To commemorate National Threatened Species Day, the Merri Paddle, a subgroup of Friends of Merri Creek, recently hosted a Roundtable of Stakeholders to discuss ways to bring platypus back to the Merri. Participants from member councils (Cities of Hume, Whittlesea, Merri-bek and Yarra) and organisations, including Melbourne Water, the EPA, DEECA & AQUEST (RMIT), presented and participated in discussions on practical solutions for improving Merri Creek at specific sites to facilitate an increase in platypus numbers on the Merri. Besides Merri Paddle and Friends of Merri Creek, the community was represented by Rotary, Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance and MCMC. The event was a positive, collaborative and pragmatic approach that we hope will solidify and create new partnerships in order to reduce pollution levels in the Merri.

To learn more about the Merri Paddle group go to: https://www.friendsofmerricreek.org.au/merri-paddle

Sincere thanks to the funders of the event: Melbourne Water, Friends of Merri Creek, MCMC and the City of Merri-bek with support from DEECA and the City of Darebin.