Water Minister Dave Kelly has announced the commencement of a project to restore and rehabilitate Yakamia Creek in Albany, with the McGowan Government contributing $144,000 of funding towards the project.
Yakamia Creek is a waterway that traverses a mixed agricultural/urban catchment through the City of Albany, eventually entering Oyster Harbour. Over many decades, the health of the creek has deteriorated due to modification and weed invasion.
This project will rehabilitate a section of the creek removing invasive species, altering creek banks to reduce erosion, and revegetating the area with native species.
The work is expected to improve ecological function and increase habitat for Western Long Neck Turtles (Yaka/Yakkin) and other native animals, as well as improve the quality of the water draining into Oyster Harbour.
These improvements will add to the works already carried out on other sections of Yakamia Creek as part of the $1.24 million rehabilitation and revegetation project completed in 2019, which was jointly funded by the McGowan Government and the City of Albany.
The McGowan Government is committed to protecting highly valued natural assets such as Yakamia Creek, and through the Healthy Estuaries WA program, has invested $25 million over four years to protect seven at-risk estuaries in the state's south-west, including Oyster Harbour and Torbay Inlet.
The project is a collaborative partnership between South Coast NRM and the City of Albany, supported by the McGowan Government's Healthy Estuaries WA, Minderoo Foundation and South Coast Environment Fund.
As stated by Water Minister Dave Kelly:
"This work will help to restore and protect Albany's natural environment and waterways.
"It's great to see partnerships such as this coming together to achieve great outcomes for Albany's valued natural assets.
"Yakamia Creek is the home of the long neck turtle and hopefully the restoration work will encourage this species back into areas that have been rehabilitated."
As stated by Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens:
"This section of Yakamia Creek is a culturally significant site and an important natural asset for the local area.
"This project will make an important contribution to the restoration of the waterway and help preserve it for the Menang people who have valued it for many thousands of years, and for the wider community, for generations to come."
