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THE VICTORIAN COASTAL WETLAND RESTORATION PROGRAM

Restoring wetlands of our past, for our future.

Protecting coastal wetlands, stabilizing our shorelines, enhancing biodiversity, and improving natural capital.

The #VicWetlandRehab is a multi-disciplinary program– comprising Academia, Government, Industry, and Traditional Owners – guiding and undertaking the restoration of critical wetland habitat on both private and public land, helping to facilitate the recovery of some of Victoria’s most endangered birds, frogs and other threatened plants and animals.

This program allows Victorians to strategically invest in the health of our coast with respect to biodiversity enhancement, coastal and shoreline protection, marine life and fish habitat, and carbon sequestration – all of which are critical to our health, prosperity, and very existence.

Program overview

Coastal wetlands have seen loss of 9,000 ha, or roughly 25% of their pre-European extent, and continue to face a range of human impacts. The loss of, or disturbance to these ecosystems has had drastic negative impacts on Victoria’s biodiversity, particularly resident or migratory birds.

Victoria’s new Climate Change Act 2017 and the proposed Marine and Coastal Bill 2017 offer significant opportunities to develop systems to improve the management and protection of Victoria’s coastal and marine areas, of which coastal wetlands represent a critical but degraded asset.

Our project targets several threatened, high-priority conservation areas along the Victorian coast, spanning Port Phillip Bay, Western Port Bay, and the Gippsland Lakes. Coastal wetlands in each of these locations have been highly degraded. Port Phillip Bay, for example, has lost ~50% (1700 ha) of its coastal saltmarsh due to agricultural development, anthropogenic modifications to tidal flow, and urban development.

The preservation of wetlands provides us with the opportunity to test research solutions for helping mitigate climate change and improve natural capital whilst simultaneously contributing to economic growth, capacity building alongside land managers, and community wellbeing in Victoria.

The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration program incorporates the following objectives:

BRPPrg1

Develop and test a wetland restoration and conservation strategy at a former salt works that will improve the existing ecological features while minimizing the need and cost for active site management and pumping.

BRPPrg2

Undertake on-ground restoration to repair threatened saltmarsh and wetland habitat using low cost, but high impact protection activities such as fencing.

BRPPrg3L

Working with Traditional Owners to perform remedial work at a culturally significant coastal site containing the largest cluster of coastal Aboriginal cultural heritage sites within Port Phillip Bay.

BRPPrg4L

Engaging local communities where restoration work is being completed to learn and help with the monitoring of the restoration works – thanks to a DELWP Community Climate Change Adaptation grant.

Explore

Through the Biodiversity Response Planning (BRP)– a new area-based planning approach to biodiversity conservation in Victoria, Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab has the opportunity to put years of science into on-ground action. To learn more about the on-ground actions, and research being done as part of this program you can explore the StoryMap.

Start Exploring

Latest News

Follow #VicWetlandRehab on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for on-going project updates.

<< Scroll to the left and right to access all the posts >>

  • Invasive Manoeuvres: Citizen scientists assist with ongoing monitoring of Point Lillias, a threatened coastal grassland ecosystem with significant cultural heritage

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Two different groups of citizen scientists, staff members from Intrepid Travel and students from Holmesglen TAFE, have joined a team of researchersRead more

  • Premier’s Sustainability Awards Finalist

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The finalists for the 2021 Premier’s Sustainability Awards have been announced, and the Victoria Coastal Wetland Rehabilitation Program is on the list!Read more

  • Finalist 2021 SERA Award for Ecological Restoration Excellence

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program, funded by the Victorian Government, Deakin University and The Nature Conservancy, was a finalist in theRead more

  • BCL Partners with the Intrepid Foundation

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Blue Carbon Lab is all about using cutting-edge blue carbon research to mitigate climate change, while supporting aquatic biodiversity, economic growth,Read more

  • New Grant: Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation Innovation Grant

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Blue Carbon Lab has received funding from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation to “Build the Blue Carbon Business Case: Cost-benefit analysisRead more

