Australian Wetlands Database

Ramsar wetlands

The Macquarie Marshes

Overview

Key facts and figures:
Date of listing:	01 August 1986	The Macquarie Marshes during a flooding event, Photo: D. Eastburn
Australian Ramsar site number:	28
Criteria:	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8
State/Territory:	New South Wales
Area:	19,850 hectares
Drainage Division or IMCRA region:	Murray-Darling
Wetland type:	N - Seasonal/intermittent/irregular rivers/streams/creeks Ts - Seasonal/intermittent freshwater marshes/pools on inorganic soils; includes sloughs, potholes, seasonally flooded meadows, sedge marshes W - Shrub-dominated wetlands; shrub swamps, shrub-dominated freshwater marshes, shrub carr, alder thicket on inorganic soils Xf - Freshwater, tree-dominated wetlands; includes freshwater swamp forests, seasonally flooded forests, wooded swamps on inorganic soils
Key features of the site:
The Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site is located in central northern New South Wales, approximately 100 kilometres north of the town of Warren. The Ramsar site is comprised of the Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve, the privately owned Wilgara wetland and the privately owned U-Block. Comprising swamps, lagoons, channels and floodplain, the area obtains water from flooding of the lower Macquarie River and its streams. Floods can occur at any time of the year and are highly variable in size and duration. Most of the wetland is semi-permanent or ephemeral, depending on the distance from the main streams and channels. The Macquarie Marshes contain a wide range of vegetation types, determined by the frequency and duration of flooding. These include River Red Gum woodland, Water Couch grasslands, extensive beds of Common Reed, Coolibah, Black Box, Lignum, reed swamp, Cumbungi and River Cooba. The range of vegetation found throughout the wetlands provides habitat for many species of waterbird, as well as a diverse array of other wildlife including 233 bird species, 29 species of native mammal, 15 frog species, 60 reptile species and 11 native fish species. Aboriginal cultural values relate to the deep history of Aboriginal interaction with the wetlands and the values, interests and aspirations of contemporary Aboriginal communities with custodial relationships to the wetlands. Aboriginal cultural values relate to specific places, specific plants and animals, and also the wetlands landscape as a whole.
Justification of the listing criteria:
The Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site meets six of the nine criteria: Criterion 1: The greater Macquarie Marshes are one of the largest freshwater wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin biogeographic region. They are a representative example of an inland floodplain wetland relying on water from a higher rainfall upper catchment and having extensive and changeable wetlands in their semi arid lowland reaches. They are unique in terms of their size and their diversity of wetland types, and the extent of particular wetland communities. Criterion 2: The Ramsar site supports permanent populations of five nationally threatened species including Silver perch, Murray cod, Australasian bittern and the Australian painted snipe. It also supports the nationally endangered Coolibah blackbox woodland of the Darling Riverine Plains and Brigalow Belt South bioregions. Criterion 3: The Macquarie Marshes support one of only three extensive river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) woodlands (approx 6,000 ha) in the Murray-Darling Basin. The woodlands in the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site provide nesting sites and habitat for both waterbirds and woodland birds. The Macquarie Marshes is also one of only two sites in the Murray-Darling Basin supporting extensive common reed (Phragmites australis) reed beds. These wetland vegetation communities provide habitat for 77 waterbird species and 15 frog species. Criterion 4: The Ramsar site provides highly significant habitat for colonial-nesting waterbirds. The Marshes are one of the few remaining sites in Australia supporting large breeding colonies of Straw-necked Ibis, and one of only a few sites in NSW where Magpie Geese breed. In a catchment that has been modified by agricultural activities, these remaining wetlands have become a regionally important refuge for wildlife, and an important drought refuge during periods when many other inland wetlands have dried out. Criterion 5: During periods of high inflow the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds. Criterion 8: Due to the location of the Macquarie Marshes at the lower end of the Macquarie catchment, its fish communities are a blend of those found in adjacent main channel habitats upstream and downstream, but also in adjacent systems. During high flows, fish are likely to move into the Marshes from these areas. The Macquarie Marshes support a significant life history stage with native fish such as silver perch and golden perch moving out of the main channel habitats into the floodplain to breed and spawn with the onset of high flows.
Please see the More Information page for additional information on this Ramsar site and access to the Ramsar Information sheets and other associated site documents.

