Slacks Creek Catchment Recovery Project
Slacks Creek Catchment Recovery Project is a long-term project to rejuvenate the Slacks Creek Catchment area and is a response to community concerns raised at the Logan Waterways Summit of 2011. It is also a part of Council’s broader Logan Rivers and Wetlands Recovery Program.
Following a year of investigation, Council has released a report that suggests a combined program of activities to cleanse Slack Creek, beautify the waterway corridor and transform it into a place people want to visit. The Slacks Creek Catchment Futures: Vision and Initiatives Report presents a long-term vision to drive positive social and environmental change within the catchment.
Slacks Creek flows through the heart of Logan City. It’s not the Logan River’s biggest tributary but it links some of the city’s busiest suburbs to the river. It’s the creek you see when you visit IKEA or drive over Compton Road. Slacks Creek has lost much of its naturalness over time as homes, shops and factories have sprung up on surrounding lands and development has reshaped the little streams that feed its waters. Today Slacks Creek struggles with pollution and erosion as more and more unfiltered stormwater gushes in from urban areas after rain. Yet the catchment still supports large wildlife habitat areas and pockets of healthy bushland.
We need to rediscover the joy of our creek, to nurture it back to health and let it lead us back to nature. Become involved in Slacks Creek Catchment Recovery Project today.
Slacks Creek Catchment Futures Study
Imagine cycling along Slacks Creek from Shailer Park to Logan Central, spotting platypus in deep billabongs, enjoying an outdoor lunch overlooking wetlands or throwing the ball around in a shady, creek-side park. Council has a big vision for the Slacks Creek Catchment.
Slacks Creek Futures is about reclaiming lost spaces, the quiet pool where you once swam, the bushland home of your first cubby house or the place you would like to take your mates to fish.
View the final report and appendices below:
- Slacks Creek Catchment Futures Study-Vision and Initiative Report (PDF 14898 KB)
- Appendices (PDF 8343 KB)
Thank you to all those that contributed to the vision through the online survey, forum and registering your interest.
Background to the project
Slacks Creek Catchment Recovery Project is Council’s first project within the broader Logan Rivers and Wetlands Recovery Program which had its origins in the Logan Waterways Summit of 2011.
The citywide summit uncovered ways to boost the health of Logan City’s waterways and reconnect people back to their local creek. It combined ideas from Council, industry, business, research institutions, government agencies and residents.
The summit revealed how greatly the community values Logan’s waterways and their concerns that growth may degrade them further (Springwood, Logan Central and Meadowbrook are all expected to continue growing over the next 20 years). This confirmed the findings of social research undertaken through the 2010 Queensland Growth Summit that showed people want local waterways within growing regions to be carefully managed.
The Logan Rivers and Wetlands Recovery Program builds on the energy unleashed through the summit. It provides a broad framework for future action and sets strategic directions to guide waterway projects.
Participants at the summit agreed that Logan City’s waterways need a long-term approach to their rejuvenation based on partnerships and collaboration between all stakeholders.
The Slacks Creek Catchment Futures: Vision and Initiatives Report recommends the following vision and three simple objectives:
“Slacks Creek will be a vibrant, green corridor bringing people and nature together; inspiring healthy living and creativity.”
Catchment overview
Slacks Creek passes through some of the city’s oldest suburbs. Factories, shops and homes mostly line the upper reaches of the creek through Springwood, Slacks Creek and Logan Central while sporting fields, parks and bushland strips buffer much of the creek as it passes through Daisy Hill, Meadowbrook and Shailer Park to join the Logan River. The Pacific Motorway splits the catchment in two.
Slacks Creek once attracted people from miles around to swim, fish and canoe in its crystal waters. But as the grasslands and forests that once blanketed the catchment gave way to homes, roads and shopping centres, the creek was straightened, piped, placed in concrete channel or modified in other ways. Waterway health declined. Tests show water quality currently sits well below optimum levels which is also impacting on the health of the Logan River and Moreton Bay.
Pollution modelling shows our real challenge is recovering Slacks Creek from the impacts of existing development, not the threat posed by future development. We also need to restore the environmental corridor used by wildlife to move between the rich habitats offered by Daisy Hill Conservation Park and Karawatha Forest that has degraded over time.
Walking and cycling paths today follow the creek through most suburbs but in places it’s hard to see its waters through the overgrown weeds, industrial sheds and back fences that line the banks.
We can’t restore Slacks Creek to its former natural state but we can embrace it as a real city asset. We can revegetate creek banks, restore environmental corridors, re-establish natural systems and create new spaces to share. Places where kids previously played can feel safe once again.
Activities to date
Over the past year, Council has investigated Slacks Creek with help from technical specialists such as freshwater ecologists to better understand its health, reveal pollution hotspots and explore different ways to revitalise the catchment.
Local residents shared their cherished memories of the creek with Council as part of this process. Many have watched the creek slowly degrade and want to see it become a safe place for adventure, play and healthy living again.
The Slacks Creek Catchment Futures: Vision and Initiatives Report presents the outcomes of Council’s investigations, along with a long-term vision for the catchment inspired by the community’s hopes for the future.
The report suggests a combined program of activities to Activate, Beautify and Cleanse Slacks Creek and its tributaries. This A.B.C. approach recognises there are many reasons why we love our creeks—and clean water is just one. It’s an approach that has already been adopted in other countries such as Singapore to heal their waterways, spark community partnerships, create new public spaces and ignite economic growth.
All activities are designed to help achieve Logan City’s long-term community vision of "a city of opportunities for families, lifestyle and business."