Enhancing wetland habitat at Tolderol Game Reserve
As part of the Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin (HCHB) On Ground Works (OGW) project, the Department for Environment and Water is restoring wetland habitat at Tolderol Game Reserve.
Construction of new infrastructure to improve water management and restore wetland habitat is scheduled to begin in summer 2024. Early works such as bay levelling and removal of some embankments have taken place at the site throughout 2024.
Together with other On Ground Works projects at Teringie Wetlands and Lake Hawdon North, works at Tolderol Game Reserve will improve the availability and quality of habitat for migratory and non-migratory shorebirds across South Australia’s Lower Lakes and South East.
About Tolderol Game Reserve
Located 15 km south-east of Langhorne Creek on the banks of Lake Alexandrina, on Ngarrindjeri Ruwe (Country), Tolderol Game Reserve is a large, artificially constructed wetland complex that spans approximately 200 ha.
Part of The Living Murray’s Lower Lakes, Coorong and Murray Mouth Icon Site, and the Coorong, Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar Wetland site, the reserve is one of South Australia’s premier bird-watching wetlands due largely to the rich foraging habitat it provides for Coorong waterbirds, including migratory shorebirds.
Cultural value
Tolderol Game Reserve is located within the Ngarrindjeri Native Title determination and holds significant cultural and ecological value. The Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporation have expressed support for interventions at Coorong wetland sites that that will improve the health of Ngarrindjeri lands and waters, whilst having minimal ground disturbance. The Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin team will continue to work closely with Ngarrindjeri to ensure cultural knowledge, values and interests inform and shape the Tolderol Game Reserve project.
Social value
Tolderol Game Reserve is one of South Australia’s premier bird-watching wetlands, attracting a diverse array of visitors each year, including bird watchers, sightseers, hunters, bushwalkers, campers and boaters.
Once privately owned and used for cattle grazing, the site was purchased by the Government of South Australia in 1970 after the area was recognised as a high-value conservation area, particularly for migratory shorebirds.
With a strong history of community participation, a dedicated team of volunteer caretakers continue to be involved in the management, maintenance, and restoration of the site.
Tolderol Game Reserve is managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service SA. For visitor information, please visit the Tolderol Game Reserve information page on the National Parks and Wildlife Service SA website.
Why this project is important
Regional wetlands of the Coorong and the South East provide vital habitat for shorebirds, including migratory bird species that travel from as far as Siberia to feed on inundated salt marsh and mud flat areas in summer. These wetlands provide the birds with critical food resources, including invertebrates such as snails, crustaceans, worms and insect larvae, which the birds rely on to fuel-up before making the journey back to the Northern Hemisphere to breed.
As Tolderol Game Reserve forms part of the Coorong and Lakes Alexandrina and Albert Ramsar site, it is subject to international migratory bird agreements focused on conserving migratory bird populations and their habitats. Unfortunately, a reduction in the quality and availability of foraging habitat for shorebirds has resulted in a significant decline in shorebird species throughout the Coorong, with some of our most common and abundant migratory shorebirds now considered to be threatened at a national level.
Tolderol Game Reserve currently supports 27 migratory bird species listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), as well as other endangered and vulnerable species such as the southern bell frog, Australasian bittern, and southern pygmy perch. Studies have shown the reserve has the potential to regularly support at least 10 additional migratory species that have previously been observed at the site, such as black-tailed godwit, common sandpiper and Latham's snipe.
The works being undertaken as part of the OGW project are essential in enhancing the overall health of the Tolderol Game Reserve and ensuring the cultural, ecological, and social value of the site is improved and preserved into the future.
On-ground works to support regional bird refugia
The Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin team is working closely with the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board, Ngarrindjeri Aboriginal Corporation, National Parks and Wildlife Service South Australia, and local community groups to support regional bird refugia at this important Coorong wetland.
Comprising 21 open and shallow bays, the artificial wetland complex at Tolderol Game Reserve is currently watered through a series of gravity-fed channels. This existing water management regime restricts the amount of suitable wetland habitat available at the site at any given time.
Installation of small-scale infrastructure and supporting earthworks will improve water management and delivery across the site to increase the extent and duration of wetland inundation at critical times.
On-ground works at the site include:
- installation of new levees and pipes
- removing / levelling of earth in some bays
- merging some smaller bays into larger bays
- upgrading access tracks.
These works will allow greater areas of the wetland to be inundated for longer and at defined depths, thereby increasing the availability of shorebird foraging habitat by an additional 61 ha (60% increase) across Tolderol Game Reserve.
Project updates
Tolderol Game Reserve update - summer 2024
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