Science & Nature
Plant Life
Perry Lakes is a mosaic — wetland, woodland, and open parkland. Decades of drying and weed invasion left the vegetation degraded. What’s happening now is restoration.
Photo: Ian Stewart
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A mosaic of habitats
Three vegetation zones
The reserve’s plant life falls into three bands, each grading into the next — from open water out to the cleared parkland that surrounds it.
Wetland
Open water and sedgeland fringing the lakes. Dominated by rushes and sedges — the classic Perry Lakes reed-bed environment.
Key native species
- Jointed Rush · Machaerina articulata
- Soft-stemmed Bullrush · Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani
- Bullrush · Typha orientalis
- Flooded Gum (Moitch) · Eucalyptus rudis
- Freshwater Paperbark · Melaleuca rhaphiophylla
Lake edge
Transitional zone between water and parkland. Mixed woodland of native and introduced species, with active revegetation underway.
Key native species
- Flooded Gum (Moitch) · Eucalyptus rudis
- WA Peppermint (Wonnil) · Agonis flexuosa
- WA Salt Sheoak · Casuarina obesa
- Freshwater Paperbark · Melaleuca rhaphiophylla
Parkland
The surrounding cleared area — scattered native trees standing over predominantly introduced grasses and weeds.
Key native species
- Flooded Gum (Moitch) · Eucalyptus rudis
- Tuart · Eucalyptus gomphocephala
- Marri · Corymbia calophylla
- Jarrah · Eucalyptus marginata
- WA Peppermint (Wonnil) · Agonis flexuosa
The starting point
More introduced than native
Just 28 truly native plant species have been identified across the reserve — against as many as 107 introduced species, many of them aggressive weeds. A 2019 vegetation survey described the condition as “Degraded to Completely Degraded.”
That imbalance is the legacy of decades of drying, clearing and urban pressure on an inner-city wetland — an environmental reality, not the end of the story. It’s the baseline against which everything that follows is measured.
28
native species
107
introduced species
The story
Restoration, year by year
Since 2021, FoPL volunteers and the Town of Cambridge have removed around 50,000 weeds and planted over 90,000 natives. Here’s how that work has unfolded.
2021
Weeding begins
Volunteer weeding begins
FoPL volunteer weeding sessions begin, running monthly. Approximately 50,000 plants removed to date — including around 4,500 Turnip Weeds, 3,000 Spear Thistles, and 4,000 Eastern State Casuarinas
2022
Large-scale planting
Large-scale planting
The Town of Cambridge plants 85,000 wetland plants, prioritising reed-filtration areas at northern West Lake and north-west East Lake. FoPL volunteers plant a further 2,000 dryland plants.
2023
Onwards
Replenishment & revegetation
Water replenishment begins in February 2023. FoPL volunteers and a local Scout Group plant over 4,000 dryland plants. The Town of Cambridge commits to supplying 5,000 plants per year to FoPL until around 2028.
The aim: bring Perry Lakes’ vegetation back to good condition and improve the whole Reserve ecosystem, while preserving the amenity that makes it a place people love.
Interactive StoryMap
See where we’ve planted
An interactive map of FoPL’s revegetation work since 2021 — species by species, zone by zone.
Where it’s heading
What’s growing back
The new plantings are already doing real work. Reed beds at the lake margins filter nutrients from the water; restored edges give water birds a buffer of habitat; and denser ground cover offers predator protection for turtles and quendas moving through the reserve.
It’s slow, patient work — and honest about its limits.
37% estimated survival rate on established plantings — the grounded reality behind the headline numbers.
