DESPITE the fact that the Riverland flooding event of 2022-23 finished nearly two years ago, its devastation is still being felt around the region.
Banrock Station, located just 20km northwest of Barmera, has been no different, but with water returning to the wetlands, things are back on track.
Boasting quality food options, guided walking tours, tasting experiences and more, Banrock is always a popular tourist destination.
However, central to its operation is its commitment to the environment and natural growth, and Station ranger Elizabeth Warnock said while it was a difficult period, things are now looking up.
“We’ve recently had water come back into the main lagoon, and that’s the first time we’ve had water flow since the natural flooding event,” she said.
“The tourism side of things is very exciting, because a lot of people that come here are expecting to see water in the wetlands, and people don’t always understand wetlands are naturally meant to be dry at certain times in this part of the world.
“Anyone drawing water out of the Murray River would know that it is highly regulated, so there’s a planning process in place at least six months prior to the event.
“There’s quite a bit of administration that has to happen around getting permission, and because we don’t have a water meter it makes it more complicated because the water is calculated through an expensive model.
“The planning has to be done, and the application for planning to be done to put water back into the lagoon has to be done months in advance.”
Utilising Commonwealth water resources is a key part of the water returning operation, with the more natural resources used the better.
“One of the things identified during the concerns around wetland health was trying to reinstate the drying cycle,” Ms Warnock said.
“The irrigation pump was moved for the vineyard to the main river, so that the water would be drawn for the vineyard out of the main channel itself and not the lagoon.
“After the pump infrastructure moved, we’ve been reinstating the drying cycle, and we have an allocation we can use to fill it.
“Normally we hold water in for at least a year, so in order to keep it topped up, we do need commonwealth environmental water.”
Ongoing environmental management of the Banrock Station’s wetlands is crucial to its flow going forward, as the regrowth from the flood continues.
Ms Warnock said the Banrock brand is built around environmental sustainability, and keeping a strong brand name is at the forefront of minds, as the station looks towards the future.
“It’s a wetland of international importance, and in order for us to continue to have that status, it needs to be managed in an ecologically positive way,” she said.
“It also links back to people wanting to buy Banrock products because they want to support this work moving forward.
“One of the things that needs to happen next is rebuilding of the boardwalks, because they were taken out due to the floods.
“A lot of visitors who come here enjoy that, and it’s listed as one of the great walks in South Australia, and at the moment it’s shorter without the boardwalks in place.
“From an ecological perspective, one of the inlet’s regulators is out of action at the moment, so we’re only using one inlet.
“I would really like to get a regulator on the other inlet so we can start watering from there as well.”
For visitors, there is still plenty to see and do at Banrock Station including a dining area, but Ms Warnock said there is something for everyone.
“We’re trying to mimic the natural flooding, but it happens very slowly because that’s the way it is in this part of the river system,” she said.
“We’re in a very different situation to flash flooding places up in Queensland, so people who are coming here have to accept that flooding happens slowly so they won’t always see it at the maximum fill.
“It’s a very slow process to fill it in, and everyone who’s lived in this part of the river area knows how slow it can be.”
