As climate change drives more extreme and unpredictable weather across the Sydney Basin — from prolonged drought to intense bushfires and heavy rainfall events — restoring the health of the catchments that supply the city’s drinking water has never mattered more. Healthy, well-vegetated waterways slow and filter runoff, stabilise banks against erosion, and help maintain the natural flow regimes that keep rivers and creeks resilient through both dry spells and deluges. It’s this kind of long-term ecological resilience that lies at the heart of the Restoring Catchment and Community Resilience project, a partnership between Great Eastern Ranges (GER), Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Greater Sydney Landcare (GSL) in the Buxton-Picton district.

Sampling water quality at Nangarin Estate. Photo © Vanessa Gimellaro

Having completed an intensive two-year restoration phase across nine sites from 2023 to 2025, the project has now moved into its second year of a five-year maintenance program — ensuring the gains made on the ground continue to grow rather than fade.

Indications of the continued regeneration and improvement of project work sites are proving to be really encouraging with site visits by Greater Sydney Landcare showing that results are holding, and in many places thriving. At Douglas Park, two stages of Arundo grass removal along the Nepean River have allowed native grasses like Microlaena to take hold and stabilise sandy riverbanks — attracting a resident wombat and possible rakali burrows in the process. At Picton Sports Ground, riparian plantings are now tall enough to provide shade and habitat, with wombat and wallaby signs appearing beneath a forming canopy. Meanwhile, at Nangarin Estate, rope-assisted lantana removal on steep creek banks has doubled the area of an original trial site, opening up Stonequarry Creek for wildlife to move freely along both banks.

Privet Management – Before (top) and After (bottom) treatment. Photo © Vanessa Gimellaro

Community stewardship remains central to the project’s success. Buxton Landcare volunteers have logged close to 500 hours over the past year tackling Arum Lily regrowth along Hall Creek, while the group’s Firewise Gardens demonstration site — just over a year old — celebrated its first anniversary in May with a planting day for National Volunteer Week. The site has also gained an unlikely community landmark: a picnic table crafted from a heritage train bogie, donated by Heritage Transport NSW and restored by Landcare volunteers, which now doubles as a deterrent to vehicles driving through the garden.

Unveiling interpretive panelling for installation at the Buxton Firewise Garden. Photo © Gary Howling

 

“Not every challenge has been ecological. Sites have contended with everything from a spraying error by a local contractor that killed vegetation on a steep slope, to kids repurposing young trees to build a cubby house — reminders that restoration work is as much about community relationships as it is about weeds and water.”

Vanessa Gimellaro, MacArthur Local Landcare Coordinator

Still, the trajectory is positive: once complete, the broader project is expected to deliver an additional 32 million litres of water each year to the Sydney catchment.

With restoration work now behind it, the project’s focus for the next four years is firmly on consolidation — sustained weed control, monitoring and community-led care across the seven maintained sites — to ensure this stretch of the Morton to Nattai Link continues to build resilience against the climate pressures ahead.

The project is part of Amazon Web Services’ commitment to being water positive by 2030, returning more water to communities and the environment than is used in the company’s data centre operations.