Habitat restored on degraded Pilbara clay pan

The first line of direct seeding on the degraded clay pan system at Mulga Downs

Greening Australia has been working in the Pilbara to restore important snakewood shrubland and tussock grassland habitat on a degraded clay pan at Mulga Downs Station.

The work to restore the pan’s diverse vegetation forms part of the ‘Pilbara Corridors Project’, a collaborative partnership to enhance habitat and address threats to biodiversity in the Pilbara.

“The pan has a hard-baked crust and without mechanical action no water or seed seems to get through it. This has made it extremely difficult for native habitat to re-establish,” said Victor Gleeson, Station Manager.

CommVeg Direct Seeder in action at Mulga Downs Station.

To facilitate the process, a special Commercial Native Vegetation Seeder (CommVeg), developed by Dr Geoff Woodall was used. The CommVeg is a one pass machine that uses multiple implements to prepare the soil allowing seeds and water to penetrate before drilling the seeds into the freshly turned soil.

Victor approached Greening Australia for assistance with restoring the site after noticing that where cattle had been kept on a small section of the pan, some vegetation had successfully regrown. He surmised that a machine would be capable of performing the same function as the cattle’s hooves and would facilitate new growth.

“It’s great to see the CommVeg finally out in that area. With poor summer rains for a few years we’ve had to put the project on hold, but now we will be eagerly waiting to see what comes up,” said Victor.

Senior Technician Liam Mulcahy mixing the fine native seed mix for the restoration project.

“We just need a bit more rain to trigger growth. It is exciting to finally reach this stage of the project where we will soon be able to see the results of our efforts,” said Greening Australia’s Pip Short who has been managing the project for the last year.

Pilbara Corridors is a partnership between Greening Australia, Rangelands NRM and the Department of Parks and Wildlife funded by the Australian Government.

If you are interested in finding out more about this project, or any of Greening Australia’s other programs, please contact Pip Short, Pilbara Community Projects Coordinator at [email protected], or visit the Facebook page “Greening Australia – Pilbara”.