More information

The Ramsar Convention encourages the development of three key documents for each Ramsar site: Ramsar Information Sheets - required at the time of nomination of a site to the List of Wetlands of International Importance, are to be updated every six years, or when there are significant changes in the site's ecological character. Ecological Character Descriptions - describe the ecological character of the site at the time of its listing as a wetland of international importance. Management Plans - used to formulate and implement planning so as to promote the wise use and conservation of wetlands. For more information about these documents see the Ramsar documents page. Along with the available site documents, additional information and resources on this Ramsar site are listed below. Please note that apart from the Ramsar Information Sheets, not all documents are currently available for every Australian Ramsar site.
Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS):	The Macquarie Marshes RIS - PDF \| RTF
Ecological Character Description (ECD):	OEH (2012) Macquarie Marshes Ramsar Site Ecological Character Description (Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve and U-block Components)
Management Plan (MP):	Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve Plan of Management Water Sharing Plan for Macquarie and Cudgegong Regulated Rivers Macquarie Marshes Adaptive Environmental Management Plan
Additional information provided to the Ramsar Secretariat:	The Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site - notification of change in ecological character - PDF \| RTF Likely change in ecological character of the Macquarie Marshes Ramsar site - statement of reasons - PDF \| RTF OEH (2013) Macquarie Marshes Ramsar Site Article 3.2 Response Strategy
Other information:	New South Wales Ramsar sites NSW Wetland Recovery Program NSW Rivers Environmental Restoration Program Strategic Compliance audit of the Macquarie Marshes UNSW Australian Wetlands and Rivers research The Basin Plan National Reserve System Species Profiles and Threats database Protected Matters search tool Migratory Species in Australia National Landcare Programme Weeds in Australia and weed management

Additional resources:
Australian Nature Conservation Agency (1996). A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia, Second Edition. ANCA, Canberra. Bacon, P. E. (1994) Vegetation responses to variation in water availability in the Macquarie Marshes. Report to Macquarie Marshes Catchment Committee. Blasco, D. (1997) The Ramsar Convention Manual: a Guide to the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Iran, 1971), Second Edition. Ramsar Convention Bureau, Gland. Briggs, S. V. and Thornton, S. A. (1995) Relationships between duration of flooding and waterbird breeding in red gum wetlands. Unpublished report to Murray Darling Basin Commission. Brock, P. (ed.) (1997) Macquarie Marshes Land and water management plan. Macquarie Marshes Catchment Committee. Cooper, B. (1994) Central and North West regions water quality program report on pesticide monitoring. DLWC, Sydney. Cunningham, G. (1996) Macquarie Marshes grazing study. Unpublished report to the Macquarie Marshes Catchment Committee. Department of Water Resources and National Parks and Wildlife Service (1986) Water Management Plan for the Macquarie Marshes. DWR and NPWS, Sydney. Expert Group on Asset Valuation Methods and Cost Recovery Definitions for the Australian Water Industry. (1995) Report to Council of Australian Governments. Gehrke, P. C., Brown, P., Schiller, C. B., Moffat, D. B. and Bruce, A. M. (In press). 'River regulation and fish communities in the Murray-Darling River system, Australia'. Regulated Rivers: Research and Management. Harris, J. H. (1995) Carp: the prospects for control? Water 22, (2), 25-28. Hassall & Associates, Department of Land & Water Conservation, National Parks & Wildlife Service, and CSIRO (1998) Climate change scenarios and managing the scarce water resources of the Macquarie River. Australian Greenhouse Office, Canberra. Johnson, W. J. (1995) Breeding of colonially nesting waterbirds in the Macquarie Marshes. Report to Macquarie Marshes Catchment Committee. Kingsford, R.T. & Johnson, W.J. (1998) Impact of water diversions on colonially-nesting waterbirds in the Macquarie Marshes of arid Australia. Colonial Waterbirds 21(2): 159-170. Kingsford, R. T. & Thomas, R. F. (1995) The Macquarie Marshes in arid Australia and its waterbirds: a 50 year history of decline. Environmental Management 19. Land Management Task Force (1995) Managing for the future. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Maddock, M. (In press) The status of Herons in Australasia and Oceania. In: Status and conservation of Herons, eds Kushlan J. A. & Hafner, H. Academic Press. Mitchell, D. S. (1995) The ecology of the Macquarie Marshes: an evaluation of the main factors affecting their current condition. Unpublished report to the Macquarie Valley Irrigators Association. Marchant, S., & Higgins, P, J. (1990) Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds Volume 1 Ratites to ducks. Oxford University Press, Melbourne. McFeeters, S. (1999) Feasibility study into the tourism potential of the Macquarie Marshes. Unpublished report for Tourism NSW, Sydney. Murray-Darling Basin Commission (1999) Salinity audit. MDBC, Canberra.. Nannestad, C. (ed) (1994) Proceedings of the forum on European Carp, Wagga Wagga NSW, 20 June 1994. Murrumbidgee Catchment Management Committee, Wagga Wagga. National Parks and Wildlife Service (1993) Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve Plan of Management, NPWS, Sydney. National Parks and Wildlife Service and Department of Land and Water Conservation (1996) Macquarie Marshes Water Management Plan. NPWS and DLWC, Sydney. National Parks and Wildlife Service (1997) Draft Macquarie Marshes Nature Reserve Fire Management Plan. NPWS, Sydney. O'Brien, J. M. (1995) 1994/95 Macquarie cotton industry benchmarking, DLWC, Sydney. Swales, S., & Curran, S. J. (1995) A survey of the fish resources of the Macquarie Marshes, NSW. Unpublished report to NSW Department of Water Resources.