The 136,000 hectare program area includes the iconic Bunyip State Park which contains precious remnants of wet forests and heathland. South of the State Park lies a rich agricultural region of beef and dairy farms, vegetable growing and vineyards in the south, and Western Port’s fragile and damaged coastline of mangroves, marshes and mudflats.

The area is important habitat for several vulnerable and threatened species including the Southern Brown Bandicoot, the Growling Grass Frog and the Dwarf Galaxias. The Coastal wetland areas are also the destination for tens of thousands of migratory birds from the northern hemisphere – many from China, Japan and Siberia – making it a wetland area of international significance.

The condition and the natural functions of the catchment have been significantly compromised by human activity over the past 170 years. Much of the upper catchment has been cleared of natural vegetation for grazing and agriculture; now only about 25% remains, much of it on private land. The lower catchment area (south of Princes Highway) was once referred to as the Koo Wee Rup Swamp and it acted as a filtering mechanism for the water that flowed from the hills into Western Port. But the swamp has been ‘drained’ over time with the construction of a network of channels into the Bunyip Main Drain.


This drainage enables the fertile soils to be farmed and the region is now one of Australia’s most productive horticulture areas. But this large scale modification of the landscape has been at the expense of its natural wetland habitats, and has led to a significant decline in the health of the Western Port marine environment.

More recently, the region is also facing the new pressures of large scale urban expansion in the Casey-Cardinia corridor on the eastern fringe of Melbourne. Hundreds of new houses are completed in this area each month, putting even greater stress on the natural environment.