Environmental Education at Wonga

The original overall Waterview Project made mention of education at Wonga “This area would develop into an education and tourism centre, offering research facilities to local universities and the Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre (MDFRC)”.

Following on from several studies and research projects by local universities, Wonga Wetlands was identified as a living laboratory, and the universities and the MDFRC continued their involvement and research at Wonga. Local schools, TAFEs and environmental-interest groups also wanted to visit and study environmental issues at Wonga.

Educational opportunities abound at Wonga - from preschool to university level.  Visiting groups can either provide their own educators and visit freely or contact AlburyCity Council for education to be provided by AlburyCity specialists for which there is a small charge.

Wonga Wetlands hosts and provides education for preschool to high school students, TAFE and university students/researchers as well as conferences and adult groups interested in the environment, nature, First Nations and colonial history.

There have been a number of programs run at Wonga Wetlands including:

• Water testing for students ranging from primary school through to year 12
• Macroinvertebrates sampling
• Environmental treasure hunts
• Recycling games
• Group talks about Council's Water and Wastewater treatment plants
• Revegetation programs
• River and city stormwater management
• Man's effect on the environment of the floodplain

The Wonga Environment tells the story of AlburyCity's ecologically sustainable solution to wastewater management and its other environmental projects. It provides hands-on education programs and research opportunities. Research projects undertaken have included the following:

Charles Sturt University

• flora and fauna studies
• hydrogeological studies
• ornithological studies
• wetland marketing studies
• bird management study

La Trobe University

• frogs and salinity study
• riparian vegetation study

Wodonga TAFE / National Environment Centre

• management plan study course
• bird observations

CSIRO

• study on environmental consequences of wetland salinity

Monash University

• study on the importance of wet and dry cycles in floodplain wetlands.

Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre

• The effects of increasing salinity on ecosystem function, resilience and diversity (2003-2005)
• The impact of salinity pulses on the emergence of plant and zooplankton from wetland seed and egg banks (2006-2007)
• From fresh to saline: A comparison of zooplankton and plant communities developing under a gradient of salinity with communities developing under constant salinity levels (2007-2008)
• The influence of sulfidic sediments on the viability of wetland egg and seed bank communities (2010)
• Assessing the potential to use wetlands for agricultural benefits whilst maintaining ecological values (2011)
• From Saline to fresh: Resting egg banks facilitating recovery of zooplankton communities after extended exposure to saline conditions (2012)
• Growth response of aquatic macrophytes to blackwater events (2013)
• Investigate how riparian vegetation primary production responds to flow and determine if understory riparian vegetation can be used in predictive ecological response models of floodplain/wetland condition (2013)
• Seed bank and wetland vegetation dynamics in response to environmental watering (2014)
• How do sequences of flooding and drying events affect terrestrial seedling establishment (Current)