West Wyalong, New South Wales (Wiradjuri Country)
Woodlands
Protected
Located in the heart of the New South Wales’ Riverina, this four and a half thousand acre landscape is addressing the decline of the suite of birds dependent on intact woodland ecosystems for foraging and nesting. These once common woodland birds, such as the Dusky Woodswallow Artamus cyanopterus cyanopterus, are now found almost exclusively in small, scattered remnants of habitat on private land, within State Forests or Nature Reserves.
Typical of many such farms within the region, the property was historically utilized for cropping and sheep grazing. The restoration of previously cleared land commenced in 2013 with the direct seeding of almost 850ha with local tree and shrub species.
Although Dusky Woodswallow and other threatened species also utilize whatever little habitat remains on private or public land, such remnants are unprotected and subject to further clearing and degradation. Consequently, conservation management strategies designed to halt the decline of woodland birds towards extinction include actions such as conserving remnant habitat on private land (preferably through in-perpetuity covenants), restoring degraded sites, preserving or establishing connectivity across the landscape, and expanding habitat through revegetation activities.
Located in Meningie in South Australia, this 200 hectare landscape is a project delivered in partnership with the Ngarrindjeri people, the Traditional Custodians of the Coorong. It sees native plants supplied by the local nursery at Raukkan, a self-governed Aboriginal community 30 km northwest of the site and many Raukkan community members employed for onsite work and delivering activities such as vegetation monitoring and mapping and fencing with a focus on ensuring these communities can continue to preserve and protect this culturally important pocket of land.
Home to mountainous vistas, tall trees, and fern-rich gullies, lies Crowes Lookout, only 170 kilometres south-west of Melbourne near the scenic town of Lavers Hill in the Otway Ranges. Crowes Lookout is characterised by towering trees of Mountain Grey-gum (Eucalyptus cypellocarpa), Southern Blue-gum (Eucalyptus globulus), and Messmate Stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua), reaching over 60 metres tall and providing an arboreal ecosystem of micro-bats, gliders, and birds.