OVERVIEW

The council approached Naturelinks to help resolve issues raised by local residents about a drain system connected to an area of a highly used park. In large rain events, runoff flows through the drain and disperses through the area creating an unsightly and muddy area.

Naturelinks’ aim for the project was to cater for the following needs.

1. Revegetate the wet area to improve aesthetics
2. Reduce mosquitos breeding in stagnant water
3. Encourage flora diversity and habitat for fauna
4. Restrict dog access to the wet area

APPROACH

Whist the area was dry we eliminated weeds then fenced the area off. We wanted the site to be reflective of many natural wetland systems throughout SE Australia. The target vegetation type was Ephemeral Wetland which is wet through winter and dryer through summer. We planted specific native species that suit this vegetation type. The majority of these were planted through summer, and a large amount of infill planting was performed since then to take advantage of changes in climatic conditions required for each species.

RESULT

The habitat provided a healthy population of mosquito larvae predating species, such as: Dragonfly Larvae, Damselfly Larvae and May fly Larvae. This has proven to significantly reduce the number of mosquitos within the reserve.

The site has also had several faunal visitors and residents to the wetland in recent times, including spotted grass frogs, Wood Ducks, Egrets, Nankeen Night Herons and Chesnutt Teals.