Saltmarsh Threat Abatement and Recovery project
Lying along Eyre Peninsula’s 3,292km coastline are areas of Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh under increasing threat of degradation. These saltmarshes are listed as a nationally Threatened Ecological Community. They are a vital part of the Eyre Peninsula’s ecology - protecting our shorelines, acting as blue-carbon sinks and providing important fish nurseries and bird habitat. Find out more in our two-page fact sheet.
Up to June 2023, we supported the four-year Saltmarsh Threat Abatement and Recovery (STAR) project through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program, to focus on land care actions to help protect and improve these threatened saltmarsh communities along with the threatened Hooded Plover. We undertook activities such as bird monitoring, revegetation, weed management, improving hydrological flows and removing marine debris. See our news pages and watch our video (below) to find out more about what actions we've undertaken during this project.
Monitoring the Hooded Plover
During the STAR project, we focused on actions that would help Hooded Plovers. Hooded Plovers are one of Australia’s top 20 threatened fauna species. These birds live on our beautiful beaches but are at risk from a range of threats. Find out more about how beach-goers can help protect Hooded Plovers.
We worked with BirdLife Australia volunteers to monitor key nesting territories along our coast. Hooded Plovers nest on our beaches between August and April, laying their eggs in a shallow scrape on the upper beach above the high tide mark. This leaves them susceptible to a variety of disturbances, including off-leash dogs, vehicles driving on the beach, introduced predators, such as cats and foxes and native predators such as gulls and ravens.
Through our monitoring, we were able to prioritise targeted intervention work to help improve Hooded Plover survival along our coast. We are thrilled that targeted interventions at 25 priority Hooded Plover nesting territories on Eyre Peninsula – from Ceduna to Cowell – has resulted in increased success for the survival of these threatened birds. Find out more.
We also undertook winter inland surveys to find out more about their behaviour during non-breeding season.
Resources
- Birding Guide for Eyre Peninsula boaters and fishers
- Saltmarsh fact sheet
- Watch out for Hoodies when visiting the beach (Hooded Plover brochure)
- 'Samphires of the Eyre Peninsula' downloadable guide (3.94MB)
- Article on the Good Living blog: Unpacked: Blue carbon and how it benefits South Australia
- Report: Eyre Peninsula distributions of some under collected samphires
- YouTube clip from BirdLife Australia: Beach-nesting birds project
- A report on blue carbon storage in eastern Eyre Peninsula coastal wetlands (June 2021)
- Eyre Peninsula Saltmarsh Retreat Assessment Report, prepared by University of Adelaide student Sophie Russell to identify areas on the EP where it could be possible for existing coastal saltmarsh systems to retreat further inland in response to rising sea levels. (Nov 2019)
Saltmarsh expert Peri Coleman from Delta Environmental Consulting presented an engaging series of talks aimed at community decision makers, coastal ambassadors, teachers, bird groups and interested public.
- Blue carbon in our saltmarshes (8.09mins)
- Saltmarshes and saline wetlands:Learning about them, caring about them (19.44mins)
- Saltmarsh restoration:What have we learnt? (34.19mins)
- Connections: Saltmarshes joining the land and the sea (11.37mins)
- Tipping point for saltmarshes: Scramble for the high ground (22.54mins)
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