WETLAND RESTORATION ON PRIVATE LAND CASE STUDY 1: HEYWOOD DISTRICT

This wetland restoration project involved the construction of an earthen weir and the fencing out of a wetland area within a grazing property near Heywood, to aid ecological restoration of the wetland system. The installation of an earth weir embankment has been designed to restrict artificial drainage outflows from a small wetland within this landscape.

The earthen weir, designed by Dan Anderson from Nature Glenelg Trust and constructed by local earthworks contractors (Farmers Field Service), was installed within an existing drainage channel on the property on Wednesday 19th June 2013. The weir structure has been designed to enable the re-hydration of a 2.4 ha wetland site by restricting the drainage outflow elevation by up to 80 cm within the existing drainage channel, thereby increasing the depth and duration of seasonal inundation. In the right situations, where adjustable water level regulation is not required, earthen weirs can provide a cost-effective wetland restoration solution.

The reinstatement of hydrological (water) regimes is an integral component of restoring wetland systems.

Additional imagery from this site has now been provided to show the impact of winter rains  at the site – see below.

This Case Study is the first in a series to illustrate wetland restoration in practice, delivered through Nature Glenelg Trust’s Wetland Restoration Program on Private Land and funded by the Australian Government.

  • Update #2 on Wetland Restoration Case Study 1 – Near Heywood 14/03/2014
    With Autumn now upon us we are busy working on some big and exciting restoration projects before the season breaks and this pretty significant dry spell comes (hopefully) to an end.  Such has been the level of activity for the first quarter of the year that I haven’t got around to providing a summer update ...
  • Update #1 on Wetland Restoration Case Study 1 – near Heywood 14/09/2013
    Winter really did deliver a short but sharp burst for the south western corner of Victoria and our delivery of early works for the Wetland Restoration Project enabled us to capitalise on these conditions.  A couple of weeks ago I dropped in to our first case study site near Heywood to see if the water level had reached ...

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