Salinity works under way in Drummond catchment

21/5/02
Significant rehabilitation work has begun in the Drummond Natural Diversity Recovery Catchment near Toodyay under the State Government's salinity program.
Environment and Heritage Minister Judy Edwards said salinity funding had enabled the Department of Conservation and Land Management to begin much-needed rehabilitation work to help protect the long-term conservation values of this important catchment area.
"The catchment contains the Drummond Nature Reserve which has a very rich and diverse range of vegetation communities with at least 429 individual species of native flowering plants," Dr Edwards said.
"It has extremely high conservation values, particularly two claypan wetland areas which are among the last such freshwater wetlands on uncleared land in the Wheatbelt.
"However, until recently the area was under significant threat from salinity, weed invasion and other environmental degradation.
"To redress this situation, the department has introduced recovery measures, including a comprehensive study of the catchment and a recovery strategy and action plan.
"As part of these measures, the department recently awarded a tender for the installation of hydrological monitoring points and would soon finalise a contract for remnant vegetation assessment.
"A fencing program also will soon get under way to coincide with the planting of 10ha of buffer vegetation consisting of a mix of 21,000 oil mallee and native seedlings.

"A recovery catchment officer also will be employed for this area."
Dr Edwards said a key part of the department's recovery plan for the nature reserve was ongoing community consultation and a communication plan was currently being developed to ensure this.
"Catchments nominated in the Natural Diversity Recovery Catchment program are managed in partnership with the local community," she said.
"The inclusion of the reserve as a recovery catchment was in part due to the support of the Solomon-Yulgan Catchment Group, the Toodyay Naturalists' Club and the Toodyay and Victoria Plains shires."
Minister's office: 9220 5050