Edwardes Lake Park

Edwards Lake Park in Reservoir has some really significant community values:

• Open space for public use
• Capturing and filtering storm water for large urban catchment area
• Providing habitat for waterbirds

It features bike/walking paths, BBQ and picnic facilities, several playgrounds, 2 undercover/shelter areas, athletics track and even a sailing clubhouse. It is located adjacent to a sports oval and an industrial complex, it is the largest park in Preston/Reservoir/Thomastown area. As it is a large park, there is balance between revegetation, large mature trees (deciduous, native and pine species), turf and built structures, which appears to be mainly low maintenance. However there is not a great deal of cohesion between the spaces, which could be helped by garden beds drawing lines between the spaces that could still represent values of the park. 

The revegetation and development of a billabong wetland system began in the early 2000's, prior to this there was scattered plantings of Eucalypts and Melaleuca throughout the park. The wetland is ephemeral and is dry most of the summer and in winter acts as an overflow area for the lake. Today most of the lake perimeter has been revegetated with semi-aquatic indigenous species. This is important for water quality, erosion control, bird habitat and trapping debris. Due to weed control works and the selection of aggressive and fast growing species, this area has minimal weeds and can cope with inundation and drying out. Recent plantings of grasses, shrubs and forbes compliment the lake edge vegetation but require more maintenance and replanting.