Landholders working on Rehabilitation of Wether Station Creek
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About the Wether Station Creek Catchment (WSCC) It is a relatively small 7 sq km catchment in the high rainfall (~900mm) zone of Adelaide’s Mt Lofty Ranges watershed area. The catchment has about 9 km of mapped creek lines, first, second and third order streams, with many more drainage lines and soaks. The Creek flows into the Onkaparinga River about 1.5 km from the project area after following Grasby Road meeting the river just upstream of the Balhannah bridge over the river on Greenhill Road. The catchment is particularly diverse since it ends within the township boundary of Balhannah, includes well developed farming and horticultural land running in a North Westerly direction from Balhannah and includes a large part of the Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park towards Deviation Road between Forest Range and Carey Gully. The project is located 1.5km NW of Balhannah in the Mount Lofty Ranges in SA, about 30 km East of Adelaide. The project and the catchment is entirely within the watershed for the Onkaparinga River and the Mount Bold reservoir, one of the main water storages for Adelaide. The region is rich in biodiversity being in the high rainfall area of the Mount Lofty Ranges but is highly developed for grazing, orchards and rural living with remnant vegetation in small isolated stands. The Catchment is approximately rectangular, about 4km long and 1.5 km wide lying with a NW – SE orientation. There is significant but disconnected remnant vegetation in the lower catchment improving to almost pristine scrub in the Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park. Generally remnant vegetation is mostly E. leucoxylon (Blue gum) and E camaldulensis (Red Gum) with A. paradoxa (Kangaroo Thorn) understory on the hills with E. viminalis (Manna Gum), E. dalrympleana (Candlebark Gum), A. melanoxylon (Blackwood), tea-trees, reeds, grasses and sedges in the creeks. There a very few specimens of some species remaining in the creek. The full list of species being used for revegetation planting is here.
Glengyle site Good stand of E. leucoxylon and A. paradoxa on the hills with very little except revegetation plantings in the creeks Tori Park and Amorilla site Good stands of large E. dalrympleana and E. leucoxylon and possibly other species on the slopes with a few stringybark specimens. Creek lines are weedy with no obvious remnant species. Glen Eden South Block site Adjacent to rich slopes of native vegetation including blue gums, stringybark, acacias and understory with at least 5 orchid species. Creeks are weedy with large poplars, gorse and blackberry to be removed. Wether Station and Pugh's Barnhouse sites No obvious remnant vegetation in the creeks but a good stand of large eucalypts on nearby slopes. These sites have trees of heritage interest with a very old row of quince trees along the creek just surviving under the heavy willow canopy.The catchment includes Grasby Memorial Park and the Balhannah Scout Group Hall. |
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Last modified: November 22, 2009 |
