Drain it,dam it: alteration of water regime in shallow wetlands on the New England Tableland of New South Wales,Australia

Shallow, still-water wetlands on the New England Tablelands, an upland region of eastern Australia, have changed in the past 160 years in their types, abundance and in the diversity of their water regimes. These changes have been natural, intentional or the unintentional consequences of management actions. Changing attitudes and land-use and management practices have led to a large proportion of natural wetlands being drained or dammed, but with a relatively high proportion of those remaining being conserved in some way. The water regimes of those that remain have been greatly altered, usually increasing their stability (more continuously either inundated or dry). Farm dams and domestic water-storage dams are two new and distinct wetland types that are far more numerous than the wetland types in the original landscape. We discuss how changes in water regime have modified wetland attributes. Two case studies: Mother of Ducks Lagoon and the Llangothlin group of lagoons, are used as examples of how attitudes towards wetlands and reasons for water regime alteration have interacted with the tenure and management of wetlands on local, regional, national and international scales.