Russell Island Wetlands

Final Report Stage 1 – Whistling Kite / Turtle Swamp

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1 Overview of Progress

The purpose of this project is to collect important information including water quality and survey data in creating a background study in raising greater level public awareness, of two important and significant natural wetlands of Whistling Kite and Turtle Swamp on Russell Island, Southern Region of Moreton Bay, South East Queensland.

The combination of relevant water quality variables will supply supporting evidence of ‘duty of care’ of our coastal environments showing impact of island urbanisation and previous development and subdivisions approval of a once pristine environment. The potential impact of weeds in Whistling Kite and Turtle Swamp wetlands on Russell Island needs to be addressed and remediation considered as part of our role to protect coastal wetland and critically sensitive aquatic habitats.

Many areas of the wetlands are recovering very well from the clearing of the early pioneering era. This has been documented with the GIS data survey

The areas in question are Whistling Kite and Turtle Swamp plus the corridor adjacent to Browns Bay on the West, also the corridor from the East end of Turtle Swamp to Canaipa Passage.

Many items of flora and fauna have been documented. Approximately 4,500 images have been taken, of which in excess of 2,000 are retained in an excel database. This data has been compiled by both community volunteers and leading consultant Zoologist Dr. Ronda J Green, BSc(Hons) PhD and  her assistant Darren Green

Plans have been produced from the GIS survey (thousands of co-ordinate points) showing these areas and the predominant flora therein including any existing buildings and structures within the project area (the wetlands). These plans also show existing trails, tracks and also areas of wetlands being slashed by council for access to land reclaimed from previous subdivisions and subsequently zoned conservation.

In Turtle Swamp there are also numerous obsolete lines of mains water supply with many water hydrants placed in the original land subdivision. Data on all these have been collected.

There are many areas of weed infestation, soil erosion as well as areas where commercial and domestic waste has been dumped. Community volunteers have photographed, documented and surveyed these locations and in a large portion of cases data has been entered into an excel database with survey co-ordinates.

A party of two carried out GIS surveys with supporting photographs from March 28, 2009 to September 24, 2009. Altogether community volunteers have spent 63 days in the field.

Plans for dominant flora areas and hydrology were produced as part of a mapping program.  Many weeks were spent sourcing the equipment and software and in training to use them. 12 meetings, workshops and training sessions were attended.

A website has been produced showing spatial maps, prepared from some of the data, as well as some images collected (www.russellislandwetlands.com.au).

Partnerships have been developed with Redland City Council, who is assisting with procedure in collecting quality hydrology data. Redland City Council has also supplied funding for a Management Plan which is being finalised at the time of writing this report. Parts of this document will be displayed on the website for public access.

Six consultants have been approached including: Greening Australia, Biodiversity Australia, Biodiversity and Assessment Management, Eureka Hydrologic Pty Ltd, Dr. Ronda Green (B.Sc, PhD), Chris Lock (AD Eng, B.Sc -Environ- Major in WQ and Toxicology). Two of them were unavailable or the cost too high (Greening Australia and Biodiversity and Assessment Management).  Four consultants came to Russell Island. Two consultants were funded: 1. Dr. Ronda Green: the reports of her two two-day-visits can be read on the above mentioned website.  2.  Holly Bryant from Biodiversity Australia. Costs were funded for a survey for amphibians and possible turtles. Verbal report indicated little or no success.  The third consultant, Eureka Hydrologic Pty Ltd (John Harbison) visited the island and assisted in the initial hydrology directions and understanding. The fourth consultant, Chris Lock, has since become a member of our group (Friends of the Wetlands) and has conducted two water quality tests with team members and will be assisting the president, in partnership with Redland City Council Environmental Department, to establish ongoing water quality testing, training and best management procedures to meet the Redland City Council’s management plan, the SEQ NRM plan and HW Strategy protection conservation action plan.

Some initial indications show possible contamination but depleted funding reserves have meant follow-up costly laboratory tests have not been done. It is envisaged that the next stage will have funding to acquire equipment to enable these tests in a timely and cost effective manner.

A partnership was developed with C R Kennedy Pty Ltd, who supplied the GIS survey equipment, software and training for both.

A partnership and assistance has been developed and is ongoing with South East Queensland Catchments.

A partnership and assistance is ongoing with Wetlandscare Australia.

A partnership is ongoing with Bay Islands Community Services, Russell Island, where public/group meetings are held. Bay Islands Community Services, Russell Island has made available computer, projection and other equipment.

Twelve meetings have been held with up to 60 participants to raise public awareness and to attract participants as well as media advertising, brochures, cards and posters. This will be ongoing.

This project stage 1 is now complete, the group (19 members), Friends of the Wetlands, is refining the Management Plan to progress to the next phase. This process is lead by Dr. Bruce Rich utilizing the knowledge and the groups (as listed in section 3 Intermediate Outcomes) formed in this first stage.

These groups are under the direction of the Project Manager for the Friends of the Wetlands.

The vision of the group is explained to some degree in the Management Plan, sections of which will be made available online at the above website.

Communication is maintained with Bushcare group with some cross-memberships.

