The next steps in restoring what could be one of the region’s most important wetlands are taking place this winter.

Like many wetlands in the north central region, Reed Bed Swamp in the Guttrum State Forest has deteriorated over the past century on the back of a changing climate, river regulation reducing the frequency and duration of flood flows, and impacts from historic land management practices.

As its name suggests, Reed Bed Swamp was once home to a lot of rushes and reeds, and other aquatic vegetation.

Those tall reeds and marshy habitat provided a perfect refuge, feeding, and breeding spot for all kinds of frogs, turtles, and waterbirds including what is now one of Australia’s most endangered birds, the Australasian bittern.

A natural flood in 2016 stimulated red gum seedlings to germinate across the wetland. Without follow up flooding, like what would have occurred before river regulation, the red gum saplings began to dominate the wetland, reducing the open-water habitat waterbirds such as swans, ducks and foraging waterbirds need.

And Reed Bed Swamp is a key part of one of the most significant cultural areas of the region, with evidence of a long history of Traditional Owner occupation.

“With the significance of this site to both the Traditional Owners and the broader local community, and from an environmental point of view, we’re working hard to halt its decline,” North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) Program Delivery Executive Manager Rachel Murphy said.

“We have been working with Working for Victoria teams and Traditional Owners to establish and protect more than 10,000 plants in the swamp, including reeds and rushes, as well as culturally important food and medicine plants.

“We trialled slashing three hectares of red gum saplings in 2019 followed by inundating them with water to drown them, which acts as a double hit that stops them being able to coppice and regenerate.

“We had about a 95 per cent success rate with this method and plan to do the same thing again this time around.”

Up to 500 megalitres of water will be pumped via temporary pumps from the Murray River into the swamp over the next few weeks which will have the benefits of halting the river red gum encroachment and giving the wetland vegetation, including the recently planted reeds and other plants, a much-needed drink.

“By delivering water in winter it will help prime the wetland vegetation ahead of a planned spring top-up, which will support bird breeding and feeding,” Ms Murphy said.

“Encouraging the giant rushes, in the right places, are part of our Bringing Back the Bittern National Landcare Program project contributing to national recovery efforts to increase the extent and quality of wetland habitats to protect endangered species.

“By improving habitat at Reed Bed Swamp, we are creating the right conditions for the Endangered Australasian bittern to return to the forests. We haven’t seen it here since the 1970s.

“This restoration will be a long-term program and require community effort and ownership. And we encourage the community, within relevant COVID restrictions, to pop out and see the water going in, see the wetland change, and watch it evolve over the next six months and get involved where you can.

“Reed Bed Swamp is important for a whole lot of reasons, especially to locals, so restoring it is something everyone can look forward to.”

The trial watering using temporary infrastructure will also feed into the proposed Victorian Murray Floodplain Restoration Project, which will look at opportunities to establish permanent watering infrastructure as Reed Bed Swamp depends on receiving regular volumes of water to be healthy.

“Revegetating and watering now gives the wetland a great start,” VMFRP East Projects Manager Tim Shanahan said.

“It means that if the VMFRP project is approved, we’ll have a head start on making it a healthy, diverse wetland which, in turn, can provide crucial habitat for floodplain animals and act as a seed bank for the rest of the forest.

“And we’ll watch the watering closely, to get a detailed idea of where the water goes and how it gets there. All that will be fed back into our project.”

The Guttrum-Benwell VMFRP project is one of nine in the North Central and Mallee regions aimed at efficiently and effectively delivering water to the water-dependent floodplains, all while keeping irrigation water in the community.

The projects, which are proposed to be delivered by June 2024, will restore and help build the resilience of the floodplains and wetlands to cope with climate change and low river flows, without water buy back.

The flows are authorised by the Victorian Environmental Water Holder  in line with its Seasonal Watering Plan 2020-21, which is available for download from www.vewh.vic.gov.au, with regular watering updates posted on the North Central CMA website www.nccma.vic.gov.au.  

The Bringing Back the Bittern project is supported by the North Central CMA through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

The flow is authorised by VEWH in line with its Seasonal Watering Plan 2020-21, which is available for download from www.vewh.vic.gov.au, with regular watering updates posted on the North Central CMA website www.nccma.vic.gov.au.