Leading community to protect Townsville’s saltmarshes and mangroves
- 16 hours ago
- 4 min read
With Earthwatch and MangroveWatch community monitoring at its core, new data is mapping values, identifying pressures, and charting actions to improve the health of our tidal wetlands.
Over the past two years, nearly two-hundred locals have wandered through saltmarshes and drifted beside mangroves, helping to paint a clearer picture of how Townsville’s coastal wetlands are changing. Led by Earthwatch Australia using MangroveWatch citizen science monitoring tools, their observations are now shaping real actions to improve the health of these vital places.
A plan shaped by community voice
When Earthwatch invited community members and waterway practitioners to sit down and talk about their wetlands, the conversation didn’t start with “What’s wrong?” but rather “What wetlands do you value? And what would help protect those values?”
From these conversations the Local Management Action Plan was formed: a practical roadmap for protecting and restoring coastal wetlands based on what locals value most.
At Bushland Beach, for example, off-road vehicles and motorbikes treat the salt flats as a playground, carving scars that compact the ground and stop it absorbing water and supporting the wildlife that once thrived there. Locals want to change that story. They’re imagining a boardwalk to protect the fragile environment and guide visitors safely through, signage that explains why the area matters and education programs that help kids grow up knowing these wetlands as living classrooms.
Earthwatch’s Senior Program Manager for wetlands and Director of MangroveWatch, Jock Mackenzie, says that while fixing what’s broken is important, the goal is something much bigger.
“It’s to build long-term stewardship,” he says. “We want the community to feel empowered to take action to protect their coastal areas, and to protect the values of their environments that are important to them.”
The top community-driven ideas are now being shaped into project proposals, practical, achievable plans that can attract funding and support. And if all goes well, they’ll help ensure that birds keep returning to feed, fish keep finding refuge and Townsville’s coastline stays strong and healthy for generations to come.
The data behind the decisions
The Local Management Action Plan is only as strong as the data behind it, and that’s where Earthwatch Australia’s MangroveWatch citizen science programs, Saltmarsh SAVERs and the Shoreline Video Assessment Method (S-VAM), really shine.
Since 2024, volunteers with Saltmarsh SAVERs have headed into Railway Estate, Oonoonba, Bluewater and Bushland Beach for hands-on field days. These five-hour explorations give citizen scientists the opportunity to walk the site together, photograph plants, crabs, mudskippers and other animals, and chat about what they’re seeing. At the end, everyone helps score the health of the saltmarsh based on water flow, vegetation, habitat and visible pressures.
“The result is scientifically usable data that reflects multiple sets of eyes and experiences,” says Jock.
And importantly, the method isn’t locked away in a researcher’s notebook.
“The Saltmarsh SAVERs monitoring approach is open, practical and hand-over ready so community groups can run it themselves and take site stewardship,” he said.
After just two field seasons, volunteers have completed 162 saltmarsh surveys, unveiling new species records across the region and helping to fill critical knowledge gaps in our understanding of these ecosystems.
Because tropical saltmarshes are still classified as data deficient, they miss out on the formal protections given to other, better-studied threatened habitats.
“Every survey, photo, and observation helps close that gap,” Jock says. “It strengthens the evidence needed for better recognition, management, and long-term protection.”
From the field to the dashboard
Every muddy boot and every plant photo, comes together on the Saltmarsh SAVERs monitoring dashboard, launched in February. It turns hundreds of field observations into an interactive map of each site, showing what locals value most, what pressures the area is facing, and where action is needed.
For Jock, the dashboard is more than a data platform.
“It celebrates tropical saltmarshes and the incredible community effort behind the data collection,” he says. “Together, volunteers, partners, and scientists have helped put these wetlands on the map, giving them the visibility and recognition they deserve.”
How you can be part of the story
The beauty of this work is how easy it is to get involved. All you need is a bit of curiosity and a willingness to get your feet a little muddy.
“Mangroves and saltmarshes quietly hold Townsville’s coastline together,” said Executive Officer for the Healthy Waters Partnership, Kara-Mae Coulter-Atkins. “They soften the blow of storms, shelter juvenile fish, feed migratory birds and store carbon deep in the soils.”
“Earthwatch’s citizen science programs give our community a chance to roll up their sleeves, connect with our coastal wetlands and contribute to real world protection,” said Kara-Mae.
And there are plenty of ways to do that.
This year’s Saltmarsh SAVERs season kicks off in April or May, with field days across Townsville’s saltmarshes. For those who prefer to skip the step count, there’s also a seat on a boat.
Volunteers join Earthwatch scientists to drift along creeks and record what’s happening above the waterline, undertaking MangroveWatch shorelines surveys. It’s a simple process, point a camera and talk about what you’re seeing.
“These surveys deepen our understanding of mangrove health, helping to verify satellite imagery with on-ground observations,” says Kara-Mae. “For the first time this year, they will also feed into the Partnership’s annual Waterways Report Card, giving the region a far stronger sense of how mangroves are tracking year to year.”
To keep up with upcoming field days and opportunities to join the crew, follow MangroveWatch on Facebook. Whether you’re exploring saltmarshes or cruising along mangroves, there’s a place for everyone in this story of science and community leading the care of our precious coastal wetlands.
