Work is underway on a $2.9 million project to rehabilitate a 5000 year-old peat swamp in the NSW Southern Highlands.
The Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR) signed off on the Wingecarribee Swamp
Rehabilitation Project to be paid for by coal company Illawarra Coal Holdings after its Dendrobium mine allegedly took surface water without a licence over a five-year period.
Delivery of a community project related to wetland or waterway restoration and management was a key obligation of an enforceable undertaking put forward by the mine, and accepted by NRAR, as restitution for the alleged illegal water take.
The three-year project on the 340-hectare swamp will include:
Threatened species identification and promotion of habitat for species such as the critically endangered Wingecarribee Gentian and endangered leek orchid.
Vegetation surveys will establish a baseline to compare changes in ecological health of the wetland over time.
Installation and repair of boundary stock fencing to reduce the dispersal of weeds, trampling of vegetation and contamination of water with animal waste.
Weed removal and ongoing control to reduce competition for native species and allow them to regenerate.
Improvements to access points to the swamp to allow for current and future management activities.
Some integration of traditional knowledge to support the cultural resilience of the
landscape.
Wingecarribee Swamp is on the traditional lands of the Gundungarra people. The project will be delivered in collaboration with Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council, including employment and training opportunities.
Heritage listed Wingecarribee Swamp contains a montane peatland with many endangered plants and an endangered species of giant dragonfly whose enormous ancestors buzzed through the wetlands of the Jurassic period.
The swamp is a protected area within the Sydney drinking water catchment and is listed on the directory of important wetlands in Australia. WaterNSW and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service are joint managers of the site.
Wingecarribee Swamp has a long history of environmental disturbance, including peat mining from the 1960s, the creation of a reservoir in 1974 which flooded 50 per cent of the original swamp, and a huge structural collapse of the peat beds in 1998.
NRAR Director of Investigations and Enforcement Lisa Stockley said the project would begin to address some of the environmental degradation that had occurred in the swamp.
“While what has happened to this endangered ecological community in the past can’t be undone, this project begins to take steps to better understand Wingecarribee Swamp’s current condition and reduce the negative impact of weeds, erosion and livestock.”
“We are glad about the involvement of Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council in the delivery of the project, their staff are well qualified to carry out this important work in a sensitive area.”
Ms Stockley said the monetary contribution NRAR had been able to secure in the enforceable undertaking with Illawarra Coal Holdings was the largest and most significant in the agency’s history.
“This project is a great example of restorative justice – it will deliver direct benefits to the local community and environment in the place where the alleged offending took place,” Ms Stockley said.
“A project like this could not have been achieved through a lengthy and costly court process,” she said.
The project is expected to be completed over three years, finishing in the second half of 2027.
