Gunbower Wetland Productivity Study
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority
The following is a summary based on the Final Report available from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority website here
In 2019-2020 three wetlands in the Gunbower Forest were provided with water for the environment to sustain over-wintering habitat for populations of small-bodied fish and waterbirds that were established the previous year. To evaluate the success of this strategy, surveys of the productivity and biological diversity of all three wetlands were completed following watering events that filled wetlands in winter-2019 and allowed them to draw-down to residual pools in early autumn-2020. Surveys included: Water-dependent understory vegetation abundance and diversity, aquatic macro-invertebrates and micro-invertebrates abundance and diversity, fish diversity and abundance, turtle abundance, and waterbird and bush bird diversity and abundance
Multiple sites were surveyed in winter, spring, summer and autumn at each wetland; Reedy Lagoon, Little Gunbower wetland complex and Little Reedy wetland complex in between Koondrook and Cohuna in north-central Victoria.
Water for the environment is a precious commodity and all stakeholders need to know where it can be most effectively used to achieve ecological objectives. To learn this knowledge, we must measure the ecological-effects of each watering against the objectives. A range of management questions were identified to clarify if there are differences in the responses of flora and fauna across these three wetlands that suggest a limited water resource is best focussed on any particular wetland or types of wetland.
Waterbird condition and intervention monitoring in Gunbower Forest TLM Sites, spring to autumn 2022-23
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority (FWC subcontracted by WRT)
The following is a summary based on the Final Report available from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority website here
Gunbower Forest is an area of high value floodplain ecosystems located along the Murray River in northern Victoria, within the North Central CMA region. Gunbower Forest is the Victorian component of the Gunbower Koondrook-Perricoota Icon Site under The Living Murray (TLM) Initiative. River regulation has resulted in a reduction in the frequency and duration of flooding from the River Murray, which impacts on the condition of the flora and fauna of these floodplain ecosystems. In recognition of the threat posed to the health of floodplain ecosystems from the modification of flooding regimes, several infrastructure projects have been undertaken or are in progress to address these deficits. A waterbird monitoring program has been created to assess the impact of the delivery of environmental water and unregulated flows on waterbird populations and breeding behaviour. Wetland Revival Trust (WRT) was engaged by the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) to undertake waterbird condition and intervention monitoring surveys from spring 2022 through to autumn 2023...
Client: North Central Catchment Management Authority (FWC subcontracted by WRT)
The following is a summary based on the Final Report available from the Murray-Darling Basin Authority website here
Gunbower Forest is an area of high value floodplain ecosystems located along the Murray River in northern Victoria, within the North Central CMA region. Gunbower Forest is the Victorian component of the Gunbower Koondrook-Perricoota Icon Site under The Living Murray (TLM) Initiative. River regulation has resulted in a reduction in the frequency and duration of flooding from the River Murray, which impacts on the condition of the flora and fauna of these floodplain ecosystems. In recognition of the threat posed to the health of floodplain ecosystems from the modification of flooding regimes, several infrastructure projects have been undertaken or are in progress to address these deficits. A waterbird monitoring program has been created to assess the impact of the delivery of environmental water and unregulated flows on waterbird populations and breeding behaviour. Wetland Revival Trust (WRT) was engaged by the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) to undertake waterbird condition and intervention monitoring surveys from spring 2022 through to autumn 2023...
