Susanna Freymark
Seven farmers – Scott Rayer, Barry Johnson, Ray Lovett, Dallas Lovett, Craig Numley, Robert Weiss and Phillip Weiss – want to be asked what they think should be done to Tuckean Swamp. They say their livelihoods depend on it.
In September, the State Government announced a $500,000 grant for the Tuckean Swamp Blue Carbon Demonstration Site project which will look at restoring tidal connectivity to improve water quality and ecosystem resilience.
Scott Rayer manages 477ha on behalf of Slattery Farms. He has a map that shows the boundary of a Slattery Farms property and how much he estimates will be unusable if saltwater flows into the Tuckean Swamp.
Instead, he and the other farmers want the drainage at the swamp cleared and improved.
“There is a drainage network we rely on for primary production,” Mr Rayer said.
“We make financial and farming decisions on that drainage network.”
The seven farmers who gathered at Meerschaum Vale Hall to talk to IndyNR.com are concerned that their knowledge of decades of farming will be ignored and decisions made without consulting them.
Tuckean Swamp is roughly 6000ha of low-lying floodplain between Wardell, Coraki and Broadwater and it has been drained since the 1880s for cane, tea tree and grazing.
In 1971, the construction of the Bagotville Barrage cut tidal exchange with the Richmond River. Draining dropped the water table and exposed soils, and according to UNSW’s Water Research Laboratory, discharges have been recorded at below pH 3, with very high iron and aluminium, extensive monosulfidic black ooze in the drains, and low-oxygen blackwater runoff after wet spells.
Mr Lovett said there used to be the Tuckean Swamp Drainage Union run by farmers until Rous Water took over the drains.
“Back in the 90s Rous Water took over drainage infrastructure and they said they would maintain the drain like the Union,” Mr Lovett said.
Mr Rayer said said he asked Rous to get the drains cleared before the 2022 floods but according to him, the drains were not maintained.
Rous said they cleanedthe drains in 2018, Mr Rayer said.
The change in the direction of the drain across the swamp created a ‘dog leg’ bend which creates further blockage, Mr Rayer said.
He showed the map where the dog leg drain runs.
Mr Weiss who farms 300ha at Marom Creek, said people blame Tuckean Swamp for everything wrong with Richmond River.
“We’d like to clean the drains ourselves,” Mr Rayer said.
By law, the farmers are not allowed to do that, he said.
“By not maintaining the drains, they’ve put in a blackwater factory,” Mr Rayer said.
“When it rains, we get blackwater flush.”
Mr Weiss said the water at Tuckean takes weeks to get away.
“It used to take days,” he said.
He said Tuckean is a freshwater system now.
“They want to change it to a saltwater system,” he said.
“It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Reports from Rous indicate that about 10.5% of farmed floodplain land generates roughly 55% of the blackwater.
Restoration has been talked about for more than two decades — the 2002 Nature Reserve plan of management already flagged changing barrage operations to bring mangroves back, and three small controllable sluice gates were installed in 2003.
Conditions in Richmond River kept declining.
Since 2016, an OzFish-chaired steering committee has run hydrodynamic modelling and a cost analysis and the preferred approach is permanently opening the Bagotville Barrage, putting controllable floodgates at the nature reserve boundary, and negotiating with affected landholders. The barrage is split – the culverts and roadway are Ballina Shire Council’s responsibility, while the eight floodgates on the downstream side belong to Rous County Council.
Rous has flagged that maintenance involving the gates is difficult.
IndyNR.com asked Rous about Tuckean Swamp project.
Rous said it is not the lead agency for the project.
“As the project is in its early stages, the specific details of Rous’s involvement have not yet been determined,” a spokesperson said.
“Rous welcomes the NSW Government’s investment in the Richmond River and Tuckean Swamp through both the Richmond River Catchment Coordinator initiative and the Tuckean Swamp Blue Carbon Demonstration Site project.”
Before more studies are done and decisions are made, the farmers want to be consulted – they don’t believe allowing saltwater into Tuckean Swamp will solve the fish kills and blackwater issues.
Mr Weiss said 40 to 50 years ago the swamp always stank after rain.
“There’s no smell at the swamp now,” he said.
“Red weed is on the banks now and we don’t slash it – it purifies the water.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water and Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development said the project will include consultation with landholders adjacent to the swamp and other interested parties.
“Consultation with landowners, traditional owners and the broader community will be a priority for the project,” the spokesperson said.
The project starts in early 2027.
The first step will be reviewing the extensive studies that have already been completed for Tuckean Swamp and then hydrological and ecological investigations will be done.