Media release – Lake Pedder Restoration Inc, 14 March 2022
Commemorating 50 years since Lake Pedder’s flooding
“Today is one day closer to Pedder reappearing in the wilderness sunshine. So we are celebrating.” Said Bob Brown, at the Pedder Impoundment, commemorating 50 years since people were permitted to walk into the original Lake Pedder, prior to its flooding in the winter of 1972.
“Today at the gathering at the Pedder impoundment was an expression of the commitment of long time campaigners and a whole new cohort of young people dedicated to the restoration of Lake Pedder.” Christine Milne, former Australian Greens leader and convenor of the Lake Pedder Restoration Inc stated.
“Everyone was in agreement that the federal government whether LNP or Labor should nominate Lake Pedder as Australia’s flagship project for the UN Decade of ecosystem restoration.”
Over 80 people gathered at Teds Beach, the manufactured, man made but failed replacement for the original Pedder.
The original Lake Pedder was a geographically globally unique 10 square km glacial outwash lake, celebrated as the jewel of the Tasmania south west wilderness. It was flooded to create a 242km squared hydro storage impoundment.
Now the power generated from Pedder flow is not necessary to keep the lights on, the dams require significant ongoing funding for maintenance and are constructed on a fault line, an opportune window is open for controllably restoring Lake Pedder to its original state and catapulting Tasmania into the global spotlight as an ecosystem restoration leader.
To commemorate the weekend supporters across Australia took to their local waterways, paddling for Pedder’s restoration. Over 20 paddles took places from Randalls Bay, Lake Rosebery, to Lake Bennet in the Northern Territory, Western Australia’s Swan River.
