Sydney Olympic Park’s once-degraded wetland and terrestrial ecosystems underwent extensive restoration works during the late 1990s in what was the largest land remediation exercise ever undertaken in Australia.
The Park is located in the geographic centre of Sydney, Australia, 14 kilometres west of the central business district, and within the Parramatta River catchment of Sydney Harbour. The Park's estuarine habitats are part of a larger network of estuarine habitats along the Parramatta River, but it's terrestrial habitats are virtually an island in ecological terms – surrounding urban development has resulted in physical disconnection from most other flora and fauna habitats in the region.
Restoration works were undertaken as part of a wider urban renewal project that created sporting, residential, commercial and recreational precincts across 760 hectares of land. This land was historically subject to extensive land reclamation works and to controlled and uncontrolled landfilling, and was the site of various government-owned intensive industries that closed in the 1980s.
The ecological component of the restoration works sought to rebuild functional naturalistic ecosystems within an urban parkland environment and involved:
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| Construction of Green and Golden Bell Frog pond in the Brickpit - before and after | |
The high public profile and inflexible time-frame of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games provided a strong social driver for fast-tracking these works and led to their integration with ecologically sustainable development initiatives occurring as part of the Games development. The bid for the Games had included a set of environmental guidelines for implementation by host cities (Sydney 2000 Bid Limited 1993) based on sustainability principles adopted at the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit. They included commitments to the preservation and protection of natural ecosystems and endangered species, as well as energy and water conservation, waste minimisation, resource conservation and prevention of pollution.
Sydney Olympic Park is now managed by the Sydney Olympic Park Authority. Habitat restoration and management works are an ongoing component of park management. Recent projects include:
refurbishment of ponds and plantings for the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog, in an ongoing periodic disturbance management regimeEnvironment reports provide further information on many of these projects.
Prior to remediation, the land now comprising Sydney Olympic Park was anecdotally regarded as having high biodiversity values despite a history of habitat alteration and industrial use, and its ecological isolation in urban surrounds. Site managers sought to integrate biodiversity conservation with site redevelopment. To assist this goal they established an expert review panel of professional ecologists and environmental scientists, and commissioned a suite of ecological studies to provide baseline information on the park’s flora and fauna.
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Homebush Bay Ecological Studies 1993-1995 Volume I (12.6mb PDF)
Download Homebush Bay Ecological Studies 1993-1995 Volume II (13.4mb PDF)
Various ecological research programs, monitoring programs and field trials were established, including funding of a PhD study of Green and Golden Bell Frog ecology, the saltmarsh plant Wilsonia backhousei, and prevalence and impact of endocrine disruptors. Many Honours projects have been undertaken at the site.
Park ecosystem management continues to be underpinned by the advice of researchers, consultants, and other scientific experts. This involvement will be increased from 2009 with commencement of a five-year research program: Building sound restoration strategies for endangered amphibians, to be conducted in partnership with several universities and other government agencies.
The success of the restoration works is seen in the improved condition of the Park’s habitats and the rich biodiversity that they now support. Over 300 hectares of the Park is managed as habitat for species and communities protected under environmental legislation. Park habitats support three endangered ecological communities, protected marine vegetation, over 180 species of birds, seven species of frogs, ten species of bats, ten species of reptiles, many species of native fish, and thousands of invertebrate species. The original Green and Golden Bell Frog population has been conserved and two new satellite populations established on new habitats on remediated lands. Coastal Saltmarsh has increased in extent from 20 hectares in 2002 to 25 hectares in 2007. Migratory shorebirds have returned to feed and roost at the Waterbird Refuge. Learn more about biodiversity conservation at Sydney Olympic Park.
The restoration works have won several major environmental awards including:
The parklands attracted 2 million visitors in 2007, and over 20,000 children participated in curriculum-based environmental education programs. A technical tour program and ecological professional development workshops (WET workshops) are also conducted at the Park.
Sydney Olympic Park is a ‘best practice demonstration site’ for the Green and Golden Bell Frog and for Coastal Saltmarsh. The demonstration sites project was established by the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority to educate land managers and the community about the ‘priority’ threatened species and communities within the Sydney region and how to best manage them for conservation. Best practice management guidelines aimed at land managers have been produced for these species and communities. Interpretive signage has been installed and a series of technical and community field days held.
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