Meander riverbank to be ‘remediated’ after willows terminated

Sharon Webb

MEANDER VALLEY Council has committed to rehabilitating the Meander riverbank at Deloraine where it axed five willows overhanging platypus habitat.

But how rehabilitation of the bare riverbank containing five tree stumps will look is a mystery. The council’s general manager, who supported the axing, has refused to state how or when rehabilitation will be carried out.

General manager John Jordan said that the area will be ‘remediated’.

His statement follows an April meeting between Australian Platypus Conservancy director Geoff Williams and council director of works, Matthew Millwood, who instructed a local contractor to cut down five trees instead of the one tree whose branch had fallen onto the river.

Mr Williams, whose visit from his base in Victoria included platypus information talks in Latrobe and Hobart, said the meeting with Mr Millwood had been positive and that Mr Millwood would develop a revegetation plan for the area.

‘The meeting was very constructive. We went through the issues at hand’, Mr Williams said.

‘I agreed to supply guidelines on platypus habitat, including revegetation. I’m looking forward to working with Meander Valley Council into the future.’

Mr Jordan said, ‘The site will be remediated considering environmental values in due course. This work will be part of the council’s routine schedule of maintenance and improvement across all public open spaces.’

In November last year Mr Millwood ordered contractor Woodland Management to cut down the trees in December 2020. That action involved an excavator rolling to and fro for a day over the riverbank containing platypus burrows.

The cut down tree trunks and branches were piled up and burnt over the burrows.

Last month Mr Jordan talked up the positive attitude of council staff to the Meander riverbank, saying, ‘Council officers take great pride in conserving [the Deloraine riverbank precinct’s] noteworthy environmental values and aesthetic appeal.’

‘Input from members of the community, including stakeholders like the Australian Platypus Conservancy, is welcomed.’

Deloraine wildlife photographer Joy Kachina, who tried to stop the willows’ removal on the day it happened, said she had written about it to all Meander Valley councillors, including the only councillor who lives in Deloraine, Andrew Sherriff.

‘Not one of them replied and I just received a generic email from John Jordan’, she said.

The remaining stumps of the willows on the bank of the Meander River at Deloraine, shortly after the council’s contractors cut down the trees. Photo supplied