A visit by TAFE teacher and students was carried out but not continued as this stage was mainly a data collection exercise. Also the logistics and cost of transport to the island were prohibitive.

2 Immediate Outcomes

• Areas of illegal dumping of rubbish (e.g. tyres, white goods, car bodies. See www.russellislandwetlands.com.au under Urban Impact)
• Areas of erosion (see above website under Urban Impact)
• Areas being impacted by a slashing program
• Areas of invasive weeds (for example Lantana, Singapore Daisy)
• Fast growing numbers of cane toads
• A gazetted road alignment running through a wetland area
• Possible water pollution of hydro-carbons in the area between Whistling Kite and Turtle Swamp
• Pollution of a E.coli nature has been reported to the group, some investigation has occurred but confirmation needs a better testing regime before reliable reporting can occur

Other Immediate Outcomes

• Public awareness program has been started and is on-going (meetings, flyers, cards, website, media, word-of-mouth)
• A website has been produced showing spatial maps prepared from some of the data as well as some images collected (www.russellislandwetlands.com.au)
• Expanding database of flora and fauna for the wetlands
• Growing interest and involvement by community is continuing

3 Intermediate Outcomes

• A serious need has been identified by the community to collect Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) certified water quality data within the wetlands and also to include other areas of the island that have been identified by the community and group members. These will include the surrounding estuaries, marshlands, mangroves tidal regions and the bay area so that best practices and management plan provide all the necessary strategies to reduce the direct impact of short and long term urban impact on the Russell Island wetlands and surrounding Moreton Bay.
• To further identify growing community interest in the conservation of Russell Island wetlands and the water quality of Moreton Bay.
• The Redland City Council has provided funds for a Management Plan to move the project forward to the next stage and to encompass other wetland areas on the island.
• In excess of one third of the island is now either public lands or deemed as conservation areas which include the island’s wetland areas. Awareness that these areas need longer term planning, protection and monitoring.
• Groups have been formed for specific tasks in the project, some gaining valuable training and experience in this first stage. The groups are:

- GIS data surveying (to be used in initial data collection, final design, layout and

construction of public access infrastructure)
- Planning, mapping and data management
- Flora & fauna photography and audio collection
- Hydrology (including monitoring of water quality)
- Reclamation work (rubbish removal, weed control and erosion control)
- Public awareness (website, presentations, media, advertising material)

• Water testing will need to be ongoing and will need to meet Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) standards and protocols.  The knowledge and the personnel is available. The difficulty and high cost of sending the samples on an ongoing basis prohibits this until the group can purchase the equipment needed.
• Redland City Council has offered to work with the group and incorporate the work of the group on the understanding that it complies with the 2009-2010 management framework.
• The groups need to have further meetings, consultation and training with the relevant Redland City Council sections to ensure that the work complies with and the data is accessible to council.
• Water quality monitoring can only be done by an effectively trained crew with equipment and procedures in place and it needs to be ongoing.
• Activities of the groups need to be ongoing to maintain their commitment and skills.
• Training and supervision of individuals within groups is essential.
• The community has people with a broad range of experience and qualifications to tap into.
• Redland City Council carried out a control burn in a section of the wetlands enabling some data collection both pre and post burn.
• Due to a well known and documented need for a better transport system to/from the island, attending mainland workshops, meetings and training sessions had to be kept to a minimum as this added considerably to the time and costs of the project
• The issues involved in the growing impact of urbanization have been greater than initially anticipated when the project was initiated.
• With growing amount of data that has been and will be produced it has become evident that a person is needed on a regular part-time basis to manage this data (including backups) and the growing assets of the community group (Friends of the Wetlands).
• There is a strong interconnection between the growing urbanization, the wetlands and the surrounding Moreton Bay. What initially was a data collection exercise for these two wetlands needs to expand to encompass the other wetland areas on the island.

5 Improvement

• Discussions with Redland City Council are ongoing to improve our data collection and the subsequent management of data
• Water quality testing regime began with the assistance of the Redland City Council and a consultant, further work will be ongoing (updating sections of the Management Plan on the indicated website). Early work has indicated areas of concern in and around the wetlands and future work will be updated on the website upon verification. Our current Management Plan will be updated to include water quality testing guidelines and procedures. These are and will be developed in conjunction with Redland City Council Environmental Department who have indicated their willingness and support to be involved in this process.
• A partnership is being developed with local schools to include the youth, in particular indigenous community, with the vision of developing a long-term environmental training program.

Summary of significant findings

• Russell Island wetlands resource is substantial
• Urban impact is significant in some areas
• Recovery from over-subdivision and over-clearing by early settlers is happening but is impacted by the surrounding urban community
• Water inflows are mostly from surrounding urban areas and have indicated the need for ongoing water monitoring both in wetland areas and in Moreton Bay
• Vehicles of varying types and sizes (4X4, motorbikes) still have access to some wetland areas
• The state of infrastructure (sewage, roads, paths ...) and the present mode of access to the island have an effect on the island ecology and on the Moreton Bay ecology, both direct and indirect.
• Current cost of dealing with the above issues by Redland City Council, Friends of the Wetlands and the community in general is impacted by the existing island access situation