Around your reserves

Red-tailed phascogale. Photo: Jiri Lochman/Lochman Transparencies.

Great expectations

Everyone at Bush Heritage is feeling like anxious aunts and uncles as we await news of red-tailed phascogale newborns at WA's Kojonup Reserve.

You may remember our Winter newsletter coverstory about our first-ever involvement in a translocation program of phascogales onto Kojonup.

A Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) inspection in November revealed that five of the 30 nesting boxes showed signs of phascogale activity.A phascogale was found in one of these boxes with ‘movement under her’, assumed to be young.

DEC is due back at Kojonup any time now for a follow-up survey and its fingers and toes crossed for good news!

Thanks to your support and the commitment of our on-ground team, we have been able to manage the threats associated with this program. 

Carpet of many colours

	Wildflowers at WA's Monjebup North. Photo: Angela Sanders

It is hard to believe it’s a year since we shared the great news about the acquisition of your thirty-second and newest reserve, WA's Monjebup North.

In October, the reserve turned on a spectacular display for visiting Bush Heritage staff and volunteers.

'We were treated to the most amazing carpet of wildflowers,' says Bush Heritage Ecologist Angela Sanders.

'They were growing in areas that had been cleared and now that clearing has been stopped. It’s incredible to see how the land is responding.'

Angela is intrigued by the species that have sprung up here and describes it as a ‘novel ecosystem’ compared to the surrounding growth.

Burning a firebreak at Cravens Peak Reserve. Photo: Nella Lithgow.

All fired up

Thanks to the generous response from supporters like you to our recent fire management appeal, we are well on the way to reaching our $350 000 target.

Across the country, this has helped us to complete and maintain approximately 650 km of fire breaks across our reserves, undertake planned burns across 20 000 ha of our properties, and put 2700 hours of staff time into planning and implementing fire management.

It also meant that when a lightening strike caused a wild fire on our Cravens Peak Reserve in Queensland over the Christmas break, managers Mark and Nella had the skills, plans, safety gear and equipment necessary to manage the fire, and minimise its impact.

An unwelcome visitor at Yourka

	Paul and Leanne Hales, Reserve Managers at Yourka Reserve, with baby Seely.

The Hales family will never forget the 3rd February 2011.

As Reserve Managers at Yourka in north Queensland, Leanne and Paul found themselves and their three children in the path of Cyclone Yasi.

Thankfully, after a sleepless night, the Hales reported they were safe and sound.

It’s too early to know how the reserve fared though, with roads still impassable.

'We’re keen to get back out,' says Paul. 'I’ll have to take my chainsaw on the quad bike and cut my way through the fallen trees blocking the road. We might find out we don’t have a shed anymore – and there will definitely be plenty of fencing and roads work to do.'

Thanks to all our supporters for your messages of support.

Working together

	Dr Adam Kerezsy with a Mulligan River yellowbelly. Photo: Alicia Whittington.

Bush Heritage and the North Australian Pastoral Company (NAPCO) have reached agreement to work together to preserve the ecological treasures of the Mulligan River floodplain in western Queensland.

Last year, Bush Heritage Fish Ecologist, Dr Adam Kerezsy, made several visits to NAPCO’s Glenormiston and Marion Downs properties to monitor aquatic species, including a ‘show and tell’ with NAPCO’s local land managers.

The NAPCO team were excited to share their management expertise and conservation knowledge with the Bush Heritage team.

'There’s a long-term social and cultural outcome to partnerships like this,' says Charlie Sherwin, Bush Heritage Conservation Partnerships Manager.

'It’s about coming together to share our vision,understanding and aspirations for the land that we all love.'

The Murrumbidgee River at Scottsdale Reserve, NSW. Photo: Stuart Cohen.

Place of spirits

The Ngunawal people are the traditional owners of the land where Bush Heritage’s Scottsdale Reserve is located.

Don Bell, a Ngunawal member, is also our Indigenous Partnerships Officer.

'Budjabulya, a creative being, made this land. Its water areas are very significant to us and the platypus – the mulagun – is our clan totem. When you are here you can feel the spirits.'

A recent cultural values assessment on Scottsdale found evidence of the presence of the Ngunawal in many places.

It also pinpointed items of cultural significance, such as ‘scar trees’, which can only be approached by appropriate members of the Ngunawal.

This assessment will help Bush Heritage to protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the Ngunawal. It also enables the sharing of traditional land management practices.