The Goulburn Group (TGG) was successful in obtaining a grant of $99,116 from the NSW Government’s Environment Trust allowing Stage 2 of the Goulburn Wetlands project to go ahead.

This is fantastic news. It essentially means that we can now continue with the task of restoring and regenerating the site, radically improving its environmental functionality.

This is not just a win for FROGS and TGG: it’s a win for Goulburn itself.

TGG applied for the Environment Trust funds in August last year and were told today of their success by a Trust representative shortly after NSW Environment Minister Robyn Parker announced the 26 successful projects throughout NSW in a total package of over $2 million.

The announcement came approximately one week after Goulburn Mulwaree Council voted to provide additional funds ($25,000 for this year plus an additional $25,000 if we are successful with our Veolia grant application) to FROGS to help with the wetlands project.

This money will be put into removing and managing weeds, training volunteers, sowing 6 hectares of native grassland and 1 hectare of sedge meadow as well as providing structural habitat for wildlife such as boulder and tree jumbles.

This is such a positive thing. We’re very thankful to the Environment Trust and TGG’s  help, but we must also thank Goulburn Mulwaree Council for their proactive and continuous support since the project was first aired. We also thank our Local Member and NSW Minister MS Pru Goward who has not only helped and aided us actively from the beginning, but who has also provided over $10,000 of her own money to sponsor the bird hide we are presently constructing. Of course we must in particular thank our local volunteers for all their continuous hard work that has produced the on-ground results.

The flooded wetlands and golf course  from Rocky Hill.

It has happened again. Continuous rain over two days (about 125 mm) resulted in a flood which, by about 9AM on Tuesday 25th June 2013, had put the Mulwaree River 1.4 metres above the bridge on May Street. At this point the water was gushing through our spillway. It had come down the Mulwarree (last time it went upstream as a result of the Wollondilly flooding), turned the chain of ponds into one wide river in which branches, rubbish and a host of other debris floated downstream, then spilled into the wetlands.  Outside the dammed causeway our plants were beginning to go underwater. That’s OK, they were pretty well established. But inside the water was lapping at their bases.

It subsequently rose much higher, and before 1:00 PM the water had well and truly topped the causeway and covered our poor young plants. Fingers crossed that they don’t get drowned, crushed under mulch or swept away. That was a lot of hard work putting them in and guarding them. Oh well … these things happen.

… More photos will come soon of the peak waters, so stay tuned.

Normally we work on one project or task at a time. Sometimes we split into the builders and the gardeners, but today we were all over the place like crazy. Donna, Greg and I collected loose, broken bricks and carried them away to relieve the place of its jumbled rubble. Elva gathered plastic, tin and years of other old rubbish to put in a pile for Peter to remove. Peter sawed down the burnt remains of boxthorns past and Ashleigh systematically finished weeding our new plantings.

The concrete truck came and delivered a load or several. All hands were on deck to at very long last finish the base of the main fence after several months. We were all glad to see that job done. Two people scooped the fluffy concrete, one moved the scuttle to direct the pouring while another held the chute in place, another vibrated the foundations to settle the mix while others smoothed the top and edged it.

High vis gear as an important water diversion is created to reduce erosion.

Some of the concrete was used to prevent erosion of the soft soil. A low ridge of concrete was used to create a small berm funneling water into the concrete culvert rather than onto the bare soil downhill. As time goes on the downhill site will be revegetated with plants from the endangered yellow box community, meaning a grassy and lawn like understorey with yellow box sparsely planted around the site. Hopefully this will contain  facilities for the general public in times to come.

Stabilising another culvert with concrete from the pour.

Lastly, Bill 1 and Les directed concrete from the roadside drain down a steep slope to the main pond. This enabled them to ensure that water flows down to the boulders below without causing further erosion and filling the wetlands in with sand and silt.

A good result for a busy day.

A cold and bleak morning, but the large compost piles give off a lot of heat … and that’s not all.

Getting ready to plant: highland honey-myrtles, pink tree guards, mulch, water and tools.

Early in the winter mornings and its time to spread mulch around the last plants to go in. We have to be careful. Not only is it possible to smother the small newly planted shrubs, but, more importantly the big mulch piles can contain dangerous pathogens, particularly in the form of fungal spores. This is why all the volunteers right next to the biggest pile are wearing face masks, though they’re mighty inconvenient if you have a beard or glasses.

Transporting mulch from the remains of the piles.

We’re indebted to Lloyd Ashton for these piles of mulch. They are the shredded remains of trees and limbs removed around the town for pruning or other maintenance reasons. His large trucks deposit these great mounds near our work sites to make it easier for the volunteers to reach their targets.

The mulch provides warmth and insulation for the little plants in their protective guards during the frosty months. Eventually it breaks down and provides added nutrition for growing roots. We are careful to keep it away from the young roots near the plants, though. For a while during decomposition it can take up nutrients from the soil and even burn tender young roots. The mulch is our best defense against invasion by weeds. If they get through the 3 or so centimetre-thick layer we can spot them easily and remove them without having to use poisons.

On cold windy days some of the birds, such as these white ibis, like to shelter behind the banks and tree guards.

We have used different planting techniques such as direct seeding and direct planting into killed weeds, but killing or removing the ground layer, planting, guarding and mulching has proved to produce the fastest growth with the highest survival rates.

As winter progresses the planting and some of the weeding will slow down while other projects take their place.

For months now the water levels have been declining as King Drought lays his heavy body over Goulburn once more. As a result the deep water species, like the white-eyed ducks and grebes, have been disappeared while shallow water species, such as the wood ducks and grey teal, have increased.

As the big ponds turned to smaller pools, the water plants became mud plants or set seed and vanished. The shallow water exposed more fish, insects, tadpoles, turtles and frogs, so there was a great feast in store for the predators. We have lost about one ibis a fortnight to foxes and the occasional wood duck and turtle … as evidenced by piles of feathers and a hollowed-out shell. On the other hand, birds flew in for kilometres around to stab, probe and swallow in the teeming shallows.

Gorging themselves on the masses of food available at the end of autumn.

The pied cormorants, once so smart swimming and diving after fish in their penguin-like black and white plumage, were now filthy. They no longer had to dive: they just rolled around in the muddy shallows and swallow us much as they could. Normally these guys need to hang their feathers out to dry because, unlike most other birds, they contain no oil to keep them that way. The lack of oil means they can stay under longer to look for fish. It would take a lot of swimming in clean water to remove the ground-in mud. And it is very likjely that they picked up a few small plague minnows with the mud. These will survive in the moist feathers to be released in the next pool, where the little bastards will continue their frog-destroying mischief.

Dry-cleaning won’t fix this.

The water ribbons were the mainstay of food for many of the birds and pond like in the wetlands. By late May the heavy Goulburn frosts had taken their toll on the water plants, leaving them shriveled in the mud. All that was left in the water was tiny life forms. The last of these were vacuumed up by a lone yellow-billed spoonbill. Then, like all the other large waders, it too flew off for richer pastures.

By early June there are still plenty of birds, but they are mainly ones that need water to drink and be safe in, but which can feed off the land: white ibis, wood ducks and grey teal. By day we can see large mixed flocks loafing on the mud flats and then moving en masse to the slashed grass above to feed. If disturbed they fly elsewhere or settle warily on the mud further away.

grey teal and wood ducks loafing on the mud flats.