Queensland Wetlands Program Project Reports

Grazing for Healthy Coastal Wetlands: Guidelines for managing coastal wetlands in grazing systems

Grazing for Healthy Coastal Wetlands has been developed to provide graziers, landowners and extension officers with information on managing grazing in and around Queensland's coastal wetlands to maintain healthy coastal wetlands and productive grazing enterprises.

It provides practical advice on how grazing and associated land management practices can be implemented to support the long-term health of coastal wetlands whilst maintaining production.

Indicators in Reduction in Soils (2011)

Indicators of Reduction in Soils reports on the Indicator of Reduction in Soils (IRIS) method for identifying wetlands and demonstrates how to use the method on wetlands in Queensland. Field indicators of ephemeral wetlands can be hard to find in dry times. Wetland soils – identified by reducing conditions – become a major indicator of existence and extent.

The IRIS method uses synthetic iron oxides to indicate anaerobic conditions in soils to indicate the presence of wetlands. Wetland managers and decision makers may use the IRIS method as an additional line of evidence to identify wetland extent.

Instream structures impact on Ramsar wetlands (2011)

The report Inventory of Instream Structures Impacting on Ramsar Wetlands demonstrates the impacts of structures which threaten the health of local fish populations that support important recreational and commercial fisheries and associated wetland functions. The report’s key feature is a Response Action Plan (RAP) that nominates specific actions to protect wetland values in Bowling Green Bay and Shoalwater and Corio Bays.

Hydro-climate tool user guide (2011)

Hydrological Characterisation for Wetlands and Wetland Imagery Users Guide will help the many users use the Hydro-climate tool - interactive tool that relates stream discharge, rainfall and run-off to the Queensland Wetland Mapping images.

Hydrological Characterisation for Wetlands and Wetland Imagery (2011)

The Hydrological Characterisation for Wetlands and Wetland Imagery describes the method behind the development of the associated interactive tool that relates zonal discharge and rainfall to the imagery used as a base for the Queensland Wetland Mapping. The tools provides a historical context to how the maximum extent of the wetlands and the water regime ratings were determined.

The information may also be used for the evaluation of the circumstances that lead to wetland filling and the changes in wetland filling processes for different wetland types. This is important for wetland assessment and management of wetlands at a subregional scale.

Queensland Wetland Definition and Delineation Guideline Parts A and B (2010)

Queensland Wetland Definition and Delineation Guideline comprises two parts. Part A is a guide to existing wetland definitions and how to apply the Queensland Wetlands Program wetland definition. Part B is the delineation and mapping guideline. You are invited to comment on these guidelines as part of the consultation process for the Temporary State Planning Policy Protecting Wetlands of High Ecological Significance in Great Barrier Reef Catchments (SPP for GBR Wetlands).

Wetland Management Handbook: Farm Management Systems guidelines for managing wetlands in intensive agriculture (2009)

The Wetland Management Handbook: Farm Management Systems guidelines for managing wetlands in intensive agriculture (Farm Management Systems Handbook) contains information and guidelines to help producers and extension officers protect the functions of Queensland’s wetlands in intensive agricultural production systems. The Handbook follows the Farm Management System approach to managing agricultural businesses.

The Handbook provides for all aspects of best practice wetlands management in intensive agricultural operations and covers such topics as nutrient, erosion and sediment management; spray-drift management; management for fisheries values; and weed and pest animal management. It also contains a component on constructed wetlands design.

Queensland Wetlands Program evaluation (2009)

The Queensland and Australian governments commissioned an independent evaluation of the first phase of the Queensland Wetlands Program (2003-2009) in 2009.

Photo: Dieback - Lana Heydon

The evaluation, conducted by Halcrow Pacific Pty Ltd and Institute of Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney, was to determine the Program’s effectiveness in meeting its aim and project objectives.

The Program aim is to support projects that will result in long-term benefits to the sustainable use, management, conservation and protection of Queensland wetlands.

