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Friends of Westgate Park P o s t O f f i c e B o x 2 3 3 3 R i c h m o n d S o u t h V i c 3 1 2 1 Submission to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council investigation of Crown Land and Public Authority Land December 20, 2010 Westgate Park, located in Fishermans Bend, north and south of the Westgate Bridge between Todd Road and the Yarra River, is now a natural showcase of indigenous plants of the Melbourne region. Nine Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVC) have been established in the 40 hectare Park under a major revegetation plan developed, planted and maintained by our community group, Friends of Westgate Park. The Discussion Paper lists Westgate Park under metropolitan parks, classified "Parkland and garden - sub category, community use areas" P75. We support this classification and particularly the draft recommendations (c) and (d). (c) parklands and gardens be used as botanic and other gardens, community parkland or ornamental plantations; (d) where relevant, and where compatible with the above, features of cultural significance, natural surroundings and the local character and quality of the landscape be maintained or restored. We believe that classifications such as the nature conservation reserve and natural features reserves should be revised to include similar protection of revegetated and regenerated areas of indigenous vegetation as well as remnant areas. Otherwise it will be impossible to halt the decline of indigenous vegetation. We also support extending the formal boundaries of the park into adjacent under utilised public land, particularly in the long term probability of increased residential development on current land managed by the Port of Melbourne. We also request that the recommendations and categories used in this study be binding on the use of government land by government agencies We ask the VEAC to consider in its review our hope that the Park can be: - recognised for its current and potential ecological values - visited and appreciated for those values by more people - extended into surrounding publicly-owned but under-utilised land - designated for passive recreation to conserve and protect natural habitats
The Friends of Westgate Park Members of the Friends bring a high level of professional expertise in landscape design, indigenous vegetation and habitat protection for native fauna. The group has for over ten years held planting, mulching and weeding days, establishing significant communities of over 300 locally indigenous plants in the park, many of them locally rare, and gradually removing non-locally indigenous species. The Friends have planted 220,000 plants in the park. The Friends collect seeds and use their small nursery to propagate species that are often not otherwise available and it shares knowledge and plants with other indigenous nurseries. The group averages over 1000 hours of volunteering work a month through its recruitment, coordination and supervision of Green Jobs Corps and corporate-sponsored programs and teams of dedicated workers are now engaged in these tasks for three to five days every week. To put this effort into perspective, this relatively small park – around 0.003% of the total area under the control of Parks Victoria – has generated 6.7% of its volunteer hours for the state over the last four years. In short, the Friends of Westgate Park have assumed responsibility for what is described in their mission as: “to maintain and improve Westgate Park as an attractive destination for passive recreational visitors; and, to provide quality habitats to sustain the native birds and animals that are resident in the park, or rely on it during seasonal movements.” The Friends were awarded the National Urban Landcare Award in 2010 for their efforts and credited with transforming the Westgate Park „… from an inner city waste land to one of Melbourne‟s biological „gems‟‟. The ecological, aesthetic and social values of Westgate Park The Park is very close to the centre of Melbourne – just 6 km from Flinders Street Station - and plays an important role in surrounding the city and the adjacent industrial areas with green spaces This close proximity is important for botany students, tourists and Melbourne residents to see and appreciate the variety of plants that were once found in the region. The park‟s design is believed to be unique in featuring so many EVC‟s and significant numbers of each species. It is also special for the fact that plant communities have been established - not just trees but mid and under story plants, shrubs, ground covers, creepers and grasses which significantly increase the habitat values for wildlife. Indeed the current season offers a spectacular array of blooms and fruit, some images of which are appended. This variety is not seen in other metropolitan parks to anything like the same extent. This mass of vegetation has become vital to improving the genetic diversity of seed banks, particularly for the rarer species of local plants. Remnant vegetation is not a feature of Westgate Park, however, there are two small areas of remnant saltmarsh in the area within the Port of Melbourne Corporation land which are in a degraded state. The park does however contain naturally occurring regrowth from its prior
Page 4 and 5: existence as a saltmarsh/swamp and
Page 6 and 7: - Water Water quality in the lakes
Page 8 and 9: Westgate Park features significant
Page 10 and 11: Water quality in the lakes and mars
Page 12 and 13: Birds common in the land based plan
Page 16: The Howe Parade Extension and Melbo
Page 19: Red flags map out a route for a 4km

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