Restoration of a coastal dune complex at Fairyland, Bruny Island (Tas)

Bruny Island, off Tasmania’s southeastern coast, is a biodiversity hotspot and now the focus of a new restoration project. NGT commenced the Bruny Island Wetland Restoration Program in 2024, with support from enthusiastic private landholders, Landcare Tasmania, and NRM South. The program is designed to restore important areas of wetland, including saltmarsh and swamp communities over time and recognises the contribution these watery ecosystems make to Bruny’s biodiversity hotspot status. Two properties were the focus of restoration efforts this summer: Fairyland and neighbouring D’Arcy’s Lagoon, both of which are located just northwest of the neck which divides north and south Bruny Island.

The Fairyland property already includes areas of rich biodiversity and a variety of wetland complexes, woodlands and coastal heathlands managed for biodiversity, however, the western portion of the property, west of Bruny Island Main Road, has been historically cleared and drained. It is this area that we and other specialists have been working with the landholder to restore and regenerate habitat to benefit biodiversity. Six east-west drains appear to have been established prior to the 1960s in this western area. These intercept north-south flow along the old dune ridges and direct freshwater flows to the coast. The northern 2-3 drains are the wettest, and the northern boundary drain the deepest and most impactful. The area has been segmented into a number of separate cells (paddocks) for stock management and it is assumed the drains were developed in an attempt to enhance drying to improve its grazing value for livestock. Each of these grazing cells also had a small wedge-hole or ‘dam’ built in it to water stock. Below you can see the location of the cells, drains and dams (left) and the ground surface elevation imagery (right).

The nature of the dune environment that the drains have been dug through is not the classic standing water wetland environment we often find ourselves working in. Saturated soils in dunes swales – fed by seepage from rainfall in the surrounding dunes and potentially a local shallow coastal groundwater system – are not uncommon, and can lead to some swampy perennial vegetation (e.g. sedges and shrubs) establishing over damp peaty soils, despite water rarely expressing at the surface.

In order to restore the coastal landform across the site and encourage retention of water in the swale environments, we backfilled all six drains earlier in February. The small watering holes were left in place for wildlife to access during dry times. Restoration works at this site complement works scheduled to occur at D’Arcy’s Lagoon next door in February 2025.

Whilst unlikely to result in any dramatic visual changes to site hydrology, improved retention of water in the landscape within the swales of these coastal dune complexes at Fairyland will help to support surrounding ecosystems and benefit the long-term regeneration and resilience of habitat in this area.

This project was supported by the Tasmanian Government through the Landcare Action Grants (LAG) Program, Landcare Tasmania and NRM South