Merri Creek Management Committee

See the recording of the webinar (September 2021) by the Merri Paddle group, with MCMC’s Waterwatch Coordinator Julia Cirillo and Melbourne Water’s Dr Mel Klamt, for an informative introduction to the iconic platypus and the plan by Merri Paddle to get platypus back into Merri Creek.

In this webinar, you will find out more about platypus biology, population statistics on Merri Creek, its habitat requirements, and the ambitious and exciting plans by Merri Platypus Paddle to bring platypus back into the Merri, and how you can be a part of this. See the recording HERE.

Proudly funded by The Cities of Darebin, Moreland, Whittlesea and Yarra. (Platypus illustration provided by Melbourne Water.)

You can now see the recording of the Webinar about 'Plirding' on 4 September 2021 - HERE.  Plirding is picking up litter while birding! Join Ann McGregor, Friends of Merri Creek Birdwatch Coordinator, Julia Cirillo, from Merri Creek Management Committee, and Freya McGregor, Coordinator of Birdability in the USA to learn the art of plirding, birds to look out for while birding, and how to pick up litter safely while contributing to the Victoria wide Litterwatch Citizen Science project. Suitable for all ages.

We would love to hear what you thought of our recorded webinar. Please fill out our feedback form.

Webinar organised by Merri Creek Management Committee and funded by City of Yarra.

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Silver Banksia woodlands were once widespread across the volcanic cones and stony rises of western Victoria. Sadly in the Merri catchment and much of the Victorian Volcanic Plains, these Banksia woodlands are now extinct. Thanks to generous donations to the Merri Creek Environment Fund, we hope to bring Banksia Woodlands back to the Merri in the years ahead.

Many people have asked: how do we know that Silver Banksias were once common in the Merri catchment? To answer this question MCMC joined forces with Steve Sinclair (Arthur Rylah Institute/Friends of the Forgotten Woodlands) in a webinar in late 2021. Steve gave a fascinating overview of the historical records and ecological information that are being combined to understand the past distribution of Silver Banksia. He also spoke about how the surviving fragments are being brought together to return these forgotten woodlands to western Victoria and the Merri. See the webinar HERE.

(Silver Banksia image courtesy of JJ Harrison CC BY-SA 3.0)

MCMC supports many litter clean-ups undertaken by community volunteers. We give our thanks to Zara Hakam who organised a litter clean-up in East Brunswick for a university assignment and wrote about her experience, explaining how it relates to broader ecological issues. 

Of the 13kg of litter Zara and her six friends collected in one hour along Merri Creek in May 2021, over 97% was plastic. Most were single use items such as disposable face masks (9), plastic bottles (18) and plastic straws (35). Zara calculated that if these levels of litter were found along the entire 60-kilometre length of the creek, the Merri would hold approximately 2.5 million individual pieces of plastic!

MCMC supported Zara's clean-up efforts with advice and equipment.

Photo: Zara, 2nd from left, and friends sorting Merri Creek litter

To read Zara's report, follow the read more prompt.

Read more ...