MWRPP Report 14.9: Environmental Watering Objectives for the Cockatoo Swamp

Melbourne Water are planning to implement capital works at Yellingbo aimed at providing more natural patterns of wetting and drying within the Cockatoo Swamp, and thus arrest the spread of dieback and promote improved condition and regeneration of its FFG listed Eucalyptus camphora wetland forests, which are critical habitat for the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater and lowland Leadbeater’s Possum. The optioneering process for the works is to be completed in the coming months by Jacobs. Specific environmental watering objectives are required to inform that process. For this purpose, the environmental watering objectives for the Cockatoo Swamp presented below (Table 1) were determined from previous research into the water regime requirements of E. camphora (Greet 2012; Greet 2014).