RESTORING AVALON'S COASTAL WETLANDS

Bringing back biodiversity on the shores of Corio Bay

This multi-disciplinary program comprising Traditional Owners, academia, government, and industry is guiding the rehabilitation of degraded coastal wetlands at a former salt works, to transform the area back into natural wetlands that support and enhance biodiversity.

The program will restore more than 200 hectares of degraded coastal wetlands, including saltmarsh and seagrass, and rehabilitate over 100 hectares of priority bird habitat at the Avalon Coastal Complex, Victoria (Wadawurrung Country). The Avalon Coastal Complex is a priority site for conservation and restoration in Victoria due to the diversity and vulnerability of its fauna and flora.

Our Restoring Avalon’s Coastal Wetlands project will deliver on-ground works to restore tidal inundation to former salt production ponds and control livestock grazing to restore and rehabilitate the coastal landscape. Using best-practice methods, we will implement, monitor, and evaluate the success of restoration actions and ecosystem recovery.

The outcomes from the Restoring Avalon’s Coastal Wetlands project will balance restoration actions that enhance biodiversity, especially of critically endangered and threatened birds, support the development of blue carbon markets, and maximise climate change mitigation. This project will build on a wealth of pre-restoration science, the knowledge of the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners and a multi-stakeholder partnership to bring back the wetlands of our past, for our future.

Restoring Avalon’s Coastal Wetlands: Program Activities

On-ground action

Delivering on-ground restoration works to reinstate the tides and control grazing across the landscape.

explore

Establish an Ecosystem Health Index (EHI)

Developing an Ecosystem Health Index (EHI) to ensure restoration activities are increasing biodiversity and ecological function at the site.

explore

Natural capital accounting

Delivering ecosystem accounts that will value and verify the benefits for biodiversity, climate, and people as a result of restoration activities.

explore

Towards Blue Carbon ACCUs

Collecting blue carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) and unlocking sustainable financing to support future restoration and conservation activities.

explore

Education and engagement

Transforming the public, stakeholders, and industry members into citizen scientists that collect valuable data on coastal wetland management and contribute to local climate action.

explore

On-ground action

To restore coastal wetlands at Avalon Coastal Complex, our team will undertake on-ground restoration works to reinstate the tides and control grazing across the landscape, to help provide essential habitat for ecologically significant birds, plants, and other threatened species.

Tidal reinstatement

Coastal wetlands at Avalon Coastal Complex have been removed and degraded due to the construction of artificial barriers (e.g., bund walls, levees, roads) that restrict natural tidal flow into the area.

Tidal reinstatement is a coastal management strategy which will be used at Avalon Coastal Complex to reconnect tidal flow to the area and rehabilitate the land that was historically wetland habitat, helping to restore critical coastal wetlands such as seagrass meadows, tidal marshes, and mudflats.

Manage herbivore grazing

Grazing herbivores (e.g., livestock) can greatly damage coastal wetlands by disturbing and compacting soils, preventing the growth of native vegetation, encouraging weed growth by exposing soils, and altering the structure and composition of vegetation.

Exclusion fencing can be an effective low-cost method to exclude grazing livestock for coastal wetland restoration, which will be harnessed at Avalon Coastal Complex to help support the restoration and rehabilitation of the coastal wetland ecosystems.

Establish an Ecosystem Health Index (EHI)

To monitor changes at Avalon Coastal Complex from degraded conditions, our team will develop an Ecosystem Health Index (EHI). This ensures that restoration activities are increasing biodiversity and ecological function at the site.

The EHI will combine traditional and innovative monitoring methods (e.g., eDNA & metabarcoding), to monitor changes in major taxa, to ensure biodiversity gains are accurately quantified and reflect the true ecological value of the restored coastal wetland.

Natural capital accounting

Coastal wetlands deliver a range of ecosystem services (e.g., fisheries productivity, carbon sequestration, water purification) that are typically not accounted for in traditional economic systems. Measuring the economic value of natural resources and ecosystem services through Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) offers a way to help us understand our environment, and the relationship between its condition and our society and economy.

This project will deliver an Ecosystem Account following the UN System for Environmental Economic Accounting – Ecosystem Accounting protocols for the Avalon Coastal Complex. The accounts will measure the increases in saltmarsh and seagrass ecosystems and measure and value the benefits for biodiversity, climate, and people resulting from the restoration activities. This Ecosystem Account will estimate the cultural values associated with the restoration, in addition to the value of ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, fisheries enhancement, water quality improvements, bird watching and biodiversity enhancement.

Towards Blue Carbon ACCUs

Education and engagement

This project aims to educate and empower the public, stakeholders and industry, on the value of coastal wetlands and the benefits of nature-based solutions, while contributing to coastal blue carbon research.

As part of this project, employees at BHP will be transformed into citizen scientists through a 2-year engagement program that contributes to local climate action, while collecting valuable data to inform coastal wetland management and advance blue carbon research. This program includes educational ‘Lunch and Learn’ sessions, immersive citizen science workshops at Avalon Coastal Complex, and social science research to explore the impact of the engagement program on participants.

The History of Avalon Coastal Complex

The Avalon Coastal Complex is a low-lying coastal area on the western shoreline of Port Phillip Bay (Wadawurrung Country), Victoria. In 1950, land in the area was purchased for the construction of a salt works, which modified the natural hydrology of the wetlands into an industrial site using a levee and pumping infrastructure. The salt works concluded its operations in 2002, and management of the land was adopted by Parks Victoria in 2017.

Using historical records and an assessment of the current hydrological features of the site (e.g., channel, levees, tidal gates), researchers developed a detailed hydrodynamic model of the site. This is being used to identify future management and tidal restoration strategies, to inform the restoration and rehabilitation of the degraded coastal wetlands.

Explore our ArcGIS StoryMap

Program Goals

Restore Coastal Wetlands

This project aims to restore Avalon Coastal Complex to an ecological condition that warrants its inclusion in the nearby Ramsar-designated sites. Through developing comprehensive restoration plans, we will implement on-ground works to increase water flow and tidal inundation to 200 ha of abandoned salt ponds and intertidal areas, to support the re-establishment of the natural functions of these coastal wetlands.

Enhance biodiversity

This project aims to enhance biodiversity through the large-scale restoration and rehabilitation of coastal wetlands, such as saltmarshes and seagrass meadows. Through developing a Conservation Action Plan, this project will improve 100ha of essential habitat for flora and fauna, especially for critically endangered and vulnerable birds, including orange-bellied parrots and migratory shorebirds.