Eight months later: A saltmarsh transformation is underway at Windermere Bay

The Glenorchy City Council completed a boardwalk extension and replacement project at Windermere Bay on the banks of the Derwent Estuary, north of Hobart, in May 2025. As part of this work, NGT in partnership with the Derwent Estuary Program (DEP), planned and supervised saltmarsh restoration works which aimed to remove historic infill to reinstate the natural landform and surface elevation of the site, thereby encouraging saltmarsh extension and improvement in condition through increased hydrological connectivity.

Six months post restoration, winter/spring high tides and spring sun and showers are starting to work their magic. Newly excavated areas have been regularly, fully inundated since project completion. Spread spoil heaps along the road verge have consolidated and covered over, and are now barely recognisable. DEP together with Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) coordinated the revegetation of the newly established buffer zone (above high water mark) with a mix of native trees, shrubs, and saltmarsh and grassland species, which continue to settle in and are beginning to thrive.

NGT accompanied the DEP with a repeat of the vegetation monitoring undertaken in January 2025 as baseline for the restoration project. Whilst at first glance it didn’t appear that much had changed, closer inspection tells a very different story.

A number of plots which were seemingly bare ground, had the first signs of saltmarsh regeneration – typically small shoots of Beaded samphire (Sarcocornia quinqueflora) poking through (61% of newly scraped plots). This trend was repeated across all recently excavated areas, including amongst those with remnant layers of infill and rubble.

And, since Bec wrote this blog in January, Ellie Green from the Derwent Estuary Program returned (in early March 2026) and taken these photos below. If you compare them to the ones above, from January, the difference is striking. The saltmarsh vegetation growth has really accelerated recently, with the site is coming along in leaps and bounds!

In existing areas of Beaded samphire, more inundation-tolerant species are starting to pop up such as Shiny swampmat (Selliera radicans) and Creeping brookweed (Samolus repens).

Several new species were also recorded from the site including Coarse twinerush (Apodasmia brownii) and Water buttons (Cotula coronopifolia).

We, together with the DEP, and a myriad of recreating, enthusiastic locals will continue to observe the regeneration of saltmarsh communities at Windermere Bay over the coming seasons. Exciting times!

This project was delivered by NGT in partnership with the Derwent Estuary Program, with funding provided by the Australian Government’s Urban Rivers and Catchments Program