BOORAGOON and Blue Gum Lakes are set to be transformed after the South East Regional Centre for Urban Landcare (SERCUL) and a local community group were granted State Government funding.
SERCUL and Friends of Booragoon and Blue Gum Lakes have received $218,000 for the restoration of the two lakes with the project set to commence later this year and run until 2022.
The two organisations have been working with the City of Melville since 2013 to control weeds and plant thousands of native species.
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READ NOWThe money was received through the Community Stewardship Grants scheme, which supports projects across Perth and regional Western Australia to help restore natural areas.
SERCUL community and grants manager Dan Friesen said the lakes were facing the impacts of urbanisation, where introduced weeds were displaying native vegetation and nutrients such as fertilisers were entering through the run-off collected in street drains.
“The two main issues that we are addressing at the lake are weeds and water quality,” he said.
“This project is looking specifically at the large grass infestation covering the south western half of Blue Gum Lake.
“The grass covers about 1ha of the lake bed which prevents any of the water birds and waders from utilising it.
“Our objective is firstly to remove all of the introduced invasive grass and then to plant local native species in its place.
“This will not only provide our native wildlife with its natural habitat but it will also improve the lakes’ resilience and the native vegetation will assist in improving the water quality by absorbing nutrients and act like a filter for the lake.”
Friends of Booragoon and Blue Gum Lakes president Mary-Ann Oliver said the group was excited to bring the lake back to its natural state.