Hearnes Lake is an Intermittently Closed and Open Lake or Lagoon (ICOLL)
A program to help improve the future health, and enhance the leisure opportunities, of Darkum Creek, Woolgoolga Lake, Willis Creek and Hearnes Lake has been adopted by City of Coffs Harbour and will be sent to the NSW Government for certification.
The Woolgoolga Region Estuaries Coastal Management Program was out for community feedback in February and March 2022 and attracted 5 submissions.
During the Progam's development, emphasis was placed on the aspects of the estuaries that residents and stakeholders valued most highly.
The Program identified the management issues and risks, and developed a series of key actions to help mitigate their effects – initially through a 10-year plan.
Now that the Coastal Management Program is in place, City of Coffs Harbour can apply for funding from higher levels of government to begin the work.
The actions address the key threats of:
- Coastal and Catchment Inundation
- Water Quality Impacts
- Water Extraction
- Biodiversity and Habitat Loss
- Preservation of Indigenous Cultural Heritage, and
- Climate Change Impacts.
Councillors also voted to make compliance activities an integral part of the Program's water quality monitoring actions and to set out to NSW Local Land Services (LLS) that public/environmental advocacy representation needs to be an integral part of the planned Coffs Harbour Intensive Horticulture Environmental Program (CHIEP).
