Three Mile Scrub

Improving habitat quality, resilience, and connectivity through a great community waterway restoration project

The Three Mile Scrub project is helping to improve habitat values and reduce threats to the Three Mile Scrub riparian corridor.Healthy Land & Water’s Three Mile Scrub project is helping to improve habitat values and reduce threats to the Three Mile Scrub riparian corridor.

Through weed control and revegetation, this project is restoring riparian habitat and reducing erosion to protect the lower Brisbane River and downstream Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland.

The project is engaging and educating the community on ways to improve the natural environment, waterways, and water quality in the Lower Brisbane catchment.

What we are doing

Weed control and revegetation along nine hectares of the Three Mile Scrub riparian corridor.
Large-scale bank stabilisation to reduce erosion risk to protect downstream environments, including the lower Brisbane River and Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland.
Collaborated with the local community through co-design and engagement events.

As part of the project, Healthy Land & Water delivered a community planting day to plant more than 500 trees, shrubs, and groundcovers along the creek in Davidson Street Park.

Measuring success

This project improved habitat values and reduced threats to the Three Mile Scrub riparian corridor through:

Primary weed control and revegetation to restore the riparian corridor to its remnant ecosystem.
Improving riparian habitat quality, resilience, and connectivity.
Local community engagement events to foster environmental stewardship over the long term.
Supporting broader waterway outcomes by reducing erosion risk to protect downstream environments, including the lower Brisbane River and Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland.

Why this project is important

Three Mile Scrub is situated along the banks of Enoggera Creek and is an area of significant historical and botanical importance.

Bank erosion of the creek, due to historic habitat clearing, has resulted in sediment flowing into Enoggera Creek and its downstream environments, including the lower Brisbane River and the internationally recognised Moreton Bay Ramsar Wetland.

Clearing also led to the invasion of exotic plants, such as vine weeds, which threaten the riparian canopy along this stretch of creek. If left untreated, they may kill canopy trees, resulting in further destabilisation and erosion of the creek bank.

The project is undertaking large-scale bank stabilisation, removing invasive weeds, and revegetating Three Mile Scrub with local native species to rehabilitate the riparian corridor to return the area to its remnant ecosystem.

This will reduce sediment loads flowing into Moreton Bay, improving water quality and habitat for many threatened species.

Project snapshot

Project name:	Three Mile Scrub
Project manager:	Karen Toms, Healthy Land & Water
Catchment:	Lower Brisbane
Timing:	2019 - June 2023
Budget:
Partnerships:	This project was supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s Environment Restoration Fund. This project was delivered in partnership with Brisbane City Council, Save Our Waterways Now, Oxley Creek Catchment Association, Traditional Owners and Jagera Daran.
Related Articles:	Restoration, community stewardship and resilience against erosion: Insights from Enoggera Creek Healthy Land & Water partners with community in creek revegetation Protecting biodiversity across South East Queensland

What's next

There is huge potential to build on the successful work.

Project collaborators

This project was supported by Healthy Land & Water, through funding from the Australian Government’s Environment Restoration Fund.

This project was delivered in partnership with Brisbane City Council, Save Our Waterways Now, Oxley Creek Catchment Association, Traditional Owners and Jagera Daran.