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Aerial Survey of waterbirds in eastern Australia
In October of each year, an aerial survey is run to estimate the abundance of waterbirds in eastern Australia (1983-2004). This collaborative program involves New South Wales as the primary jurisdictional partner, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. This project is one larger surveys of fauna in the world. In October of each year, waterbirds in eastern Australia are counted from the air on about 2000 wetlands (100 hours flying). We are providing one of the country's most important long-term data sets on the health and biodiversity of our river and wetland environments. It is also providing information on up to 50 waterbird species including several threatened species. This information has shown some waterbird populations are in decline (e.g Macquarie Marshes and Lowbidgee wetlands) and is also used for the management of duck shooting seasons in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria. Funding is provided by the conservation agencies of the eastern States.
Macquarie Marshes
Good management of river systems is dependent on good information of the ecological responses. A long history of monitoring the breeding of waterbirds in the Macquarie Marshes is producing dividends. The Macquarie Marshes is now established as the most important site in Australia for the breeding of colonial waterbirds (herons, egrets and ibis). The objective of this project is to measure the impacts of changing water regimes on the breeding and abundance of waterbirds in the Macquarie Marshes. The Macquarie Marshes is best known for its large colonies of ibis and egrets. It aims to provide an adaptive management framework for decision-making on environmental flows for the entire river system. One success of different management regimes is the breeding of colonial waterbird species. Funding is provided by the NSW Environmental Trust.
WISE (Water Information System for the Environment) This unique software program was originally developed for the Macquarie-Bogan Catchment as a bibliographic resource with a complete listing of all publicly available material for a catchment. It contains several databases including an environmental subject database cataloguing what type of information is contained in each article or book. For the first time, someone can access everything ever published for the entire catchment, covering all natural and cultural heritage issues. With powerful search routines, people can find subjects of interest with the most up to date information for any wetland, river or creek in the catchment. Publications can be collected and abstracts read to determine if the publication is relevant.
In consultation with community groups, educators, landholders and water managers in the catchments, the WISE software now includes additional detailed information specific to each catchment. It gives an overview of the catchment, its rivers, wetlands, fauna and flora, National Parks and towns in the form of maps, videos, audio clips, oral histories, text files, photographs and now includes a mapping interface. There is also primary source material under the three main key issues identified as important for entire catchment from the analysis of publications. Funding is through the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan.
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