Celebrate World Wetlands Day

Published on 18 January 2019

Walks are now fully booked - thank you for your interest.

The MidCoast is home to many beautiful and protected wetlands and we are spoilt for choice in celebrating World Wetlands Day with free guided walks on offer from MidCoast Council.

Celebrated worldwide on Saturday 2 February, World Wetlands Day commemorates the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in 1971.

MidCoast Council will celebrate by opening up the closed Dawson Wetland for free guided tours on Wednesday 6 and Saturday 9 February.

“We are excited to have the opportunity to show off this beautiful site which is not currently open to the public. There has been a lot of work undertaken at the site and it is not only a fantastic example of a natural wetland, it’s also a great example of how previously disturbed sites can be regenerated,” says Council’s Water Quality and Estuary Management Program Coordinator, Prue Tucker.

Dawson Wetlands is part of 45 hectares of natural vegetation and timber plantation north of Taree. While in the past the entire site has been used for timber harvesting, today areas of the site including the wetlands are being conserved for wildlife habitat.

Participants on the tour will be able to walk through core koala habitat and experience the full beauty of the wetlands from a boardwalk that extends over the water - all while keeping an eye out for the local wildlife.

Wetlands are like the ‘kidneys’ of our rivers, filtering out pollution and improving water quality. They also provide important refuge for a diverse array of birds and fish, and are a great opportunity for people to wander in natural settings and observe wildlife. Protecting Dawson Wetland is one of Council’s many actions to keep the Manning River healthy.

Both walks kick off at 9.15am, for 9.30am, and take about two hours. Although the walks are now fully booked, you can subscribe to our mailing list here to receive alerts for our upcoming events: