This project involved the installation of a temporary sandbag weir in an artificial drain on a private property near Portland, in far south-western Victoria. The temporary weir was constructed using sandbags made from geo-textile material placed to form a weir wall and overflow sill within the existing drainage channel. The trial sandbag structure is designed to function as a drainage regulation weir, where water flowing out of the drainage channel is retained to promote pooling of the backwater into the natural wetland depression located directly upstream. In this instance, the landholder was interested in restoring the natural wetland area – noting that this area had become much drier since the construction of the drain – as the wetland area itself was considered to be of marginal value for agricultural purposes.
The temporary sandbag weir was installed in early June, prior to the above average July rains in that district, being completed by the landholder, members from a local landcare group and Nature Glenelg Trust. The weir structure has been designed to recreate a 4 hectare wetland area by restricting drainage outflows by up to 60 cm within the existing drainage channel. NGT’s Lachlan Farrington put together a short summary of the action, which can be viewed below:
Temporary trial weir structures provide both Nature Glenelg Trust and the landholders we work with, with an inexpensive and low risk approach to trialing wetland restoration measures. Once the functionality of the structure and its wetland restoration impact have been assessed by both parties – under real conditions – a permanent structure can be designed and installed according to a set of agreed criteria. In this way, trial structures can provide a valuable (no-obligation) first step, along the path to providing lasting, self-sustaining and effective wetland restoration solutions in the region.
Trial structures are not necessary at every site, but are a good option for people who are tentative about making the leap to a permanent structure, without having the opportunity to see what the potential inundation effect will be first under a range of settings and conditions. If you are interested in having a wetland restoration trial undertaken on your property, please contact us here.
This Case Study is the fourth 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.
- Forgotten Fauna Part 18: What does the bandicoot recovery story on Victoria’s offshore islands tell us about the differential impacts of introduced predators? 28/03/2024
I recently came across this interesting article in the Conversation, which looks at the story of the recovery of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot on three of Victoria’s offshore islands – French, Phillip and Churchill Island – and also some of the wider issues facing the range of small mammals on the mainland that have been ...
- Latest update from the South West (Vic) Eastern Quoll Hub 28/03/2024
A few weeks ago, members of the SW Vic Eastern Quoll Hub, caught up again for a planning session at Rhynie Pastoral’s Shepherds Hut Sanctuary, where we also had the privilege of seeing a lot of wonderful wildlife (like bettongs and bandicoots) after dark! Although quolls are our group’s flagship species and an obvious priority ...
- Having a chat on ABC radio for World Wildlife Day, and touching on the issue of declining groundwater in South East SA 28/03/2024
A few weeks ago (on Sunday 3rd March) we celebrated World Wildlife Day, and to mark the occasion this year I caught up with Rod Sparks on his Weekends Program on ABC South East SA.
In a wide-ranging chat that included topics like environmental change, recovery of threatened species and modern technology that is assisting us ...
- Casuarina Conservancy Fund – a wonderful gesture that is helping us grow the NGT Foundation 28/03/2024
It is my absolute pleasure to announce the creation of the newest Named Fund in the NGT Foundation, made possible thanks to the generosity of Adrian Heard and Meredith Reardon. Last year, Adrian and Meredith made the decision to donate their small but wonderful bush block at Lake George, near Beachport in SA, to Nature ...
- You can now donate your bottles & cans refund to NGT! We’ve joined the Victorian Container Deposit Scheme 28/03/2024
Victorian-based supporters of NGT now have a new option for financially supporting our work!
Nature Glenelg Trust is registered with the Victorian Container Deposit scheme as a charity, which means when you run your eligible single use containers through the recycling machines you can now choose to donate your refund to NGT.
Because the system is a ...
- NGT Volunteer Profile – Deb Thompson 28/03/2024
As a non-profit organisation, volunteers are an integral part of the work we do at here at NGT. Our volunteers do vital conservation work, like sorting seeds and growing seedlings in the nursery, helping to restore degraded ecosystems through planting and weed control, assisting with surveys, and one is even a live-in caretaker on one ...
- All eyes on the fish prize – students get hands-on ecology experience 28/03/2024
Investigator College year 6 students and year 12 conservation and ecosystem management students recently spent two days at their Currency Creek campus undertaking fish surveys with NGT’s senior aquatic ecologist, Sylvia. The enthusiastic students sampled six species of native fish, yabbies, freshwater shrimp and turtles. Low numbers of alien fish species were sampled which is ...
- Revisiting Gooseneck Swamp 10 years later – NGT’s first restoration site in the Grampians National Park 28/03/2024
During a recent visit with a couple of supporters to NGT’s Walker Swamp Restoration Reserve, we briefly hopped over the fence into the adjoining National Park, to take a look at the view over Gooseneck Swamp.
What drew our attention to this wetland was that fact that – in the beautiful, clear autumn daylight – ...
- Sharing the evolving story of Burdens Marsh with the Tasman Peninsula community this April 28/03/2024
In our last update on the story of the saltmarsh area within the Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s Sloping Main Reserve, we talked about what the early maps can tell us about Burdens Marsh – an important area of previously modified saltmarsh currently being assessed by NGT to understand its history of change and evaluate its potential ...
- Surveying Aquatic Vegetation in Karrawirra Pari/the River Torrens 28/03/2024
In early March, Ben and Tessa took to the water to survey submerged aquatic vegetation in Karrawirra Pari/the River Torrens. NGT first undertook this monitoring for the City of Adelaide in 2020, and repeated it in 2022. This year the survey has been expanded to include the section of the river downstream of the main ...
Click here for the full list of project related blogs
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.