Bog Garden - Mt Tomah, NSW, Australia
S 33° 32.300 E 150° 25.380
56H E 260708 N 6286056
Learn about fragile wetlands in the elevated plateau of the Blue Mountains with this Flora Sign.
Waymark Code: WMYMBY
Location: New South Wales, Australia
Date Posted: 06/28/2018
Views: 0
The sign is just down hill from the Visitors Centre, and it reads:
Bog Garden -- learn about fragile wetlands
"Wetlands are under threat. Yet they purify our city water supply and provide essential buffer zones that protect downstream areas during floods and droughts. Worldwide, about 50% of wetlands have been destroyed due to land clearing.
"Our Bog Garden showcases a special type of wetland habitat -- the hanging swamp. Hanging swamps form on hillsides and cliff edges in depressions with poor drainage. In the Blue Mountains, they occur between Springwood, Mt Victoria and Mt Wilson. Although only half of the 2000 hectares of wetlands remaining in the Blue Mountains are protected within national parks, there is a growing understanding and appreciation of their special beauty and vital functions, so more is being done to retain these precious, fragile habitats.
"A variety of sedges, rushes, grasses and shrubs thrive in hanging swamps, where the shallow water is rich in organic matter. In wet periods the swamps soak up water like sponges, filtering it as it trickles through ferns and mosses and makes its way from creeks to rivers and eventually into Sydney's water supply.
"Many of the plants and animals adapted to wetlands are threatened by encroaching human activity. You can see some of these threatened plant species here without endangering their fragile, natural habitats.
Visited: 1144, Thursday, 8 February, 2018