All the finer details: NGT’s proposed Wirey Swamp Restoration Reserve

Quick facts about the site

Wirey Swamp is a deep freshwater marsh located on a 180 acre parcel of land in the Strathdownie district of western Victoria, about a 25 minute drive west of Casterton and also a short distance from one of the region’s most important brolga flocking sites near Kaladbro. The Kaladbro flocking area is a key zone for brolga that straddles the state border between Victoria and South Australia. This zone is one of a limited number of places where the birds from the southern brolga population in Australia gather in large numbers each autumn and winter, prior to dispersing in pairs across the surrounding landscape to seek wetlands for breeding over the spring and summer months.

Wirey Swamp has been impacted by artificial drainage for several decades, resulting in seasonal dehydration of its once permanently-saturated peat soil. It is currently used for farming (cattle grazing). The site is surrounded by agricultural land to the north, softwood and hardwood plantations to the west, south and south-east, and adjoins Kaladbro Bushland Reserve (a Parks Victoria managed reserve) on its eastern boundary. The new conservation area that we are seeking to create with the establishment of NGT’s private reserve is shown below outlined in blue. Beyond that boundary, conserving Wirey Swamp would increase the existing total contiguous area under conservation (including Kaladbro Bushland Reserve) by almost 50%.

Species that will benefit from the project

As you may be able to tell from the image above, the wetland basin can still inundate, but the artificial drainage outlet on its southern edge can also impact on the ability for Wirey Swamp to hold water beyond the end of the flow season. Along with cattle grazing of the wetland, these changes have impacted the condition of the site, limiting its value as feeding and breeding habitat for many threatened species.

Some of the species we expect will benefit from future restoration activities include: the threatened southern Brolga population, which flock nearby and urgently require additional choice of wetlands in the landscape for breeding to sustain their numbers; nationally threatened species like the Growling Grass Frog, Australasian Bittern and Little Galaxias; and, a whole host of other important wetland dependent species whose habitats have been lost across south-eastern Australia.

What will restoration involve?

The key initial activity is to remove cattle grazing from the wetland, and beyond that, we’re also committed to carefully assessing potential ways of improving water management to benefit the wetland. Both of these activities can enhance habitat quality and, in turn, attract a diversity of wildlife.

Because the wetland is ‘in-stream’ within a wider drainage network, the outlet drain (shown in the foreground below) will need to be able to continue to pass flows, so NGT will investigate the potential ways of optimising the period of inundation in the future. The detailed technical work and monitoring that is required to assess potential future options will begin after the land purchase is settled, and will occur in close consultation with our neighbours and the Strathdownie Drainage Trust.

It is worth noting that it has been several decades since many of the rural drainage schemes in Victoria were built and, in the context of changing climatic patterns and depletion of water resources, there is a growing recognition that rural communities have an opportunity to improve how drains in agricultural landscapes could be managed in the future for multiple benefits. Crucially, this approach must also be consistent with maintaining a drain’s primary function of protecting agricultural land from inundation.

The Wirey Swamp project site, where water directed from agricultural land upstream is connected to a wetland environment downstream via the drainage system, is a rare chance for us to further develop and test this incredibly important concept – with community involvement and support – at a NGT owned and managed demonstration site.

How do we know that restoration activities will work?

We are confident that a project of this nature will have fantastic outcomes for wildlife, because we have done this many times before and – yes – the result always speaks for itself! We also have the natural advantage of undertaking this project immediately adjacent to an existing conservation reserve, where this proximity will give the biodiversity response an extra boost, as less mobile species won’t have far to travel to find the site.

Of a similar size and with some comparable characteristics to Wirey Swamp, Mt Burr Swamp proper (embedded within a NGT Restoration Reserve of the same name), is situated about 50 km to the west in South Australia. The wetland had cattle grazing removed, complemented by a hydrological restoration trial in 2016. These trial works were subsequently made permanent in 2023, after six seasons of monitoring and evaluation. The transformation of this deep freshwater marsh and peatland (which unlike Wirey Swamp had been drained to below its bed level), is apparent in the aerial photos below. These images were taken in the same month (December), three years apart, before and after the trial began in spring 2016.

Mt Burr Swamp now hosts all the threatened species highlighted above, plus a wide range of other species, and is a very useful guide for some elements of the future restoration of Wirey Swamp.

About NGT’s partnership with the plantation forestry industry

This initiative at Wirey Swamp involves a new NGT partnership with Australian Bluegum Plantations (ABP) and OneFortyOne (OFO). Along with NGT, the plantation forestry industry recognises that the site provides a rare opportunity to create a new community wetland restoration demonstration site in western Victoria, in an area immediately adjacent to both softwood (pine) and hardwood (blue-gum) plantation forests.

For those reading this who may not be familiar with NGT’s work and how we operate, we are always looking for ways to work with organisations in other industries. Where our values align and sufficient common ground exists, this gives us a chance to deliver positive outcomes for nature that wouldn’t otherwise be possible, to benefit regional communities in the places we call home.

This new partnership is a perfect example of working together towards this type of broader shared vision for our landscape.

As relevant background context, NGT has worked closely with the plantation forestry industry in the Green Triangle (the cross border forestry zone in SA and Victoria) over the past decade. As well as providing technical ecological support to many plantation managers on a fee-for-service basis, helping industry to meet their environmental stewardship obligations, we also have an existing long-term partnership with OFO that includes our project at Mt Burr Swamp (since 2016) and now extends to additional annual support for biodiversity activities across the region.

How can you get involved?

As a result of early contributions by some of NGT’s existing supporters, our public fundraising target for the land purchase has been reduced to $600,000. This is now the remaining balance that NGT is seeking to raise, in order to successfully settle the purchase of Wirey Swamp at the end of the financial year, in June 2025.

However, thanks to the new partnership referred to above, ABP and OFO have generously made the commitment to match any further donations NGT receives before settlement, up to a maximum total amount of $300,000 ($150,000 each) – exactly half of our remaining target.

This now means that every dollar donated between now and the end of June will be matched by the plantation forestry industry, doubling your impact towards our target!

Once the new Reserve has been purchased, there will also be opportunities for community involvement in the restoration, monitoring and management of the site, as well as educational activities. If you are wish to register your interest in future volunteering opportunities, please email Lisa at:

However, our immediate priority is to meet our land purchase target and ensure this vital restoration project can proceed, so if you are in a position to contribute, we’d be incredibly grateful for your support.

To donate and help us secure Wirey Swamp, please click this link or the button below. All donations over $2 are fully tax-deductible.

The creation of the Wirey Swamp Restoration Reserve is an initiative of Nature Glenelg Trust,
with the generous assistance of NGT’s strategic supporters, and our forest industry partners: