THE Ewens Ponds Conservation Park underwent a rejuvenation afternoon last week when divers visited the area to plant water ribbons (cycnogeton procerum) at the site.
Reef 2 Ridge business owner Robert Main organised the day in conjunction with National Parks South Australia as the company is the sole commercial guiding and teaching licensee at the park.
“We are very lucky to be the sole operators at Ewens Ponds, so it’s important to us to give something back,” Mr Main said.
“Each year the area closes for around two months to restabilise and we wanted to help the process.”
The plants were grown over 12 months at Millicent High School and 40 of them were planted at the site.
It took three divers, someone to ferry the plants in a canoe and one photographer to complete the project, but National Parks SA senior ranger Aiden Laslett said it was a much quicker process than before.
“We started this rejuvenation program two years ago, but this is the first time we have had help on hand,” Mr Laslett said.
“It made it a whole lot quicker and easier having the other guys here to help out.
“We’re really grateful for their support on the project as it’s vital to sustaining the park.”
Repotted into hessian bags with limestone in the bottom, the water ribbons were planted into the soft silt of the ponds and will begin to stabilise soon in time for the park’s December 2 reopening.
“The hessian will rot away, which is obviously important for the ecosystem,” Mr Main said.
“You can tell which plants were placed as part of last year’s rejuvenation process, but it’s amazing to see the hessian disappearing and the plants doing it on their own.
“I just want to remind people when they are diving to do their best to leave the plants alone as they are vital to the ecosystem.”
As the Limestone Coast is regarded as one the top five cave diving locations in the world, Mr Main stressed the importance of low impact diving.
“I think it’s in everyone’s best interests to keep the site thriving,” he said.
“In the past year we brought more than 1200 divers to Ewens, which not only benefits us, but also the region.
“Keeping our cave diving sites in pristine condition is vital to tourism in the region.”
