Wander through restored wetlands

Peninsula Grammar School year nine students recently assisted the revegetation project, continuing the school's 15-year volunteer work at the Heyfield Wetlands. Photo: Mike Kube

Erika Allen

Erika Allen

THE Heyfield Wetlands will host a bird-spotting and conservation appreciation day on Saturday, October 12, offering nature enthusiasts a chance to explore ecological restoration efforts in the area.

For a $10 fee, participants can join a guided tour led by Callam Reynolds, who consults on environmental projects including wetland restoration.

People can learn how to identify plant species and understand the importance of restoring wetland ecosystems. Funds raised will go towards maintaining the wetlands.

Heyfield Wetlands committee member Mike Kube said 15,000 shrubs, grasses, and aquatic species have been planted over the past 18 months, made possible by a two-year Gippsland Lakes Coordinating Committee community grant.

The $90,000 grant meant the committee could appoint an expert in wetland restoration to manage the revegetation project.

Some plants are still establishing – 240 were planted earlier this month by first-year Monash medical students who were undertaking their community-based placement in Heyfield – but the event will highlight the role these plants play in supporting the ecosystem, such as improving water quality, as visitors explore the lagoons and ponds.

The wetlands have not always been a paradise. Mr Kube said he’d seen photographs from 1999 depicting scarce plant life.

“People used to say when it flooded, it just stank. The water would stay there, and it would become quite unpleasant,” he said.

Rain washes water from roads, carrying dirt and pollutants, while heavier downpours bring run-off from nearby farmland to the southwest, bringing compounds like phosphates into the wetlands.

Mr Kube explained the primary goal of revegetating the wetlands was to improve water quality before it flowed into the Thompson River and Gippsland Lakes.

Mr Kube said past revegetation projects have focused on terrestrial species rather than aquatic plants. This time, they have been planting below the water line and around the ponds’ fringes that sometimes flood. This is called the ephemeral zone.

Species are planted strategically according to their optimal aquatic environment – what depth they can survive in.

A 1.8-metre wide, 25m-long jute mat made from organic material is laid over the ground, with plants inserted directly into it.

“You lay that right along the high water mark, and then you plant in that jute mat. The whole idea is that the jute mat hopefully suppresses weeds and lets the plants (grow), and the jute mat rots away after a couple of years,” Mr Kube said.

He said school groups commonly volunteered time to planting, with one metropolitan school consistently contributing over 15 years.

Peninsula Grammar School students have travelled to the Heyfield Wetlands as part of their outdoor education program, planting over 20,000 trees, shrubs, grasses and aquatic plants throughout the years.

Mr Kube said students recently assisted the current revegetation project, planting up to 750 plants in one and a half hours.

The revegetation project is set to conclude at the end of December, but the nature walk in October is a chance to showcase the work done so far.

Mr Kube said the guided nature walk is the first of many recreational activities developed by the Tourism Innovation Working Group, a new community-led group that has been formed as part of the Future of Heyfield Timber Transition project.

“(The wetland) certainly is a recreation resource. When you’re down there working, there’s heaps of people that seem to be walking around any time of the day, so from that point of view, it’s really good,” Mr Kube said.

The nature walk begins at 10am and will wrap up at noon on October 12. Heyfield Lions Club are catering a barbeque lunch.

Anyone interested in the event is advised to make a booking via this website https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing/1288326