Merri Creek Management Committee

Merri Creek Community Events

Our face-to-face community events are resuming after a long, pandemic induced pause (see below). Please subscribe to receive our events emails if you'd like to be kept up to date about upcoming activities. 

During the Covid-19 pandemic we held a variety of webinars. The recordings of these are still available: Litter Cleanups; Frogs of Darebin; Merri Fungi (with Friends of Merri Creek); Frogs of Whittlesea; At home in Whittlesea’s grasslands; Merri Birds (with Friends of Merri Creek.) Living together: Powerful Owls in Yarra’s neighbourhood, Stepping out: Leadership beyond the kindergarten setting, aVirtual tour of Marran Baba grasslands and a Spring Tour of Ngarri Djarrang Grassland.

Our 2019-20 Annual Report

Check out Merri Creek Management Committee's recent achievements by reading our latest Annual Report (2019-20). Here's a few snapshots for the year, despite COVID-19 restrictions ending community events:

• 402 volunteers provided hands-on help;
• 3,322 people participated in environmental education activities;
• we delivered 153 community events and school-based sessions;
• we partnered with 45 organisations;
• we worked with 34 clients and funding bodies;
• our financial bottom line was once again very positive!

Read more ...

Discover the Fawkner Merri Parklands with Friends of Merri Creek

Saturday, 27 February, 1.30pm - Now Fully Booked

Please note that this event is now fully booked.
For your interest, the event involved:
EXPLORING the Merri Parklands in Fawkner by bike or on foot;
LEARNING about the remnant grasslands and indigenous revegetation with ecologist, Tony Faithfull;
DISCUSSING plans for the parklands with Moreland Council’s Open Space Planner, Alex English.

Learn how to check waterway health - MCMC

Saturday 17 April, 10am-3pm

Van Raay Centre, Rooms 2 & 3, CERES Environment Park
If you love taking a stroll down the Merri, Edgars, or Darebin Creeks (or your local waterway), here's a chance to give something back to them - by monitoring their health.
Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) is hosting a FREE training session to become a citizen science Waterwatch volunteer. You’ll learn how to collect water samples and test water quality, learn about the current ecological health of the Merri Creek, and carry out habitat assessments safely. Long-term data from this program assists with monitoring waterway health.

Registration essential here

New MCMC Strategic Plan

The Strategic Plan is a guiding document for all Merri Creek Management Committee activities and decisions. It provides an excellent overview of MCMC, what we do and how we do it, the benefits that we bring, and the key issues we face.

The Strategic Plan identifies priorities and actions under five strategic focus areas:

• Leadership & Advocacy
• Partnerships & Collaboration
• Waterway Corridor Restoration
• Education & Engagement and
• Organisational Strengthening.

You can see the Strategic Plan here (10.8MB PDF).

Hanna Swamp & sodic soils problem both recognised

MCMC is delighted that the October 2020 Planning Panel Panel Report for the Beveridge North West Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) has recognised the importance of Hanna Swamp. Hanna Swamp straddles two large areas proposed for urban development (PSPs). It is part of the Strathaird/Taylors Creek system, a north-west tributary of Merri Creek near Wallan. 

Although the future of Hanna Swamp as a restored wetland is not secured, support from the Panel is a helpful step forward to realising this vision. This reasoning is explored in more detail in a recent Nature Glenelg Trust blog.

A crucial factor in gaining the Panel's support for Hanna Swamp was a presentation made by Mark Bachmann of the Nature Glenelg Trust on behalf of Friends of Merri Creek.  The Friends also successfully argued that biodiversity and regional park planning should be acknowledged in the PSP. 

Read more ...