Stokes Inlet lies on the south coast of Western Australia, 80km west of Esperance, and is known as Benwenerup by the Traditional Custodians.

Stokes Inlet was named by the European surveyor JS Roe in 1848 after his friend John Lort Stokes. The first pastoral lease around the inlet was granted in 1863 and the Moirs took up the lease in 1873 and the remains of their homestead still stands today.

 

The Stokes Inlet covers a body of water 14 square km when full and is fed by Lort and Young rivers creating a catchment area of more than 500 000ha and extending more than 100km inland.

 

Clearing of the catchment too place mostly in the 1970s and it is now 65-70 percent cleared due to this extensive land clearing increased run off has caused an increase in breaches in the sand bar of the inlet.

 

Vegetated buffers along the Young and Lort river channels form a link between the coastal strip and the crown land to the north.These corridors form part of the South Coast Macro Corridor Network and have been recommended as part of the state system of protected areas.

Stokes Inlet was recognised in the South Coast Regional Strategy for Natural Resource Management as an inlet with important community and environmental values.

 

This project addresses the implementation of the estuary management plan for Stokes Inlet, produced by the project Developing Estuary Management Plans (04SC1-06c). The Stokes Inlet plan has recently been completed and was launched in June 2008. This project complements the highly successful Implementing Estuary Management Plans (04SC1 -08f), operating in the Torbay Catchment, using a similar delivery model. (Note: the funds requested for the extension of 04SC1-08f have been reduced to enable funds to be provided to more estuaries such as the Stokes.)

 

Coinciding with the implementation of the Stokes Inlet management plan is the recently completed Young River Foreshore Survey (A. Chapman). This report has highlighted the priority and significance of this biodiversity asset with the Young river on the central south coast of Western Australia.

This project is now funded through the Australian Government Caring for Country, managed by South Coast Natural Resource Management Inc and delivered by Esperance Regional Forum Inc.

If you have a specific enquiry about the Stokes Inlet Project, contact the Project Officer.

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