Funding Source: Murray-Darling Healthy Rivers Program Small Grants (Round 1)
Timeline: October 2021 – October 2022
Funding received: $50 000
Project Description
Boggy Creek and Fifteen Mile Creek form important wildlife corridors during the summer, providing terrestrial fauna with access to water in permanent spring fed pools and habitat for shelter and breeding in shade trees along the riparian corridor. This project will control invasive woody weeds and revegetate sections of the creeks to improve the diversity and density of midstorey species, to support healthy and resilient creek systems.
The project will focus on the control of blackberry (Rubus fruticosis) and invasive willow, including seeding pussy willow (Salix cinerea) and black willow (Salix nigra), and crack willow (Salix fragilis) emerging as juveniles on gravel bars causing changes to stream morphology and bank erosion. Other woody weeds such as Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Cape broom (Genista monspessulana), Sweet Briar (Rosa rubiginosa) and Box Elder (Acer negundo) will be controlled concurrently.
The objective of the project is to improve diversity of the riparian vegetation, through control of targeted invasive woody weed species and planting of native indigenous shrubs to improve mid storey structure.
Planned outcomes
The outcomes that we hope to achieve with this grant funding include:
- Weed treatment – 25km of waterway, equivalent to 50ha of frontage treated (assume 10m width, both sides of waterway). Budget is 30 days of spraying
- Revegetation – 2000 shrub splanted (plants and guards)
- Education activities and raising community awareness/participation – 1 community workshop, assume attendance of 30 landholders.
Webinar – Fifteen Mile Creek and Boggy Creek Waterway Management
In this webinar, Julian Martin from local company Water Technology, took us through the historical changes that have occurred on Boggy and Fifteen Mile Creek and how these waterways have behaved in response. The presentation will help to inform how we can manage these waterways moving forward. Sally Day will also present information about our current waterways grant, focusing on weed and pest animal control.
Recorded on 31st January 2022. Runs for 1 hr and 10 minutes including questions.
Landholder involvement
The grant funding received for this project is not large and we are trying to maximise the onground impacts of this funding. Landholders will be required to assist and work in partnership with the Landcare group to achieve the best onground outcomes. The Committee has defined a cost share arrangement of 30:70 (landholder: grant funding) for any weed control completed by contractors on the property.
Project Area
The project area is for this grant funding is Fifteen Mile Creek (from Hume Freeway to Myrrhee) and Boggy Creek (from Moyhu to Frascas Dam) and their tributaries.
Expressions of Interest
Round 1 of the Expression of Interest period closes on the 22nd November 2021. Round 2 will close 28 February 2022. Those interested in applying for funding for their property should fill out an Expression of Interest Form at www.tinyurl.com/GVLG2021EoI or call Sally Day on 0437 136 162 for more information.
As at June 2022, we have a small budget remaining to allow us to complete the final weed control program in Spring of this year. If you would like assistance, please email your request to sally.day@gretalandcare.org.au
Outcomes delivered
This project has controlled woody weeds and revegetated sections of both creeks and has provided essential funding to enable the Groups’ Project Officer to provide onground support and waterway management advice to our local community over the past 18 months.
Our contractors spent over 400 crew hours (pairs of operators) to treat woody weeds of a total area of 387 ha over the past two years, which we are incredibly proud to report as our key outcome of our project. The weed control was completed on a total of 46 separate properties over two summer spray periods. This equated to a length of 20km on Fifteen Mile Creek and 19km on Boggy Creek of waterway length treated for invasive weeds.
Two engagement and training events were also held during the course of the project. The ‘River Geomorphology and Management of 15 Mile Creek and Boggy Creek’ webinar (shown above) and ‘Weeds on Waterways’ workshop hosted by the Groups Project Officer reported the findings and helped provide identification and control advice for the worst weed offenders across the two waterways. 28 landholders attended this event on 14 November 2022. Excellent printed resources were available to take home.
More than 50 landholders have improved their knowledge of river management, including the identification of common waterway weeds, an understanding of bank erosion processes and changes in river form over time and the benefits and importance of revegetation to river health.
Planting was also undertaken across 13 frontages, with a total of 2080 indigenous trees and shrubs planted into creek frontages. The planting comprised of 10% native trees and 90% native shrubs. The objective of the shrub planting was to increase midstorey diversity and encourage the planting of prickly shrubs for our threatened woodland bird community.
Our Group has worked closely with the North East CMA (NECMA), Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA) and landholders to leverage an additional $31 000 of cash contributions into the project to enable this huge weed control outcome for the project to be undertaken. In addition, our local Council the Rural City of Wangaratta, funded weed control on four sites in one of their existing projects, spending an additional $10 000 in our local group area on control on top of the grant funding and cash contributions, bringing our total investment in the catchment to $91 000.
Fantastic collaboration between all organisations has led to this achievement and we are very proud of the outcomes achieved under this project and the engagement with our local landholders along the two waterways.
A selection of photos has been included below, please hover over photo for captions.
Large stand of Black Willow found on an upstream tributary, that was identified as the seed source for many younger juvenile willows downstream. These have been posioned with financial support from the North East CMA
Unlicensed Crown Land with uncontrolled Blackberry on Fifteen Mile Creek was negotiated and sprayed two years running with financial support from DEECA
Seeding Black Willow and Crack Willow germinated on another rock chute on Boggy Creek. These were controlled as part of the project.
Example of Black Willow of two different ages, which have germinated and grown on a rock chute asset on the Boggy Creek
An example of the worst condition riparian vegetation – wall of Blackberry on higher bank with Crack willow at the bank toe
Blackberry on Fifteen Mile Creek choking understorey vegetation
Juvenile Crack Willow coming up instream in the upper reaches of Fifteen Mile Creek, now controlled
Blackberry thriving in moist sheltered gullies at Myrrhee
Patches of blackberry at Myrrhee
Typical riparian zone on the Fifteen Mile Creek, showing good native overstorey with blackberry in the midstorey and scattered Box Elder and Willow within the waterway channel
Selective spraying of Blackberry and protection of emerging Silver Wattle on the drainage line and distantly on Fifteen Mile Creek
Evidence of sprayed Blackberry on upper Fifteen Mile Creek
Community Weeds Workshop at Myrrhee (November 2022).
This project is supported by the Greta Valley Landcare Group through funding from the Australian Government through the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.