REED Bed Swamp in the Guttrum State Forest, near Koondrook, now has hectares of rare aquatic plants due to environmental flows.
Rare river swamp wallaby grass and water nymph, have sprung up across the wetland after the second delivery of water for the environment in three years.
“This is certainly an uncommon sight, especially on a wetland that was so degraded from a combination of river regulation and historical management practices,” Wetland Revival Trust senior ecologist Damien Cook said.
Mr Cook said the environmental flow had also brought birds back to the area.
“We counted 42 species of birds, split about 50-50 between waterbirds and woodland birds,” he said.
Reed Bed Swamp is of environmental and cultural significance and the North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) has managed two recent water deliveries for the environment flows into the wetland – one in 2021 and one in 2019.
Barapa Barapa and Wamba Wamba have been instrumental in advocating to get water into Reed Bed and worked closely with the North Central CMA in the planning and delivery.
This year’s flow also included the planting of culturally significant food and medicine plants, as well as reeds and rushes to restore habitat for the Endangered Australasian bittern.
To ensure the benefits of this flow are not lost, another top-up flow will likely begin in late November.
