Students make significant impact by giving Darwin creek a makeover with new vegetation
OzFish Unlimited has teamed up with Charles Darwin University and Ludmilla Creek Landcare to replenish vegetation in a significant section of Darwin.
They worked together to revegetate a degraded drainage area alongside Richardson Drive in the Ludmilla Creek catchment area.
The Ludmilla Creek catchment is predominantly an urban environment containing a wide diversity of land uses with roads, houses, shops, schools and light industry.
The catchment covers significant portions of seven suburbs and is part of two local government electorates.
It also contains major arterial roads, parts of the Royal Australian Air Force Base, a wastewater treatment works and the Darwin International Airport.
The creek is within a kilometre of these areas and remnant vegetation is still used in a traditional fashion by local Indigenous people.
The lower half of the creek is mostly undeveloped and contains extensive mangrove and wetland communities, monsoon forest on the coastal fringe and small areas of woodland away from the coast and wetlands.
During the dry season, the catchment areas become very dry and vulnerable to fires.
While many woodland areas are burnt every year within the fire management strategy for the catchment, many uncontrolled fires occur and destroy these ecosystems and result in erosion of soil.
That causes downstream silting of Ludmilla Creek with subsequent decreases in water quality and changes to stream morphology with accompanying loss of habitat.
Replenishing the vegetation helps stabilise the soil and will reduce the substantial amounts of silt when the monsoon season arrives.
A site was selected by Ludmilla Creek Landcare Group in consultation with OzFish for revegetation work, which was carried out by a group of enthusiastic students from Charles Darwin University’s conservation TAFE course.
The students assessed the site with VET Lecturer Jacqui Paine, identifying natives and weeds, removing rubbish and they then prepared the site for planting.
OzFish Northern Territory Project Officer Ruby Hatfield said the students will return later this month to provide water to the plants and weed maintenance on an adjacent natural ecosystem.
“This exciting collaboration serves as a shining example of how young minds can make a significant impact on the environment while gaining hands-on experience in conservation,” she said.
This project was a collaboration between OzFish, Ludmilla Creek Landcare and Charles Darwin University, with support from BCF – Boating, Camping, Fishing.
