Posted on November 9, 2026
A $3.2 million privately funded restoration project is transforming more than 17 hectares of damaged coastal land at Cannons Creek back into saltmarsh and native grassland.
Landholder Michael Valenti has spent years removing imported fill and restoring native vegetation on his 76-hectare family property near the internationally significant Western Port Ramsar Site.
More than 170,000 native plants have been propagated for the project, which aims to rebuild saltmarsh, grassland and estuarine habitat damaged by decades of farming practices and land filling.
The restoration began after ecological investigations found about 13,208 cubic metres of fill across the property, including clay, brick, glass and building rubble, with some deposits reaching 1.1 metres deep.
From farmland to restoration
Michael’s parents bought the farm in 1987 and used it largely for cattle farming.
During the 1990s, his father excavated drainage and altered parts of the low-lying land in an effort to make it more practical for agriculture.
Michael said his father had not understood the environmental consequences.
“He didn’t know that this was the wrong intention,” he said.
“He tried to just use the land as practical as he can.
“Imported fill was accepted onto the site over a long period to raise low-lying areas so they could be farmed. This was common practice in the past and done out of a lack of understanding of the environmental values and covered large areas of saltmarsh habitat.”
As knowledge of the land’s ecological significance grew, however, Michael decided the damage needed to be addressed.
The process began around 2019 and involved City of Casey, ecological consultants Biosis, Australian Ecosystems and Regen Nurseries.
Michael said the beginning was daunting.
“We didn’t have all the information; what had happened, who do we get information from. It got very legal,” he said.
“But I knew when I met council enforcement that I wanted to fix this.”
The City of Casey’s original enforcement process ultimately resulted in a formal Section 173 Agreement requiring remediation and revegetation in accordance with the Biosis Land Remediation and Revegetation Management Plans.
A delicate job with heavy machinery
Fill had to be painstakingly removed until machinery reached the original swamp surface underneath.
Biosis mapped the historic vegetation communities, while locally sourced seeds and cuttings were collected and propagated.
More than 170,000 plants were originally planned for the revegetation program, including species such as Beaded Glasswort, Austral Seablite, Rounded Noon-flower, Prickly Spear-grass and Australian Salt-grass.
Australian Ecosystems director Brendan Condon OAM said the work required extraordinary precision.
“It’s like being very delicate with a 20-ton excavator,” he said.
The boggy conditions made earthworks particularly difficult.
Excavators became stuck, wet winters slowed progress and the costs kept climbing. Brendan said what was expected to be challenging became an enormous undertaking.
“The earthworks project was bigger than they thought, and they got bogged down in the middle of winter,” he said.
“They had a lot of hardship during this project, but he (Michael) just was committed and tenacious to see the project through.”
Michael said there were moments when rain, tides, nursery schedules and planting crews all had to align, with hundreds of thousands of plants needing to get into the ground quickly enough to prevent exposed soil from eroding or becoming overrun with weeds.
“We didn’t want to leave this exposed to weeds or erosion and sediment to go into Western Port Bay,” he said.
“We just had to compete with the rain that we had, the tide coming in, the plants being ready to plant … and having the team out to deploy.”
Nature starts to return
Now, the results are increasingly visible.
Brendan said planted areas were already producing their own seed, with new plants germinating naturally and gradually filling the gaps.
Over the next seven to 10 years, careful weed control, monitoring and infill planting will continue until the restored vegetation develops into a resilient, interconnected saltmarsh ecosystem.
Saltmarshes can appear modest from a distance, but Brendan describes them as “biological infrastructure”.
They provide habitat for migratory birds, fish and invertebrates, filter sediment and nutrients from water, protect coastlines from flooding and erosion, and store carbon in waterlogged soils.
Australian saltmarshes are estimated to hold more than 200 million tonnes of organic carbon.
According to Brendan, a 17-hectare saltmarsh restoration project like Cannons Creek could draw down 2,500 to 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 100 years.
“The way this site is rebounding with the return of nature and biodiversity gives me hope for the future and shows what can be achieved when we put nature at the heart of how we manage our landscapes,” Brendan said.
Among the species that can depend on saltmarsh is the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot, which migrates between Tasmania and mainland Australia.
Michael has already noticed more birdlife on the property, including Cape Barren geese and ducks.
“This is actually a food haven now,” he said.
The project has also changed Michael’s own relationship with the environment.
A property developer by profession, he laughed at the contrast between his usual work and what he has created at Cannons Creek.
“I build kindergartens, townhouses, subdivisions, and I’ve always helped the humans,” he said.
“And this time, I’ve helped nature and animals more so to find their home and their habitat.”
A legacy for the next generation
Michael now intends to donate the restored section of the property to the City of Casey for conservation, with hopes it could eventually be used for carefully managed public access and environmental education.
He wants younger generations, in particular, to understand why wetlands once regarded as unusable land are worth protecting.
“I’m hoping in 100, 200, 300 years, this is just going to be something of a great accomplishment,” he said.
For Brendan, the project offers a lesson well beyond one property.
Much of Victoria’s remaining environmentally significant vegetation exists on private land, he said, making cooperation with landholders critical.
“This is one of the largest privately funded conservation efforts in Victoria,” Brendan said.
“I have a lot of admiration for Micheal. He inherited this problem and the restoration placed him under enormous financial pressure.
“Halfway through the project he was also diagnosed with cancer and underwent intensive chemotherapy, thankfully now in remission.
“He is a case study in resilience and commitment.”
