The innovative Birchip Cropping Group (BCG) is this year’s winner of the Banksia Awards’ land and biodiversity award for its study into the impact of the Wimmera Mallee pipeline on wildlife.

The pipeline system will replace open channels and farm dams with pipes and stock troughs, which means wildlife will no longer be able to get access to open water in the region.

The BCG study assessed birds, mammals, reptiles and frogs at farm dams, channels, stock troughs, open paddocks, woodlands and constructed wildlife ponds.

The study found that sites near open water and sites in woodlands had the highest biodiversity, and bird numbers at the constructed ponds were similar to existing farm dams in woodlands.

While the wildlife ponds attracted birds, frogs and turtles stayed away, so more research is needed on ways to encourage them to use the ponds.

BCG is concerned about the effect the pipeline will have on frogs, as there are now very few remaining in the Northern Mallee Pipeline region where pipelines were installed in 2002.

Another concern is that bats, which tend to forage on insects that forage on open water, will have fewer food sources with the disappearance of the channels and dams.

While the study focussed on the Wimmera and Mallee, its findings provide important information for all landholders about onfarm wildlife behaviour.

As part of the study, BCG has produced a practical brochure on how to build on-farm wildlife ponds.

It recommends circular, shallow-sided ponds, about one metre deep in the centre.

The margins are planted with aquatic vegetation, and branches and logs are placed in the pond to provide bird perches and shelter for aquatic animals.

The ponds need to be fenced off from stock and to have a piped water supply nearby so water levels can be maintained by a ball and float valve.

Ideally the ponds need to be in native vegetation areas, with trees near the ponds for birds to check the site before they descend, but little groundcover to prevent predators hiding.

The Banksia Awards described BCG’s study as a ‘simple, water efficient and cost-effective way of maintaining and enhancing wildlife values on farms’.

More details on the study are available at http://www.bcg.org.au