Mosman Council and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) have recently completed a joint project to improve water quality in one of the most picturesque bays in one of the world’s most famous harbours. Sydney Harbour National Park bushland fringes Taylors Bay, which in turn is directly bounded by residential areas of Mosman. While Taylors Bay is justly known for its harbour scenery and fringing coastal bushland, this section of the National Park has heavy weed infestation.
The Taylors Bay Stormwater Project was jointly funded by Mosman’s CEC, NPWS, and a Federal Government Natural Heritage Trust (NHT) grant. With the involvement of NPWS and NHT, Mosman Council was able to integrate several planned works into a comprehensive project with superior environmental outcomes. Given the interaction of urban areas and bushland, the cooperative approach adopted by Mosman Council and NPWS was essential to the success of the project.
Prior to the project, bushland in areas of the National Park had been badly degraded by stormwater, the walking track obscured by head high weeds and damaged by constant flooding. Stormwater from upstream urban areas of Mosman had been introducing pollutants including weeds and weed spores, nutrients, and litter into the creeks of the area, and the waters of Taylors Bay. Nutrients, including fertilisers from domestic gardens, detergents and dog faeces, promote weed growth in bushland, and algal growth in harbour waterways.
Inappropriately sited stormwater outlets have also caused erosion, and scouring of creeklines and walking tracks in the area. To address these issues, the project team adopted a variety of approaches, including education, community involvement, creek reconstruction, bushland management, and stormwater management.
Community events during the project included extremely popular interpretative bushwalks around the Bay and intertidal discovery tours. These helped to illustrate first hand the amazing diversity of life in Sydney Harbour and its surrounding bushland. Other educational events included a corporate community bushcare day with financial services company MLC, who donated staff and enthusiasm to do battle with the weeds in the work site, community information evenings and production of a user friendly guide to being a ‘Bush Friendly Neighbour’.
The final stage of the project currently underway, involves the installation of SQIDs. This should improve the effectiveness of ongoing bush regeneration, because it will prevent weed spores from continually re-invading the area.
With strong partnerships forged between Local Government – Mosman Council, State agency – NSW NPWS, and Federal funding via the Natural Heritage Trust, the project is a positive demonstration that three layers of government can work together for the good of the local environment.
