Protecting our threatened species
Australia has one of the most biologically diverse landscapes in the world. Many important areas of native vegetation and wildlife habitat are on private land and are under threat from land clearing and degradation. This is endangering the survival of Australia's unique native species.
Australia has one of the world's highest rates of land clearing - UN figures show it to be comparable to the worst Asian, African, and South American deforestation rates.
Bush Heritage reserves are protected forever, and are actively managed for conservation.
Since 1990 Bush Heritage has been raising money from the community to create a network of reserves across Australia. This has been achieved by buying land of high conservation value and then ensuring its long-term protection. Bush Heritage reserves are protecting areas of outstanding conservation significance from the tropical rainforests of the majestic Daintree River area of north Queensland through Australia's arid heart to the diverse woodlands and sandplains of south-west Western Australia.
Boolcoomatta in South Australia was purchased in April 2006 and protects 63,000 ha in a region that has been used for sheep grazing for over 150 years. As a consequence very few of its arid-zone ecosystems have previously been protected in reserves. This reserve secures habitat for a nationally vulnerable small grassland bird, the plains-wanderer, and the threatened purple-wood.
In 2004 and 2006 Bush Heritage purchased Ethabuka and Cravens Peak respectively. These vast properties lie north of the Simpson Desert National Park in far-western Queensland. They represent the largest Bush Heritage land purchases so far, with a combined area of 447,000 hectares. Ethabuka and Cravens Peak protect at least eighteen major plant communities and an amazing array of small mammals, including the threatened mulgara, a small carnivorous marsupial. They have the greatest diversity of reptiles of any desert area in the world. Wetlands of national significance provide foraging areas for international migrant waders and threatened waterfowl.
For more information about our reserves and how we manage them please visit the selection and management page.
Volunteers are a vital part of the Bush Heritage team. They help on reserves with land management work and in the office. Please consider whether you could help as a volunteer.
Bush Heritage is a Company Limited by Guarantee and has tax-deductibility status. The national office is located in Melbourne and staff are also based in Sydney, Hobart, Brisbane, and Perth. Permanent reserve managers live on Carnarvon Station, Ethabuka, Cravens Peak and Reedy Creek reserves in Queensland, at Charles Darwin and Eurardy reserves in Western Australia and at Boolcoomatta Reserve in South Australia. Bush Heritage is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors, the members of which reside throughout Australia.
Funding
Donations from the community are a vital part of the Bush Heritage conservation effort and provide most of the funding for new land acquisitions and land management work. You can donate today and help us buy back the bush and save our unique wildlife and their habitats.
Philanthropic trusts and foundations, and companies also provide valuable support. Bush Heritage has received government assistance for some land acquisitions and management works. More than seven reserves have been purchased with part-funding support from the Australian Government under the Natural Heritage Trust's National Reserve System program.