Environmental Restoration
The Blue Carbon Lab has the expertise and research experience to undertake restoration projects in a range of ecosystems, using a variety of techniques to deliver successful restoration outcomes.
We have experience managing projects from start to finish. We can help identify suitable sites, develop the design and methods to best restore the ecosystem for the desired outcomes and implement restoration activities. We have the capacity and skills to develop and undertake pre- and post-restoration monitoring and assessments, including but not limited to elevation, vegetation and biodiversity surveys, soil physio-chemical analyses, and impacts to the carbon budget (for example, soil carbon stocks, carbon turnover and sequestration rates, and greenhouse gas emissions).
Our team has undertaken consultation with industry, Traditional Owner groups, government, and community groups stakeholders involved or impacted by the project.
Lab-based methods
– Project design and methodology
– Soil physio-chemical analyses
– Carbon budget analyses
Field-based methods
– Site identification
– Restoration activities
– Pre- and post-restoration monitoring and assessments
– Elevation, vegetation, and biodiversity surveys
Case Study: The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program
The Victorian Coastal Wetland Restoration Program 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.
The program incorporates the following four key outcomes:
- Development of a management plan to take industrial land (former salt works) and transform back into a natural wetland to improve the existing ecological features (biodiversity and Blue Carbon).
- Completion of on-ground, low-cost coastal wetland protection works, including fencing and weed management that preserved and improved wetland habitat.
- Working with Traditional Owners to protect sites of cultural heritage across a coastal landscape within Port Phillip Bay.
- Engaging the community in appreciating coastal wetlands and contributing to the ongoing monitoring of coastal wetland protection works.
Project partners
This work is led by Deakin University’s Blue Carbon Lab, involving partners from Parks Victoria; Greening Australia; UNSW Water Research Laboratory; Corangamite CMA, West Gippsland CMA; Melbourne Water; CoastCare Victoria; South Gippsland Conservation Society; The Nature Conservancy; Tasman Environmental Markets; Dow Australia; NSW Fisheries; and the Wadawurrung Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation.
Case study: Kelp and seagrass restoration
One of the key threats to kelp and seagrass ecosystems in Victoria is overgrazing by sea urchins. We have led a number of projects to trail the best approaches to restoring these reefs through sea urchin culling and kelp restoration. We have conducted restoration activities in Port Phillip Bay, Beware Reef in eastern Victoria, Corner Inlet and Beware Reef.
Our work has revealed that with appropriate considerations, culling sea urchins can allow reefs to restore themselves within 2-5 years. However, if supplies of kelp propagules are low, additional kelp restoration techniques are required. We have used these findings to inform investment-based analysis and spatial prioritisation of sites for restoration.
In total, we have been involved in over 20 ha of reef and seagrass restoration, with ambitions to upscale this to the 600 ha of affected reef and thousands of ha of seagrass across Victoria.
Project partners
This project was developed in collaboration with Parks Victoria and The University of Melbourne.
