Parafield Airport Vernal Pools
Also known as Bennett Road Vernal Pools or Parafield Wetlands
Vernal (springtime) pools or grassy ephemeral wetlands are the temporary pools that appear in the wet season, typically late winter and early spring (hence the name), in Mediterranean climates such as California, Chile, South Australia and Western Australia. They are seasonally flooded depressions found on soils with an impermeable layer such as a hardpan underlying the surface. The impermeable layer allows the pools to retain water much longer then the surrounding uplands, but the pools are shallow enough to dry up each season. Vernal pools often fill and empty several times during the wet season and vary from tiny rock potholes to large lakes covering hundreds of hectares. The vernal pools of Parafield Airport occur along the southern boundary of the airport, adjacent to Bennett Road and Main North Road.
A new road, Elder Smith Road, will pass through the area. Although the road has been realigned to avoid as many of the pools as possible, small portions of two pools are impacted. The Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure has undertaken a mitigation program that includes the augmentation of vegetation in several degraded pools and the construction of a new pool. A monitoring program has been developed so that the success, or otherwise, of the mitigation efforts may be measured over a 5 year period. The monitoring program includes mitigation targets as well as methods for measuring these.
This site contains background material relating to the Parafield Airport vernal pools, the monitoring program, monitoring results and links to other sites that contain information on the pools.
Map of the vernal pools at Parafield Airport
All about the vernal pools at Parafield Airport
Mitigation works at the vernal pools
The monitoring program