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Willunga Creek

An Urban Forest riparian restoration project

The Willunga Creek project site is made up of 37 hectares of ex-agricultural land, 17 hectares of which was gradually restored from 2009 by the SA Urban Forests - Million Trees Program.

The remaining 20 hectares was funded as part of a three year restoration project by the Federal Government through its 20 Million Trees Programme and has made targeted revegetation possible.

This project was completed in June 2017 and the 20 hectare site now has 3 hectares of native grasses and 30 kilometres of shrubs and trees direct seeded, and more than 7000 tubestock planted.

This site will benefit the local community into the future forming a green link between Willunga and Port Willunga, providing opportunities for amenity, conservation and recreation. It forms part of Adelaide’s Metropolitan Open Space System, which makes sure there is land set aside for open space into the future.

Restoration outcomes

Restoration is being achieved through a mixture of direct seeding, tubestock planting and strategic weed control to create an open woodland ecosystem with a Red Gum/sedge dominated riparian zone along the watercourse and flood plain.

Some achievements since 2009 include:

more than 30,000 seedlings planted
168 kg of seed sown across the site
more than 600 volunteers participated in tree plantings
large woody weed infestations cleared from the creek line.

Restoring native vegetation across this site provides an important link in a chain of habitat that runs from the hills to the coast of southern Adelaide. This vegetation provides a refuge for wildlife with a variety of frogs, lizards, birds and insects making it their home.