  • New Grant: PPBF 2021- Protecting cultural heritage and restoring a threatened ecosystem at Point Lillias

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    This project will build on the previous work achieved through the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program, in which the Blue Carbon Lab,Read more

  • New Grant: PPBF 2021- Restoration of an urban coastal wetland (Truganina Wetland) informed through citizen science research

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Truganina Swamp is a 175-ha wetland of Biodiversity Significance, providing critical habitat for threatened and protected fauna as well as threatened saltmarshRead more

  • New Grant: PPBF 2021- Saltmarsh restoration and monitoring utilising citizen scientists in Swan Bay

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Historically natural coastal wetlands were converted to pastureland to maximize available farming area along Victoria’s coast. However, these coastal pastures limited theRead more

  • New Grant: Helen Macpherson Smith Trust

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Blue Carbon Lab has received $200,000 of funding from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust for the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program. This funding will be used to build uponRead more

  • Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2021

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    This week is NAIDOC week, where we celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme is Heal Country, whichRead more

  • Remembering David Rhodes

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    It is with great sadness the unexpected passing of David Rhodes (November 19, 1958 – December 5, 2020).  Dave was the directorRead more

  • Two ways of knowing natural temperate grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plain

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Back in October 2020, Chase Aghan – Project Officer (Forest, Fire and Parks) for Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and Dr BradRead more

  • Funding from the Australian Ethical Foundation to further coastal wetland research

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Australian Ethical Foundation has invested funding through their strategic grant into a 3-year PhD scholarship for the Blue Carbon Lab toRead more

  • Traditional Owners vegetation workshop

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Training and pre-restoration vegetation surveys are underway!  In partnership with Coastcare Victoria and the Arthur Rylah Institute (ARI) we hosted a vegetationRead more

  • Autumn 2020 saltmarsh sampling in Western Port

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    12 months of greenhouse gas and vegetation data collection completed! With the easing of some COVID-19 restrictions, the Blue Carbon Lab wasRead more

  • Additional protection for Western Port’s saltmarsh

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Thanks to project cost savings we’ve been able to install additional protection of Saltmarsh Habitat in Western Port! After the completion ofRead more

  • Installing teabags in different saltmarsh community types

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Time for tea! Exploring rates of carbon decomposition in different saltmarsh community types.  As part of the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program,Read more

  • Weed Management Works: Improving brackish grassland habitat for increased water bird nesting ground

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    As part of the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration program, works are underway on our Gippsland Lakes saltmarsh site with vegetation monitoring andRead more

  • On-ground saltmarsh protection work completed at our Western Port site!

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program (#VicWetlandRehab) targets several threatened, high-priority conservation areas (including RAMSAR-listed wetlands that are critical for migratory andRead more

  • Modelling at Avalon Coastal Reserve

    By Blue Carbon Lab | Comments are Closed

    Development of a Restoration Action Plan is underway! Researchers from UNSW Water Research Lab are creating a hydrodynamic model to test restorationRead more

<< Scroll to the left and right to access all the posts >>

Selected Media and Outreach

  • Blue Carbon: what is it and why do we care? An article written by Dr Melissa Wartman for Connected to Port Phillip blogpost (2019)
  • Dr Melissa Wartman chats coastal wetlands and the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program with Gerard Callinan from the Gippslandscapes Podcast. Listen to Episode 18: Blue Carbon – How wetlands and coastal fringes could save the planet. Oh and how the tea bag is doing its bit too! (2020)
  • Discover our overachieving mangroves, wetlands and seagrass meadows and find out how they can help us deal with the climate emergency. Dr Paul Carnell and Dr Melissa Wartman talked to Connected to Port Phillip about blue carbon ecosystems and their importance for Port Phillip Bay and why they are working to restore them.
  • Dr Paul Carnell and Dr Melissa Wartman presented at Victoria’s Nature Festival (September 2020). Check out the talk here. 
  • Blue Carbon Lab hosted a Virtual Stall at the Day by the Bay Festival 2020. This included Dr Paul Carnell giving a introduction talk about the Blue Carbon Lab’s work, including the #VicWetlandRehab Program. 
  • Chase Aghan and Dr Brad Farmilo presented at the SWIFFT seminars series in October 2020 on Native Grasslands. The talk showcased ‘two ways of knowing natural temperate grasslands of the Victorian Volcanic Plain’ and was hosted by Victoria’s State Wide Integrated Flora and Fauna Teams (SWIFFT). You can watch the talk on Youtube here.
  •  Dr Melissa Wartman presented at VEAC’s Science into management: Research on Victoria’s public land virtual symposium. Check out the talk here
  • Farmers place fresh value on Gippsland saltmarshes to earn blue carbon credits. ABC Gippsland (2022)
  • Farmers ready for new carbon credit opportunities. ABC News (2022)
Blue Carbon - Victorian Wetlands Restoration Project (51)
Cores (13)

