Our compliments to the AURG on securing funding for a Wildlife Wetland ...

We were delighted to learn of the success of the Armidale Urban Rivercare Group (AURG) in securing State Government funding - announced by Member for Northern Tablelands, Adam Marshall - for its ‘Weedy Wasteland to Wildlife Wetland’ project - as reported recently on NBN News.  

Our sincere compliments to the AURG Chair, Bruce Whan, and all of the partners in this project.  

Our association is very pleased that permission has been granted for a wetland which will add so much to the amenity, beauty and function of the creeklands.  In 2017, our group formed “to assist in the careful planning, design and development of beautiful, healthy and safe public spaces featuring wetlands, lagoons and billabongs, connected by flowing water along the Armidale Creeklands”.  With our focus on developing community visions which will see restored natural levels of water flows and retaining water in naturalised settings, we have tried to complement the work of AURG which has been so successful in transforming the vegetation along the creeklands with appropriate native species.  

We will be recommending to our members and our Friendly Followers that they might volunteer to help out when AURG commences its new Wildlife Wetland project.

It is particularly pleasing that Armidale Regional Council is a partner in the project as they will be key to getting approvals for any interventions in the creeklands.  Also, it is great to see that the University of New England's Aquatic Ecology and Restoration Research Group will be designing the wetland.

We look forward to seeing this project lead the way towards seeing even more wetlands and billabongs connected by flowing water along the entire length of the Armidale Creeklands. 

Many will be aware that Stage 1 of the Armidale Creeklands Master Plan is to be implemented as a Family Precinct by Armidale Regional Council during 2022 with $3m of funding from the State Government.  Our association is pleased that progress is being made but we continue to make representations to Council on behalf of our members to see a greater focus on healthy water flows and billabongs/ponds in this precinct to add beauty and function to the planned pathways, exercise stations, picnic facilities, shade and native plantings.  Sadly, the approved plans say very little about water!  

In short, our goal of creating a community consensus of what our creeklands might be is far from over.  As we know, we can experience droughts as well as floods and so we need to protect assets from floods as well as find ways to ensure that healthy water can flow along our streams and through any wetlands - even in dry times.  

We encourage any interested members of the community to get involved and help AURG and Visions for Armidale Creeklands Inc to realise all of our dreams.