years, maintain and where feasible recover, where possible, the richness, abundance and condition of a representative sample of biodiversity assets threatened by salinity, waterlogging, eutrophication and sedimentation within the Lake Warden catchment.(DEC, in prep.).
Background
The Lake Warden wetland lies on the doorstep of Esperance, nestled below rolling farmlands to the north, and magnificent beaches to the south. An internationally recognised wetland system rich in flora and fauna, covering 1999 hectares.
On the 7th June 1990 Lake Warden was designated as a Wetland of International Importance, especially as a waterbird habitat under the RAMSAR Convention
The listing is based on the wetlands being an excellent example of a South Coast Wetland System, containing five per cent of the worlds Hooded Plover population, greater than one per cent of the worlds Banded Stilt population, and is an important drought refuge containing up to 20,000 waterbirds at one time. The LWWS also comes under the Japanese and Chinese Migratory Bird Agreements (JAMBA & CAMBA).
Learn more about JAMBA and CAMBA
Of the 12 RAMSAR recognised wetlands in Western Australia there are 2 in the Esperance region, the second being Lake Gore, situated in Daylup area approximately 24kms east of the Esperance townsite.
What is RAMSAR? Visit the Ramsar website
The mission of the RAMSAR Convention, as adopted by the Parties in 1999 and refined in 2002, is..
the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, regional and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world
Although the town of Esperance came into existence in 1893 as a port facility for the Coolgardie goldfield landclearing didn’t take off with great speed until after the 1949 when that the Gibson Research Station of Esperance Downs discovered that the local soil only needed additional trace elements to make it fertile. This simple discovery ultimately turned the area into a successful producer of wheat, sheep and cattle.
The majority of clearing was undertaken by the Government of Western Australia between 1949 and 1969 with government assisted settlement programs cleared, fenced and stocked virgin crown land, and then sold it to aspiring settlers. Then further 5000 square kilometres were cleared by an American company who developed the land for sale. Little land has been cleared since the 1980’s.
Eighty per cent of the 212,000 ha catchment is agricultural land and 95 per cent of this area is cleared.
The extensive clearing of remanent vegetation, changes to natural land forms, current and past farming practices have placed the LWWS under great stress from inundation, eutrophication, sedimentation and salinity.
The Project
The Lake Warden Recovery Catchment was successfully nominated as one of four South Coast Strategic Catchments in 2005 to receive funding through SCRIPT by the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality and the Natural Heritage Trust as a joint State / Australian Government project, as part of the South Coast (SCRIPT) Regional NRM Investment Plan.
The Lake Warden Recovery Catchment 2006-08 Action Plan project involves engaging and working with catchment landholders in the priority area implementing perennial pastures; native revegetation; fencing to protect remnant vegetation or revegetation; soil amelioration (lime & claying) associated with perennial pastures; surface water management earthworks; establishing a ground water bore monitoring transect; vegetation condition, waterbird, and aquatic invertebrate surveys within the wetland system; and communication/ extension activities such as field days and workshops for landholders within the catchment.
The wetland systems are under threat from rising water levels, salinity, waterlogging, eutrophication and sedimentation. To address these threats to the wetlands, farmers and rural small landholders are being offered assistance and incentives to undertake the following:
- Replant parts of properties to high water using perennial plant species such as perennial pastures, commercial tree species, forage shrubs and local native vegetation.
- Fence off waterways and revegetate creek lines and the areas around wetlands.
- Undertake soil amelioration including claying, liming and gypsum.
- Implement surface water earthworks.
Achievements
To date the Lake Warden Recovery Catchment Project has achieved approximately;
- 480 hectares of native revegetation
- 4762 hectares of perennial pastures
Contact Project Officer
If you have a specific enquiry about the Lake Warden Project, contact the Project Officer.
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