Protecting Platypus Habitat
Latrobe Catchment Landcare Network are excited to partner with Energy Australia on their Protecting Platypus Habitat Project.
Now in it’s third year, the project initially focused on protecting platypus habitat in Narracan Creek and Morwell River but has now expanded to any water system in the catchment area that has proven platypus activity. Another aim of the project is to also reduce sediment runoff into the Latrobe River system which ultimately flows into the Gippsland Lakes systems.
Projects like these allow the Network to support Landholders by subsidising fencing works (at $8/mt) and provide all trees at no cost to the landholder. We then connect that Landholder with their local Landcare group and support the planting of trees. More recently, our friends from Energy Australia have been participating in tree planting days, seeing first hand where their company funds are benefiting.
A number of Landholders have already participated in the project, fencing off their waterways and planting 10,000+ trees along creek and rivers to encourage the recruitment of native bush and protected areas for the Platypus can call home.
The second part of the project is a Platypus conservation and education program designed to promote the importance of preserving and restoring habitat along our waterways. You can view the webinar which was held as part of the project if you keep scrolling down.
If you would like to know more about this project, especially if you have active Platypus on your property, please get in touch:
Caroline Hammond
Project Officer
E: caroline.hammond@latrobe.vic.gov.au
P: 0472 503 088
Planting at the above site was not for the faint hearted. This steep riverside is definitely ‘goat’ country …but please note the goat proof fencing above. Now to keep the wallabies and wombats away.
Fencing off and revegetating the creekline was a no brainer to Landholder, Mark Graeme. You can see the remnant tree ferns in the gully. When the revegetated bush grows up, this will be a lovely Platypus haven.
Platypus Information Session
PLATYPUS MYSTERIES TO BE REVEALED
The platypus is one of the world's most amazing animals. This furry, warm-blooded mammal lays soft-shelled eggs like a lizard, uses its bill to navigate underwater, and sorts out arguments with the help of venomous spurs. The platypus is also among the most popular of Australia's animal icons - a great flagship species for freshwater conservation. But what about the platypus's own environmental needs? How is the species faring in our region? And what needs to be done to ensure that our platypus populations survive into a future made uncertain by climate change?
Latrobe Catchment Landcare has arranged for Geoff Williams from the Australian Platypus Conservancy to share his knowledge of this fascinating monotreme in an online information session on Tuesday 25 October at 7pm.
