Riparian and wetland areas in and around Pitt Water–Orielton Lagoon are benefitting from a suite of landscape improvement efforts over the course of this year – helping to protect and restore local waterways and an internationally significant wetland.
We have been working with specialist contractors from Green Tier Services, South East Rural Fencing and WildLands Restoration Revegetation and Landscaping, and project partners Landcare Tasmania, to deliver improvements to fencing, and carry out weed control and revegetation along Frogmore Creek, Orielton Rivulet and Sorell Rivulet – three waterways feeding into Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon.
Working alongside local landholders, we have now installed over five kilometres of stock exclusion fencing – protecting 11 hectares of sensitive riparian habitat and threatened saltmarsh wetland. This fencing ensures stock are kept out of these areas, giving native vegetation a chance to recover, reducing the impacts of trampling and erosion, and helping to protect and improve water quality. Excluding stock also helps safeguard important feeding sites for migratory shorebirds, including the Eastern Curlew, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Greenshank and Curlew Sandpiper. To complement these works, we have also removed old and damaged fences from other areas in a bid to improve wildlife movement and reduce the risk of animals becoming entangled.
Invasive weeds are another threat to the health of this system – including African boxthorn, willow and hawthorn. To date, willows have been removed from both banks along an approximately one-kilometre stretch of Sorell Rivulet, while African boxthorn control is underway across approximately two hectares along Orielton Rivulet.
Alongside weed control, we are also replanting these areas with native species to help restore habitat for native wildlife, and strengthen connections between vegetation communities, potentially benefiting threatened species such as the critically endangered Swift Parrot. Revegetation across three hectares has been completed across Sorell Rivulet and Frogmore Creek, with an additional 8.5 hectares underway at Orielton Rivulet.
Together, these efforts are helping restore and protect the waterways, wetlands and wildlife habitats of the Pitt Water-Orielton Lagoon catchment, supporting both its internationally significant biodiversity and the local communities that value and depend on it.
The Rivers to Ramsar project is funded by the Australian Government’s Natural Heritage Trust under the Urban Rivers and Catchments Program, with the support of NRM South, Landcare Tasmania, Sorell Landcare, Sorell Council, Tas Water and the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service.
These works were also supported through the Smartgroup Foundation’s 2025 Grants Program, which helps community organisations across Australia deliver lasting environmental, social and financial wellbeing outcomes.