River, Bushlands and Wetlands

The City of Bayswater is located on the Swan Coastal Plain. Across the Perth metropolitan area land has been highly modified since European settlement. The native vegetation has been largely removed or modified due to urbanisation and infrastructure development. Altering land from it natural state inevitably results in changes to soil health and landscape functionality (State of the Env Report 2007, EPA 2007).

The result of urbanisation has been that we now only have small pockets of natural areas left which are in need of conservation and preservation. Some of these natural areas include:

• Lightning Swamp;
• Bardon Park wetlands;
• Berringa Park Wetlands;
• Maylands Samphire Flats;
• Baigup Wetlands;
• Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary;
• Gobba Lake; and
• Claughton Reserve.

The river is of exceptionally high importance as habitat and as an ecological corridor between many of our, and neighboring councils bushlands. Additionally it also has many recreational, aesthetic, cultural and social values. Management of the river and its foreshore to maintain its biodiversity and ecological functions, whilst also meeting the range of human use values requires constant attention to its changing needs and consistent application of best management practices.