A RIVERLAND environmental site is experiencing quick benefits from a local council’s initiative to recommence watering of the area.
Renmark Paringa Landcare last month began the application of environmental water to Plushs Bend, aiming to remove salinity from the floodplain.
Renmark Paringa Council environmental officer Myles Fauser said connecting the site to Renmark Irrigation Trust (RIT) pumping infrastructure allowed for watering to start in 2020.
“We weren’t planning on watering it until next year, but we managed to complete the infrastructure before schedule, then negotiate with the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH) for some allocation of water for that site,” Mr Fauser said.
“It was a good situation in that we were able to take 68.9 megalitres from the Jane Eliza allocation and put it on Plushs Bend for this financial year.
“In the past we’ve worked with the Nature Foundation and they’ve watered the site using a portable diesel pump, but there’s some limitations to that and we haven’t necessarily been able to fill it to the volume we would have liked.
“Now we’ve installed the proper banks and infrastructure to deliver the volumes of water we need to fill the site properly, so we’re going to see some different ecological responses.”
Mr Fauser said environmental watering of the area would benefit the habitats of native bird and frog species, while also easing pressure on vegetation from high salt levels.
“It’s an example of a floodplain or wetland that would have traditionally received water in a high-flow situation, but doesn’t anymore because of river regulation,” he said.
“As the wetland floor elevation increases, less salt-tolerant species will be present there. We’re already starting to see they’re coming up now, which shows an immediate change.
“The immediate changes you see are the distribution and abundance of frogs and birds. As we see water pools there, it becomes a safe haven, a feeding ground and potentially even a breeding ground.
“Then you start to see the ground cover change… you can see a change in the colour of leaves on stressed trees and the canopy density.
“That responds within a couple of months.”
Mr Fauser said continued co-operation between Renmark Paringa Council, the CEWH and RIT was key to sustaining healthy local ecosystems.
“It’s pivotal to the long-term health of our community in terms of its economic and social viability,” he said.
“That’s all underpinned by how we interact with the physical and natural environment.
“Without that consistent effort, the partnerships, projects and the ongoing care of these sites that have been degraded through mostly economic activity, we’re setting ourselves up for failure in the future.”
Mr Fauser said the current COVID-19 emergency forced council to reconsider public interaction as part of the project, with video updates to be provided through Facebook instead.
“You can see a pretty significant change from a dry state to a wet state in terms of the abundance of life around you, so it was going to be an opportunity to showcase that and bring the community along,” he said.
“But we’ve had to cancel that because of the COVID-19 situation, so instead we’re being proactive and sharing as much as we can online.
“We’ll continue actively engaging with the community to show them what happens when you deliver environmental water to a wetland.”
Updates from the Plushs Bend environmental watering initiative can be found by visiting the Renmark Paringa Landcare Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RPLandcare/).