The watering was implemented to encourage native fish to leave the floodplain before it dried and to support waterbird breeding.
According to the Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder, the flows were implemented to:
● help native fish breed and move — such as Murray cod, golden perch and silver perch;
● improve food-web health by flushing food and nutrients from the floodplain into the river and transporting them through the system; and
● support native wetland plants in the river channel.
Monitoring has recorded waterbird breeding activity in the Reed Beds and Gulpa Creek wetlands in the Millewa forest. Small water deliveries were made into the forest to support this breeding activity.
Last spring's flow was managed between different organisations — three states and two Commonwealth agencies. It included river operators from NSW, Victoria and the Murray-Darling Basin Authority as well as environmental water holders from NSW, Victoria, SA and the Commonwealth.
As a result of this co-ordination, flows between the four major southern basin rivers combined in a peak flow of about 18,000 Ml/day at the South Australian border.
— Commonwealth Enviromental Water Office, 2020
One native bird to benefit from environmental flows through the Millewa forest last year was the Australian bittern.
“Bird surveys through Barmah-Millewa Forest recorded Australasian bitterns booming at 12 of 16 sites.
“This is an important result for this endangered and elusive wetland-dependent waterbird.
“As dry conditions continued in 2019-20, the wetlands in the Barmah-Millewa Forest were one of the most important sites in the country for bitterns this season.
“The extended watering of Barmah-Millewa Forest has allowed Australian bitterns to nest safely in the shallow, reedy waters important for nesting birds.”
— Water for the environment Southern Connected Basin Environmental Watering Committee Annual Report, 2019-20
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