OUR WETLAND

At the bottom of the hill, to the east of the Baldivis Children’s Forest is a wetland called Outridge Swamp. The swamp is a seasonally inundated basin, also known as a sumpland. This means that it usually fills with rainwater and run-off from the hill during the winter. In the peak of rain, water can get to 2.2 metres deep in the central wetland.

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Outridge Swamp is a conservation category wetland which means it is looked after to protect the plants and animals that grow and live in the wetland. At the edge of the wetland, plants such as flooded gums, paperbarks, sedges, and rushes; deeper into the wetland, dodder, and herbland of seablite grow. The wetland is also home to a large range of fungi and moss.

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Many different animals such as bandicoots, native rats, goannas, snakes, frogs, and long-necked turtles live in the wetland. The wetland is very important as it provides food and water for these and many other animals.

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We have seven species of frogs living in the Forest; five burrowing ground frogs: red-thighed froglet (Crinia georgiana), Glauert's froglet (Crinia glauerti), sandplain froglet (Crinia insignifera), moaning frog (Heleioporus eyrei), banjo or pobblebonk frog (Limnodynastes dorsalis), turtle frog (Myobatrachus gouldii), and two tree frogs: slender tree frog (Litoria adelaidensis), green tree or motorbike frog (Litoria moorei).

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During the last two years, the Baldivis Children’s Forest has been undergoing some major projects to support the educational and research programs that we have been offering to local schools and the community for over 15 years.

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During 2021, the Forest volunteers designed, built, and installed a completely customised wetland boardwalk enabling visitors to the Forest to walk deeper into our wetland area to view and support the study of the biodiversity that this area has to offer.

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Our study of the wetland area has shown that our wetland ecosystem is split into two distinct microsystems, each with its own set of animals and plants. This study has also revealed that our wetland has one of the most diverse water beetle populations in the local area.

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To support this wetland boardwalk, the Forest secured funding from the Department of Biodiversity and Conservation to build a new classroom area, adjacent to the wetland where we will be able to offer educational programs to schools and the local community, as well as conduct a groundbreaking study of our wetland ecosystem.