River’s not deep but visitation’s high

DESPITE the low water level at the Yea Wetlands, there are still plenty of birds around. Chair Don Knight recently took a walk and saw spoonbills and ibises and a number of other wading birds, “But there’s not a lot of water for them to wade around in. The Cummins Lagoon and the frog pond are almost dry.”

The low water level is having an impact however, and as soon as the rain arrives, there will be more birds at the wetlands. “We definitely need some rain down there, that’s for sure,” Don said.

Only about three time in the last 25 years has the water level been so low at the wetlands, most recently a bit over a decade ago.

Strangely, the low water level has had little impact on visitation.

“It’s certainly increasing which is good,” Don said. “But certainly, with what we’ve done down there, they’re going to see a lot more birds, etcetera, and we’ve opened up a lot more of the wetlands so it will be an even greater attraction.”

Pre-COVID-19, the visitation to the information centre was around 30,000 per year, and with a steady build, they’re now back up to 26,000.

Don noted that, “Not all of those people go out in the wetlands, but of course a lot of people who bypass the centre and go around to the wetlands around the side or from over the Cummins car park.

We’re going to put counters down there so we can get a handle on the sort of visitors we’ve got. There’s been no counters in the past, but we need to put them down there now.

“It’s been a bit of a secret if you like for a long time. People, and I myself, have driven past…