MARTON Parks wetland at Kurnell will undergo rehabilitation works including bush regeneration after Sutherland Shire Council received a $50,000 payout.
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) ordered Caltex to pay the sum for last year discharging into Botany Bay between 200 and 400 litres of oily material, mixed in with more than 3 million litres of clean cooling water and an undefined quantity of stormwater.
Brendon Graham, natural areas manager (parks and reserves) at Sutherland Shire Council, said the natural freshwater wetland was home to endangered ecological communities, including a swamp oak flood-plain forest.
The endangered green and golden bell frog is also found here, as are migratory and wader birds.
Mr Graham said weeds, vandalism and rubbish dumping were major threats to the wetland.
Hard rubbish dumped at the site in the water would require people in waders to remove it, he said.
Council is trying to balance the needs of youths who ride bikes next to the wetland, and build ramps, with the ecologically sensitive nature of the area.
Mr Graham said that having a little-known wetland situated so close to suburbia was unusual.
The site was listed as an endangered ecological community in 1995.
"Most of it is OK, it is not too bad," he said. "If you look past the lantana it is all natural."
