By NOEL MURPHY
BELMONT’S Jerringot wetlands are set for a $700,000 upgrade under new plans to safeguard their 100-plus bird species, native fish and endangered animals.
A council master plan would protect the wetlands reserve, an 18-hectare freshwater hamlet on the southern reaches of Belmont Common, with new pollution traps, revegetation, weed control, a bund and a weir.
Jerringot comprises two chief wetland areas linked to the Barwon River’s floodplain.
The reserve is home to more than 100 resident and migratory bird species, some rare or endangered such as the Latham’s snipe, which flies in each year from Japan.
The wetlands also offer an important habitat for environmental markers such as frogs, including the endangered growling grass frog.
Native fish such as common and spotted galaxia and the rare Australian mudfish are also found in the precinct.
Landscape architects Thompson Berrill Design drafted the master plan for council after talks with stakeholders including Geelong Field Naturalists Club, caretaker of the reserve since 1972.
Council expects the plan to bolster the wetlands’ environmental stability in the face of increasing pressures on threatened species from Geelong’s urban growth.
