September 2025 working bee

Activity:  planting at Lewis Swamp south

Description:

Please come along today to help us restore this interesting creekside and wetland area adjacent to the trail.  What we call Lewis Swamp south was a prior alignment of the creek and has some beautiful mini-billabongs and shallow wetlands.  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 this area used to be dominated by terrible, invasive weeds, including crack willow, Phalaris and blackberry.  Thanks to several years of our work, this area is now almost totally free of them, so we can focus again on restoring the indigenous species that should grow here.  Today we hope to plant many hundreds more tussocky grasses, sedges and other plants.  This work will help increase the value of this area as habitat for many species, including the platypus that uses this part of Campbells Creek all year round.

 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!