The Project
The future vision for the Gemtree Wetlands is to provide an area of biodiversity which is a major haven for native plants, frogs, birds and animals as well as being a great teaching resource for the community. Greening Australia is providing expertise, planning and management of the volunteers working on the project.
Frogs are of particular interest as they are bio-indicators for the health of wetland environments. As most species of frog reproduce in water, any chemical pollutants present can pass directly to them. Generally, if no frogs are present, the waterway is suffering.
There are several species of frog commonly found in McLaren Vale, including the Brown Tree Frog, Spotted Marsh Frog, Eastern Banjo Frog and Common Froglet. The project will focus on these four species and the habitat created will be specific for both their breeding and feeding requirements.
Already a number of specific activities have been undertaken to take the project to the next stage.
These include;
- Planting of an additional 3,600 plants
- Construction of 3 rock and log habitat areas for frogs
- Collection of frog distribution and breeding data
- Seed collection and propagation
- 5 hectares of land mapped (GPS) and cleared of weeds
- Monitoring and recording water quality
- Bird census
- Construction and installation of park furniture
