Media Releases 2012
Mayor inspects latest works to improve the lakes
22 Feb 2012
Work is underway on the foreshore of Tuggerah Lake to help improve the natural areas around the lake.
Wyong Shire Mayor Bob Graham, who is also the Chairman of the Tuggerah Lakes Estuary Coastal and Floodplain Management Committee and lives near Tuggerah Lake, said this work is designed to restore parts of the foreshore to its natural state.
“As someone who has lived by the lakes for more than 30 years, I have seen the slow and gradual decline of the health of the lakes, as development and the number of people living in the Shire has increased,” Mayor Graham said.
“It will take many years to reverse the impact of human settlement. We can’t fix 100 years of damage in a couple of years. But every step we take in implementing the work from the Tuggerah Lakes Estuary Management Plan takes us closer to improving the health of the lakes.”
Council’s Estuary Management Ecologist, Nicole Dixon, said the work is an important part of returning parts of the shorelines to a natural ecosystem.
“Working with nature and not against it is the most effective way to improve the lakes,” she said.
“In the 1980's many areas of the foreshore were un-naturally elevated as part of the Tuggerah Lakes Restoration program.
“Tonnes of soil and black ooze was dredged out of the lake and placed on the foreshore, then covered with sand, which created the lovely steep sandy foreshores that many people remember.
“But the problem is that these sandy foreshores were man made, not naturally occurring.
“The other problem is that introduced lawn grasses were planted along the foreshore to create grassy areas. But these grasses are not salt tolerant and when the water level rises, the grass is damaged. It also does not provide important habitat.
“What we are doing now is rebuilding parts of the foreshore to create a more natural slope then removing the lawn grass and planting communities of salt tolerant plants, also known as saltmarsh. We will be building 10 of these sites as part of the implementation of the Estuary Management Plan.”
The saltmarsh communities are a vital link in the lakes ecosystem. They provide habitat for birds, fish, crabs and other animals and fish and prawns come in to feed on the tiny animals that live in and around the soil of the saltmarsh.
As an added bonus, the saltmarsh helps to manage the dead seagrass leaves (often referred to incorrectly as weeds) that accumulate around the lake and create the unpleasant smell. Saltmarsh plants are taller than the lawn grass and act like washing lines when seagrass leaves wash on to them. The saltmarsh plants hold the leaves up off the ground and dry them out so they break down without smelling.
There are three saltmarsh sites currently being constructed in Killarney Vale.
The sites will be monitored over the next 18 months to see if they are growing well and if they are effective in managing the dead seagrass leaves.
The $400,000 works are part of the Tuggerah Lakes Estuary Management Plan and funded under the Caring for Our Country $20 million grant from the Australian Government.
“It is important to understand that we are only working on a small portion of the lake foreshore, so the results will be localised. But it’s a start and will make a huge difference to each of those ecosystems,” Nicole added.
“It is a step in the right direction towards helping nature to help itself.
“These works, in conjunction with extensive stream bank and stormwater works will help to improve the water quality of the lakes.”