A community group hoping to improve the biodiversity of the Hawkesbury Lagoon, at Waikouaiti, are seeking funding for a management plan.
The Hawkesbury Lagoon Committee hopes to be able to fund a restoration ecologist to develop a management plan for the 64ha lagoon outlining ways to improve its indigenous biodiversity values.
Committee chairwoman Shirley McKewen said the committee had worked over decades to maintain and improve the lagoon, which had deteriorated over the years.
With the water level of the very shallow lagoon now controlled by culverts, many of the lagoon's past problems with midges and smell had ended.
A wildlife refuge, the lagoon was officially the responsibility of the Department of Conservation, she said.
The committee had decided an ecological restorer would be able to give them advice on the best way forward for the lagoon.
"Wetlands are complex environments to manage and improve."
It was seeking $2500 from the Waikouaiti Coast Community Board for the advice and had also applied for funding for planting from a community conservation fund.
"Hundreds of birds use the lagoon so it would be good to improve their habitat, and maybe a wider range of species will visit and breed there."
Once the report was done, the committee planned to hold a public meeting to get the community involved in whatever needed to be done, she said.