Awards

  • Dr Melissa Wartman was a 2020 Victorian finalist for the Young Achiever IKON Services Environmental Sustainability Award for her role as project manager for the Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program. 
  • The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program was a finalist in the 2021 SERA Award for Ecological Restoration Excellence (Large Project)

Selected Publications

Gulliver, A., Carnell, P.E., Trevathan-Tackett, S.M., Duarte de Paula Costa, M., Masqué, P. and Macreadie, P.I., 2020. Estimating the Potential Blue Carbon Gains From Tidal Marsh Rehabilitation: A Case Study From South Eastern Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, p.403.

Documents/Reports/Papers

Newsletter (5 edition | Feb 2021)

Newsletter (4 edition | June 2020)

Newsletter (3 edition | Dec 2019)

Newsletter (2 edition | Sept 2019)

Program Overview

Initial Funding

This program was initially funded by the Victorian Government’s Biodiversity Response Planning (BRP) program. Partial funding support was provided by Deakin University and The Nature Conservancy (including a contribution from Dow Australia).

TNC-Partner-Logo-Website
Vic Gov Logo
Deakin logo

Project Partners

#VicWetlandRehab

Follow the program on social media using #VicWetlandRehab

Contact

Dr Melissa Wartman (m.wartman@deakin.edu.au)

Deakin University
  • Home
  • About
    • What we are about
    • Who we are
      • Professor Peter Macreadie
      • Dr Paul Carnell
      • Dr Stacey Trevathan-Tackett
      • Dr Maria M. Palacios
      • Dr Pawel Waryszak
      • Dr Melissa Wartman
      • Dr Micheli Duarte de Paula Costa
      • Dr Noyan Yilmaz
      • Dr Martino Malerba
      • Dr Lukas Schuster
      • Dr Tanveer Adyel
      • Dr Sabiha Marine
      • Dr Vincent Raoult
      • Dr Jacqui Pocklington
      • Interns and Volunteers
      • Alumni
  • Research
    • Blue Carbon
      • Seychelles Blue Carbon
      • Queensland Blue
      • Victoria’s Blue Carbon
      • Blue Carbon Management
      • Tea Composition H2O
    • Teal Carbon
      • Farm dams
      • Floating wetlands
      • Revitalising Australia’s Freshwater Wetlands
    • Valuing Ecosystem Services
      • Mapping Ocean Wealth
      • Guide to Valuing Coastal Wetlands
    • Ecosystem Restoration
      • Coastal Wetland Restoration
        • The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program
        • Regenerating Our Coasts
        • Towards Blue Carbon Australian Carbon Credit Units
      • Kelp restoration
      • Freshwater Wetland Restoration
    • Citizen Science
      • HSBC citizen science
      • GeelongPort citizen science
    • Microplastics
    • Marine Biosecurity
    • Decommissioning Infrastructure
  • Services
    • Wetland Carbon Assessments
    • Environmental Assessments
    • Environmental Restoration
    • Citizen Science
    • System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA)
    • Feasibility Assessments
    • Remote Sensing
    • Microbial Analysis
    • Marine Biosecurity
  • Publications
  • Opportunities
  • News
  • Donate
  • Contact
Blue Carbon Lab