Merri Creek Management Committee

COOLAROO FIRE IMPACTS MERLYNSTON CREEK

Coolaroo fire

Runoff from the recent fire at a recycling plant in Coolaroo has led to the deaths of at least 250 carp and mosquito fish in a downstream lake at Jack Roper Reserve, Broadmeadows. The recycling plant is next to Merlynston Creek, a tributary of Merri Creek. Authorities worked hard to pump out contaminated fire water runoff from the creek. However some of the contamination moved into the lake, and dissolved oxygen levels fell with consequent effects.

Keeping the Merri on the Map

Gorse Phalaris mapping Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) has been awarded $45,000 from the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation to update our mapping capabilities. The 90 year-old charity aims to make ‘a real and lasting impact on the big challenges facing Melbourne’. Currently, one of its key areas is protecting water eco-systems.

The Elder Mother

Leaf and stem cuttings for propagation The native White Elderberry, cousin of Europe’s Black Elderberry, is now a rare plant along the Merri Creek. The European plant has a rich folklore and a new MCMC project aims to secure the local plant’s future. Read more.

Sun Moths, Short Grass and Fences

GSM nice brightened During Merri Creek Management Committee’s surveys of Golden Sun Moth in summer 2016/17 we learnt three important things:

Golden Sun Moths (GSMs) don’t mind how much it rains, as long as the grass is kept short.
Small reserves make it hard for Golden Sun Moths to avoid predators.
Golden Sun Moths live on the Great Dividing Range.

Celebrating Merri Creek's Biodiversity in Film

Special BEST SONIA SIERRA small 600 x 450 Our new three minute film gives a snapshot of how Merri Creek Management Committee connects and communicates with local communities and celebrates local biodiversity.

Community Donations at Work 2015 - 2017

Generous donations to the Merri Creek Environment Fund of more than $21,000 have enabled a great start to planting up critical habitat gaps along Merri Creek.

The first community planting funded by public donations was at a highly degraded Merri Creek site near Lorne St Fawkner, in 2015. In 2016 community volunteers came back to the same area, expanded the site, and planted grasses and wildflowers between the well-established shrubs from the previous year. All plants from these two events are growing vigorously and are being cared for by the professional ecological restoration staff at the Merri Creek Management Committee.

August 2016 - Community lend a hand planting grasses and wildflowers between shrubs planted in 2015. The site is beside Merri Creek near Lorne St, Fawkner.