Hot in the Shade

Victoria under the paperbarks

The long hot dry season is finally over and a site visit in late May to the River Action Plan site on the Williams River in Quindanning highlighted the importance of shade along our rivers. On the day we were there it was still sunny and warm, and there was a notable difference as we moved deeper into the site along the river.

‘Grandmother’ paperbarks of a size you don’t often see were providing gorgeous, lush shade under which the temperature was markedly cooler; check out the photos. The needles (leaves) and bark that had dropped on the ground also provided resilience to weed germination, which often peaks during times of stress when native plants are struggling. The cooler temperature means that pools are protected from evaporation and can provide important areas of refuge for riverine species, particularly in the alarmingly dry conditions experienced all through autumn this year.

In contrast was the open, sunny, and exposed area at the same site a mere 200m away. The vegetation there was under incredible stress, and last year we started planting paperbarks to eventually provide shady trees in that patch. The seedlings were still hanging on for dear life, but it will be a number of years before they are big enough to have an impact.

The moral of the story is to keep the shade you have and plant more! The ecosystem services provided by native vegetation free of charge is beyond any economic value we can attribute to it.

Hotham and Williams Rivers projects in the Hotham-Williams catchment are funded through partnerships with both South32 Worsley Alumina and Newmont Australia (Boddington)