The evaluation looked the Program’s five focus areas:

improving the wetland information base
wetland planning arrangements
on-ground activities to protect and rehabilitate wetlands
education and capacity building
communication, monitoring, evaluation and reporting and review.

Download a full copy of the report.

Wetland Rehabilitation Guidelines: for the Great Barrier Reef catchment (2008)

Under the Great Barrier Reef Queensland Wetlands Program, Wetland Care Australia was commissioned, by the Australian Government, to produce Wetland Rehabilitation Guidelines: for the Great Barrier Reef catchment to assist wetland managers including landholders, local councils and Natural Resource Management bodies to undertake effective wetland rehabilitation. The guidelines draw on existing research and experience including works undertaken in the Queensland.

The Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands: State-wide Assessment and Methodology (2008)

The Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands: State-wide Assessment and Methodology details and discusses findings of a statewide assessment of wetland soil indicators conducted by the Department of Natural Resources and Water during 2007 and 2008 under the Queensland Wetlands Program (QWP). The definition developed through the QWP is based on the Ramsar definition and includes a component on wetland soil features. To be useful at a finer scale, this definition needs a scientifically robust method for applying wetland soil indicators. This study concludes that the formation of soil indicators in Queensland is influenced greatly by climatic region (tropical/equatorial, subtropical, semiarid and arid), wetland system (palustrine, lacustrine and estuarine) and by inundation frequency (periodically or commonly wet).

Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands:Field Guide (2008)

A Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands:Field Guide has been developed to assist in the field identification of wetland soil indicators in Queensland, and is intended to be read and used in conjunction with the Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands: State-wide Assessment and Methodology.

Understanding Ecological and Biophysical Processes in Queensland’s Wetlands: Literature Review and Gap Analysis (2007)

To help reduce the challenges of accessing wetland science the Queensland Wetlands Program with the Department of Natural Resources and Mines developed a report called Understanding Ecological and Biophysical Processes in Queensland’s Wetlands: Literature Review and Gap Analysis (2007). The report focuses on: information relating to causal relationships between wetlands and Great Barrier Reef water quality; research on how wetland ecosystems function; research on the role wetlands play in landscape processes—in particular the improvement of downstream water quality; research assessing the ‘health’ of wetlands in an ecological context; and the implications of research for the protection, management and restoration of degraded wetlands.

Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands Phase 1: Literature Review and Case Studies (2007)

Soils are potentially powerful indicators of wetland dynamics because of the specific morphological features that develop in wet environments. This review of national and international scientific literature evaluates the ability of indictors often found within soils to reliably predict wetland boundaries. The Soil Indicators of Queensland Wetlands Phase 1: Literature Review and Case Studies (2007) report highlights two case studies of wetlands within Southern and Central Queensland to test if predictable relationships exist between soil indicators identified within the literature and wetland status for Queensland wetland soils.

Scoping Study for Monitoring Wetland Extent and Condition (2007)

The Scoping Study for Monitoring Wetland Extent and Condition has a review of relevant national and international literature on wetland condition and extent indicators and methodology as they relate to monitoring. It provides a scoping study to help determine appropriate resource condition indicators and methodologies for wetland monitoring for different wetland types, including a set of national indicators. The Report identifies existing monitoring programs and highlights areas where monitoring is deficient for Inventory Database requirements (temporal and spatial). It also identifies: resource condition parameters for inclusion in the Wetlands Inventory Database; criteria for resource condition monitoring; makes recommendations for developing conceptual understandings of wetland types; and consolidates links to other Queensland Wetlands Program projects.

Census of Regional Body Wetland Activities (2007)

The Census of Regional Body Wetlands Activities analysed the extent and magnitude of alignment of wetland activities between regional bodies and the objectives of the QWP. It reported alignment in relation to the four main focus areas of the QWP (improving the wetland information base, wetlands planning, on-ground activities and education and capacity building). The focus area of communication, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and review was not reported separately, but incorporated into the other areas.