Work to start on turning bird haven to wetlands
An ailing wetland that was the life work of the late conservationist Eric Singleton is to get a $3 million upgrade as part of broader efforts to help save Perth's Swan River system.
Almost two years after the Barnett Government made the vow to help the rivers by restoring wetlands, Environment Minister Albert Jacob will today announce work is to start on a project to overhaul Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary in Bayswater.
The project, to be funded by $1.2 million in State money and $1.8 million from the City of Bayswater, aims to turn back the clock on decades of environmental damage at Bayswater Brook.
Mr Jacob said it would involve revegetating about 2.6ha with up to 150,000 native plants to convert the sanctuary into a nutrient-stripping wetland.
Once completed it will reduce the phosphorous entering the Swan via Bayswater Brook up to 20 per cent and cut nitrogen inflow 15 per cent. Mr Jacob said the wetland would also stop rubbish washing into the river system. "It (the sanctuary) could do with a spruce-up anyhow," he said.
Bayswater mayor Sylvan Albert said he hoped the joint investment would help restore the sanctuary as a magnet for birds and wildlife.
