Rewilding Tasmania’s Finest Lake
Featured Image: Paddle for Pedder on the impoundment, 2020 (Credit: Rob Blakers)
Original Lake Pedder circa 1970 (Credit: Graham Wootton)
Restore Pedder is striving to drain the hydro impoundment in the heart of Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area to rewild the original Lake Pedder. Considered a natural wonder of the world, this Australian icon is as significant as Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef. The original Lake Pedder was a 10 square km glacial outwash lake that had a unique pink quartzite beach. The scenic gem was flooded in 1972 creating a hydro storage lake with construction of dams on the Huon and Serpentine rivers. An environmental tragedy that struck the local and national community to the core; and consequently, the world’s first green political party, the United Tasmania Group, was founded.
The campaign, led by formidable former Australian Greens Leaders Christine Milne and Bob Brown, would be the largest rewilding project in Tasmania’s history. A 2020 ecological scoping study proved restoration was possible and highlighted the biodiversity benefits of doing so. Miraculously the famed dunes and beach physically survived the inundation and remain intact, interred 15 meters below the current impoundment water level. Amid the climate and biodiversity crises, this project could see Tasmania become global leaders in large-scale ecological restoration, and Pedder has the potential to be a flagship project for the UN’s decade of ecosystem restoration. All that is needed is the political will.
Original Lake Pedder (Credit: Elspeth Vaughan)
How You Can Help
You can assist the campaign by giving a donation, following us on social media @RestorePedder, and sharing with your friends and family.
For more on Lake Pedder and the campaign for restoration please visit LakePedder.org
Peter Fagan ‘Wedge Map’ Pedder impoundment alterations 1971
An avid bushwalker and landscape photographer, Tabatha Badger is a member of the Lake Pedder Restoration Management Committee and the campaign communications coordinator. Tabatha has been drawn to the restoration of Lake Pedder as a symbol of hope that we can restore and protect our valuable wilderness.