THE addition of more than 800 new native plants will support the continued recovery and sustainability of a Riverland floodplain.
Renmark Paringa Council and Renmark Irrigation Trust representatives – plus Renmark North Primary School students – gathered at the Ral Ral Floodplain earlier this month to plant native vegetation as part of the Connecting and Rehabilitating the Lower Ral Ral Floodplain program.
Renmark Paringa Council environmental officer Myles Fauser said the planting – conducted under the program’s final stages – was targeted at supporting the nearby Johnsons Waterhole and Jane Eliza Woodlot watering sites.
“It was a pretty monumental effort from everyone involved,” Mr Fauser said.
“We managed to get everything in the ground and finish it off over the Thursday. It was huge.
“It’s a big undertaking digging 830 holes, assembling and clipping 830 guards, (plus) putting 830 fertiliser tablets in the ground.”
Sixty-five black box trees, and the same number of river red gums, were planted at the site, along with redweed, round-leaf pigface and spiny flatsedge plants.
Mr Fauser said the native vegetation planted at the site would attract and support an increased variety of Riverland wildlife.
“We’ll see in the next couple of weeks how things start to adapt there pretty quickly,” he said.
“The idea is that we’ve brought enhanced biodiversity to the area and (we’re) providing different levels of vegetation, from understory vegetation to trees.
“We’re hoping in years to come that we’re going to see some radical changes in the site, in terms of the variety and diversity of animal life it supports.”
Mr Fauser said planned environmental watering events would continue to assist the floodplain’s rehabilitation.
“We’ll be putting some environmental water out on the floodplain in the next financial year,” he said.
“It’s scheduled for August but we’ll see what we can do in getting som