But Wilderness Society members calling on the State Government to protect the threatened species are nothing if not serious about the plight of the Murray River.

The Victorian Environment Assessment Council recently recommended to the State Government measures they believe will safeguard the Murray's future.

They include the creation of new national parks and environmental flows, a reduction of logging, and phasing out of cattle grazing in the Murray region. The society's Victorian community campaigner Jess Abrahams said Premier John Brumby now had six months to decide whether to protect the Murray's red gum wetlands and the more than 300 threatened plants and animals which depend on them, or let both be lost forever.