August working bee

Activity:  MASSIVE planting at Lewis Swamp south!

Description: Please come along today to help us restore this wetland area adjacent to the trail.

As a prior alignment of the creek, this low-lying area has some beautiful mini-billabongs and shallow wetlands.  In fact, the creek itself is also a wetland (and we’ll focus on the creek banks at our September working bee).

Globally, wetlands are under extreme pressure from human activity, with around two thirds of the world’s wetlands present in 1900 now destroyed (Australian DCCEEW).

Although Lewis Swamp is small, within Mount Alexander Shire, it is significant.  Our district has very few wetlands and thanks to our efforts, it is already much better than before, when it was overrun with weeds.

Supported by funding from the North Central CMA, today we’ll be aiming to further improve its biodiversity, by planting over 2,000 container grown plants from 12 different species.  Most of these species have already proven themselves viable here or elsewhere along the creek; a few are an experiment!

 Meet at the Lewis Drive carpark, Castlemaine for a 10:00 a.m. start.  This is just past the entrance to the Salvage Yard and Good Op Shop businesses. If you arrive late, we’ll be working from there downstream.

Wear: gloves, sturdy footwear (gumboots advisable) and clothing suitable for the weather.

Bring your own drinking water if you need it.

We’ll provide everything else, including light refreshments afterwards.

Hope to see you there!