Caboolture River will be subject to vegetation restoration work. Photo: supplied/MBCC
COUNCIL NEWS
Moreton Bay (Qld)
Caboolture River will be a target for restoration work after $4.8 million in funding was approved for Moreton Bay City Council.
The funding is part of a $30m Resilient Rivers SEQ program run by the Council of Mayors (SQ) to restore the health of waterways and wetlands for the 2032 Olympic Games.
Moreton Bay City Mayor Peter Flannery says the $4.8m funding will go on projects that will directly benefit the region and the Caboolture and Pine river catchments.
The Caboolture River (weir to highway) and Caboolture Arboretum riparian rehabilitation projects can now restore vegetation, protect against invasive weeds, boost biodiversity and stabilise banks that are being eroded.
“This funding will enable us to deliver projects designed to support the overall health of our waterways, which are vital to sustaining native plants and animals,” Flannery says.
“These projects will shore up council’s efforts to ‘Go Green as we Grow’, which is all about safeguarding our environment amid a booming population while improving water quality in Moreton Bay.”
Other on-ground works that will be funded include:
- Reconnecting 60 kilometres of fish passages across Beerburrum and Six Mile Creek catchments.
- Planting 30,000 new plants around Cabbage Tree Creek.
- 3000+ new plants at Freshwater Reserve.
The council says a “significant initiative” will be the creation of action plans for the Pine and Caboolture river catchments.
The Resilient Rivers SEQ program focuses on working with private landowners to keep soil on land, strengthen native habitat and boost water quality and water security.
It does this, council says, through projects to increase native vegetation, improve bank stabilisation and improve erosion control that will reduce soil run-off into Moreton Bay and protect ecosystems for fish nurseries, platypuses, dugongs, and turtles.
The program has already spent $21.3m on the SEQ City Deal, a partnership between the federal and state governments with the Council of Mayors (SEQ), alongside $8.7m from partners like SEQ councils and Seqwater.
Council says it will also benefit from a new regional platypus monitoring program for SE Qld to learn more about platypuses, freshwater turtles and the endangered Australian lungfish, a species that dates back over 100 million years.
