Recommendations ready for action
Fencing, revegetation, weed control and pest and animal control are among recommendations to improve the health and flow connectivity of Dunmunkle Creek.
The recommendations are in a Dunmunkle Creek Waterway Action Plan.
Wimmera Catchment Management Authority has published the final plan, which consultant Water Technology developed with community input during the past six months. The new plan is available on website wcma.vic.gov.au/publications.
Wimmera CMA operational delivery manager Luke Austin said plan objectives included improving the health of the creek, protecting remnant vegetation and improving connections between vegetation.
Other objectives are to improve flow connectivity to enable environmental watering, protect drought refuges for plants and animals and maintain social, cultural and economic values.
Mr Austin said weed control was an important management directive, with high ly invasive and noxious horehound and boxthorn weed prevalent throughout the creek’s riparian zone. He said community input was valuable in finalising the plan.
“We thank the community for their contribution and we look forward to working together to improve Dunmunkle Creek,” he said.
Dunmunkle Creek is a distributary of the Wimmera River and is a highly modified and channelised system. It gets natural flows through a breakout from the Wimmera River north-west of Glenorchy during times of high flow.
The creek flows through Rupanyup and continues north into the southern Mallee.
The action plan covers an area from the
Wimmera River near Glenorchy to Lawler Road, Boolite.
Waterway Action Plans aim to identify the condition of a waterway and guide management to maintain and improve its condition.
Action plans document values, such as remnant patches of native vegetation, recreational opportunities and agricultural uses.
They also document threats such as bank erosion and weed infestations.