Working in partnership with public and private land managers and key stakeholders including the National Malleefowl Recovery Group this project implements actions from the national recovery plan. In 2023-24 the team worked to protect over 48ha of high quality Malleefowl habitat on private property through stock exclusion and pest plant and animal control.

In partnership with Parks Victoria, 134,000ha of targeted fox baiting was undertaken in Little Desert National Park and Tooan State Park. Over 9,500ha of public and private land was surveyed to identify potential Malleefowl mounds to priortise and direct future conservation activities.

We partnered with Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Arthur Rylah Institute, Australian Government and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action to enhance the cultural and environmental values of the Ranch Billabong, on the Wimmera River near Dimboola.

Located adjacent to Barringgi Gadyin (Wimmera River) at Dimboola, the culturally significant Ranch Billabong site has been home to many generations of the Wotjobaluk Peoples and remains a Special Place today for gathering, sharing and connecting with culture.

In partnership with Barengi Gadjin Land Council and other stakeholders we have been supporting efforts to achieve the priority goals for the site as outlined in the Country Plan ‘Growing what is Good: voices of the Wotjobaluk Nations’.

Works at the site have included carp removal, flora, fauna and water quality monitoring, revegetation and the construction of visitor facilities including walking tracks, interpretive signage and access crossings.

A priority goal for the site was to restore a natural flooding regime to the billabong system to improve water quality, vegetation health and bird and fish habitat.

Prior to this year watering of the site could only be achieved via pumping from the Wimmera River in collaboration with the Victorian Environmental Water Holder. A focus of the partnership between us and the Land Council was to improve the capacity of Traditional Owners to monitor condition and plan for and deliver water, with the long-term vision of creating a permanent connection between the Billabong and the Wimmera River.

This vision was realised in 2023-24 with the construction of a 163m directional drilled pipeline connecting the billabong to the Wimmera River. In addition to providing a permanent connection and reducing the costs associated with watering, this project empowers Traditional Owners to regulate water levels in the billabong to support cultural and environmental outcomes.

Investment

Integrated water management, EC5 – Water for the Environment in the Wimmera, Our Catchments, Our Communities , and Lower Wimmera Flagship

We are calling on the community again to participate in a research project #Fishing4Info involving a popular native fish – Yellowbelly!

We invite Wimmera River users visiting areas around Horsham, Dimboola and Jeparit weirs to become citizen-science monitors over the next few weeks.

Specifically we are encouraging anglers to note any signs of fish spawning or fish aggregation. 

Yellowbelly, also known as golden perch, are sought after by anglers and the subject of widespread stocking programs across south-eastern Australia. At the moment they are in extremely good health across the Wimmera catchment.

We initiated this project #Fishing4Info, last year in November after Victorian Fisheries Authority noted small massing of fish in the river following a 200 megalitre (ML) water for the environment release.

Several years earlier, in November 2021, yellowbelly spawned in the Wimmera River just below Horsham weir after spring rains in the upper catchment delivered a pulse of around 500 ML of water per day over four days.

An annual Native Fish Report Card monitoring survey the following April detected higher numbers of juvenile Yellowbelly, indicating a successful breeding event. This was an unusual occurrence because yellowbelly rarely breed in the Wimmera River.

Wimmera CMA CEO David Brennan: “If we can replicate the conditions for yellowbelly to breed naturally, it will be a game changer and will influence the use of water for the environment”.

“If we can replicate the conditions for yellowbelly to breed naturally, it will be a game changer and will influence the use of water for the environment” Mr Brennan said.

Our staff have been monitoring water temperatures and are planning a delivery of 400-500 megalitres (ML) a day of water for the environment in early and mid-November. This will then be reduced to 40ML a day. The delivery will depend on water temperatures warming up to the right level.

We invite people to provide photographs and information about what they see (Submissions are now closed)

Mr Brennan said the release of water might impact some users below Horsham weir for two to three days with water levels potentially inundating one of the walking tracks.  It may also cause some inundation of low-level river crossings along the length of the river.

He said that these would be the last high flows for some time, with water for the environment flows being managed more conservatively due to the dry climatic conditions. He encouraged people to follow Wimmera CMA’s social media accounts for updates.