Hart Lagoon

Hart Lagoon is located 1.5km north-west of Waikerie, 16 river km upstream of Loch 2. Hart Lagoon lies adjacent to the River Murray, and is connected to the river via two main inlet channels. The downstream inlet forms a permanent connection to the River Murray, while the upstream inlet is a temporary connection that is inundated when river flows exceed 25,000 ML/day. At normal Lock 2 pool level (6.1 mAHD) the water in Hart Lagoon covers an area of approximately 55 ha. The wetland is extremely shallow, less than 0.5m over the majority of its surface. The maximum depth of the wetland when it is inundated to bank full capacity is approximately 0.9 m. The lagoon and adjacent floodplain areas are considered a total unit, including riparian vegetation and floodplain terraces between the river and the edge of the floodplain. Hart Lagoon is a regulated wetland with a managed wetting and drying cycle.

Hart Lagoon has been described as having high conservation value. The wetland supports a diversity of vegetation types and habitats, including areas of open water and emergent vegetation in the lagoon, and woodland and shrubby vegetation on the floodplain. These provide habitat for a high diversity of native flora and fauna, particularly wetland and woodland birds.

The lagoon has functioned as a permanent wetland for over 70 years due to the connection of the weir pool behind Lock 2 on the River Murray with Hart Lagoon. The lagoon has also acted as a drainage disposal basin since the 1920’s. Drainage outfall from the Waikerie district is estimated at 50ML / year. In addition, low salinity irrigation drainage seepage creates permanent boggy areas within the wetland. Combined, these features have maintained significant aquatic habitat for birds, frogs and other native biota, including during dry periods.

A number of threats to the values of Hart Lagoon have been identified. These include biological threats such as weed infestations, physical threats such as salinisation of the wetland and management related threats such as killing long-lived vegetation through a poorly executed management action.

Hart Lagoon is situated close to the township of Waikerie and is a wetland of high social value to the local community. Hart Lagoon is situated across the road from the Waikerie Caravan Park and adjacent to a houseboat mooring area, making it highly visible to the community and visitors. Public access is not restricted and the area attracts numerous visitors, which utilise the wetland for activities such as walking and bird watching, and access the River Murray for fishing, boating and camping. A recreational reserve is located on the river edge at the eastern end of Hart Lagoon. The wetland is also utilised for teaching by Waikerie High School and Waikerie Primary School and WaterWatch. Sustainable management of the water regime and environmental values of Hart Lagoon is important to provide the aesthetic value sought by visitors, and because the wetland acts as an educational tool to inform the community about wetland management.

The Hart Lagoon Wetland Group has been a work in progress for several years. The group as it is today consists of 22 members (13 of whom are active) and came into existence during August 2004. The membership base of the group includes local businesses, local school representatives, local council representatives and concerned local residents. Since its recent inception the group has formed strong partnerships with the Loxton Waikerie District Council, Greening Australia, Waikerie Primary School and Waikerie High School.

Community input has been pivotal to many of the works undertaken at the wetland. These works include:

The Hart Lagoon Wetland Management Plan establishes clear management objectives to improve the biological and physical health of the wetland, and promote community and visitor activities. The plan describes the physical and ecological features of Hart Lagoon, and describes the threats to the wetland such as the increased salinity and altered water regime.

Through community involvement and ownership, improve the overall health of the wetland and surrounding areas using measures such as water regime management, pest control and native vegetation management, while also improving the aesthetic value and sustainable recreation potential of the area.

The five year vision for Hart Lagoon is to improve community knowledge of the environmental processes at the lagoon and improve community ownership and capacity to manage the wetland. The vision for Hart Lagoon is also to improve the ecological function of the wetland through appropriate management of the wetting and drying cycle, reducing the impact of salinity, maintaining habitat for birds, and the enhancement of native vegetation communities. The community vision is also to improve the aesthetics and sustainable recreation potential of the area.

Effective management of Hart Lagoon requires objectives combining baseline survey data and common community interests. Although the objectives are to be measurable and achievable, it is realistic to expect that many changes will not occur in the immediate future but rather over the long-term. The challenge for the group is to implement management actions to monitor the biological and physical response of the wetland to the introduced hydrological regime.

Monitoring is a vital component of wetland management. Monitoring allows the collection of physical and biological data that can be used to determine the success or failure of a management action. It can also be used to adjust or change management actions in response to changes in the wetland ecosystem.

Initial pre-management data for Hart Lagoon has been collected as part of the Baseline Survey. This data provides a benchmark to compare data collected post-management. Ongoing monitoring in Hart Lagoon will be carried out by members of the Hart Lagoon Wetland Group and students from Waikerie High School and Waikerie Primary School, with assistance from Riverland West LAP and the River Murray Catchment Water Management Board.

Future works at the site will primarily focus on implementing the Wetland Management Plan (water focused). This plan will also be bolster by the development of a Sustainable Recreation plan (land focused) which will encompasses numerous on-ground works such as the establishment of a 7km walking and bike trail, off-road track rationalisation, instructive and interpretive signage, existing bird hide reconstruction and development of new bird viewing platforms.