The ‘big picture’ perspective of the recent Grampians bushfire at Walker Swamp
Given the amazing level of community support for the Walker Swamp Restoration Reserve over the years, dating all the way back to when it was established by NGT in 2018, we know there is a lot of interest in how the site fared in the recent Grampians bushfire. As we shared in the December newsletter, strong north-westerly winds on Boxing Day saw the fire sweep through the southern portion of the reserve, but fortunately the fire was contained before it reached the township of Glenthompson.
Now that landholders have been able to return to fire-affected areas to begin to assess the damage, I am able to provide a comprehensive overview of how the Reserve was impacted. We’re going to start with this story of the ‘big picture’ view of the burned area.
First of all, here is a panoramic image of the south-eastern corner of the Grampians National Park (the blackened area in the right side of the image) and adjacent private land (left half of image) which includes the NGT Reserve. The southern tip of Walker Swamp proper can be seen in the foreground at the bottom of the image. I have inserted this as a pdf, so that you can use the zoom (+) function on the toolbar below to take a closer look at any places of interest, and then use the “hand” icon that appears when you hover over the image to move around.
You can also download the image here to open it in a full window.
Something worth pointing out in the image above is that if you zoom right in on the far left of the image, you will see NGT’s Green Swamp Restoration Reserve still retaining a small area of water. The fire didn’t quite make it that far, as it was largely contained by firefighters at Red Hill Rd, north-west of Glenthompson.
For an alternative view of the burn area at Walker Swamp, the view below looks more closely over the NGT Reserve from south to north. Note how both Brady Swamp and Gooseneck Swamp, on Parks Victoria managed land (wetlands that were previously restored by NGT), are still green and did not burn. This is an interesting topic we’ll explore another day!

To give you a sense of just how much this landscape has changed and dried out in just two years, have a look at the same view below….
Walker Swamp is in the top right of the image, Brady Swamp is in the bottom left corner, and Gooseneck Swamp is centre left. The remaining wetlands are the restored floodplain wetlands on the Walker Swamp Restoration Reserve, in areas that had been previously drained and planted to blue gum plantations.
The image above was taken after record local spring rainfall in 2022, as peak water levels were starting to recede. Since that time, we’ve had two years of below average rainfall, and in 2024, no inflows at all into Walker Swamp.
As a result of this major turnaround in climatic conditions, Walker Swamp proper has gone from having its highest recorded sustained water level in living memory in November 2022 (as a result of NGT’s restoration work that reinstated the wetland), to now approaching complete drying for the first time since NGT restored the hydrology of the wetland in 2019.



Given this background drying trend in the surrounding area, it is little wonder that the bushfire burned with such ferocity.
As much as we like seeing Walker Swamp inundated, as it has held water continuously now for 5 years running, it is also a type of wetland that is well adapted to cope with a dry spell. In fact – even if it dries out completely – we know it will bounce back, because prior to full restoration in 2019 it had been artificially dry for several decades.
So now we await what we hope will be the return of a decent rainy season next winter, to see the water return and the subsequent explosion of wildlife. As soon as that happens, you’ll be the first to know!