Floodplain ecology course

WEC coordinated development of a three day floodplain ecology course for Department of Primary Industry and Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority. Held in Moama NSW, the course included the following topics:

• Landscape perspectives
• Aboriginal associations
• Geology and soils
• Contemporary gemorphologic, hydrologic and hydrodynamic processes on floodplains
• Biological responses to wetting and drying
• Floodplain vegetation
• Invertebrates on floodplains
• Environmental water allocations to Barmah-Millewa wetlands

The course was presented by a number of expert wetland practioners, and included theory and practical field activities. The course was run in spring 2008 and is planned to be run in late 2010 or early 2011.

Wetlands.edu - National Wetland Management Training Program

Building regional capacity for wetland-related planning and management. Funded through the 2005 Natural Heritage Trust’s national component, as part of the umbrella initiative Wetland Management Solutions, the three year project will:

• Develop a national wetland management training program designed to build the capacity of regional natural resource management (NRM) and catchment bodies, and their stakeholders including Landcare and similar groups, local governments and private landholders.
• Deliver training through wetland centres, and key regional towns and cities, and be designed to address priority wetland assessment, planning, management and communications-related issues.
• Focus training on retaining or improving the condition of wetland assets through improved local and regional/catchment-level knowledge and application of the latest wetland planning and management practices.

This training program was developed and delivered by a consortium of wetland organisations; the partners being Hunter Wetlands Centre Australia, the WET Program of Sydney Olympic Park Authority, Banrock Station Wine and Wetlands Centre, and Regional Ecosystem Services comprising Dr Bill Phillips, Jennifer Hale and Water's Edge Consulting.

The program finished in 2009, however WEC continues to offer wetland ecology training.