Lake Pedder from the Frankland Range, by David Neilson
About
The campaign to restore Lake Pedder
The Original Lake Pedder
A place unlike any other on Earth
The natural Lake Pedder sat in the heart of Tasmania's Southwest National Park. It was an immense but relatively shallow freshwater lake, encompassing 10 square kilometres, its dark waters edged by a stunning 3-kilometre-long white-pink quartzite beach. The lake was a place of haunting beauty: wild, remote, and ecologically unique.
Millennia of wind and water action shaped Lake Pedder, creating a habitat found nowhere else — shallow wetlands and rare plants, a crucible for the speciation of its endemic fauna. For visitors lucky enough to experience it, Pedder was transformative.
What We Do
A campaign with a clear purpose
Lake Pedder Restoration Inc. is the organisation behind the Restore Pedder campaign. We are a small, focused team backed by a national movement of members, volunteers, and partners — all working toward one outcome.
Build the mandate
We grow public support and political will for restoration — through campaigns, petitions, and direct advocacy to federal decision-makers.
Champion the science
We commission and share the ecological research that proves restoration is feasible, necessary, and overdue.
Mobilise the community
We bring together volunteers, members, and partners who give their time, voice, and resources to the cause.
Hold power to account
We keep Lake Pedder on the public agenda — in parliaments, in the press, and in the national and international conversation.
What We're Working Towards
A single, measurable goal
Everything we do serves one outcome — the re-awakening of the original lake.
The incremental lowering of the impoundment and re-exposure of the original Pedder beach and wetlands.
The natural regeneration of the unique quartzite sands, peatlands, and endemic habitat.
A restored landscape returned to Traditional Owners and protected for future generations.
The Case for Restoration
It can be done — and should be
The water is not gone — it sits behind dams. The sand is not gone — it lies beneath the impoundment, essentially undisturbed. Surveys confirm the original beach remains intact under only millimeters of reservoir silt. The restoration is physically and technically feasible.
Lake Pedder can be restored by incrementally lowering the water level and re-exposing the original beach and wetlands. Nature is resilient: given the chance, the ecosystem would gradually re-establish. This is not nostalgia — it is restoration, grounded in science.
Who We Are
The committee & staff
Restore Pedder is run by a dedicated committee and a small team of staff who give their time to the campaign. Together they carry the work forward.
Christine Milne
Convenor
Former Vice President of IUCN, former leader of the Australian Green Party and current Global Greens Ambassador, Christine Milne took up the role of Co-Convenor of the Lake Pedder Restoration Committee in the lead up the United Nations Decade of Ecological Restoration (2021-2030) to campaign for an agreement by the summer of 2021-22, to restore Lake Pedder and surrounding environs.
Richard Koch
Deputy Convenor
As a child, Richard Koch saw a Save Lake Pedder poster in 1972 but didn’t get to Tasmania until after the true lake had gone under. His work in conservation has been as a manager of terrestrial and marine parks in various Australian states. He would like to help ensure younger people have an awareness of what happened in the Southwest Wilderness in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Stuart Barry
Treasurer
Stuart Barry is passionate about encouraging, educating and informing people of the wisdom of incorporating their environmental and social values into their financial decisions and arrangements. Stuart is a retired ethical financial advisor, author and an avid bushwalker.
Kerry Duncan
Secretary
Kerry Duncan is a keen bushwalker and has returned to Tasmania’s Southwest National Park tracks every year since 2014. With a focus on raising awareness and hope among younger people during the Climate’s decline “by taking them out there”, she sees the restoration of Lake Pedder and the preservation of takayna as two beacons of hope within reach.
Danelle Degrassi
Campaign Director
Danelle 'Nelle' Degrassi brings a lifelong commitment to Tasmania’s wild places and community-led change to her role. An artist, producer and environmental campaigner, she works to build public support for returning Lake Pedder and its surrounding ecosystems to Country. Her work connects people, culture and practical action for restoration and a wilder future for lutruwita /Tasmania for coming generations.
Katherine Bourne
Campaign Organiser
Studying marine biology at UTAS and with a background at the Environment Society, Katherine Bourne is dedicated to protecting and restoring our wild places as a climate solution. Her passion focuses on community connectivity and action through connection to nature. While she is too young to have seen the original Lake Pedder, her commitment to its restoration is unwavering, as is her firm belief in ecosystem restoration as a nature-based climate solution.
Todd Dudley
General Committee
President of the North East Bioregional Network, Todd Dudley is based on the East Coast of Tasmania. He has been involved in bush regeneration and ecological restoration for 35 years. In recognition of his long-term commitment to the protection, maintenance and restoration of the natural environment, Todd was awarded the Tasmanian Pride of Australia medal for conservation in 2014 and the Australian Conservation Foundation's 2018 Peter Rawlinson Award.
Dick Friend
General Committee
Dick Friend was captivated by Lake Pedder on first sight in 1972. Questioning our economic direction after volunteering and managing the Tasmanian Environment Centre, he established businesses in mariculture, horticulture, gourmet foods, tourism, viticulture, education and IT – long-term industries compatible with a healthy environment. Dick strongly believes eco-system restoration, such as Pedder, is the key to enhancing lutruwita / Tasmania's brand and the value of all such industries.
Wendy Everett
General Committee
Wendy Everett is passionate about preserving lutruwita /Tasmania’s unique ecological heritage. Her early media career included first-person reporting on the South-West wilderness, before working as a broadcast journalist in Australia and overseas. Drawing on decades of storytelling experience, she brings a strong commitment to advocacy through her work supporting the Campaign to ensure this remarkable lake is reinstated for future generations.
Graham Green
General Committee
Environmental scientist Graham Green first saw Lake Pedder at Easter, 1971. He was eight years old and his family was heading to the Lake via the Coronets Track when pouring rain, mud and flooded tents forced them back. The following summer, the Green family made it to Lake Pedder by the Scotts Peak track: “Being at Lake Pedder was the most impressionable experience of my life and I am forever grateful to my parents for their determination to get my brothers and I there before it was flooded."
Join Us
Be part of the re-awakening
The campaign is powered by people. Add your voice, your time, or your support — and help bring Lake Pedder back.