News from the Field, Eurardy Reserve July 2007.

So much has happened since our summer news from the field, it is hard to know where to start!

Like most new reserves, an immediate concern for Eurardy was to bring property infrastructure up to a standard that is safe, functional and amenable. For us, that initial phase of set up is now coming to an end.

Since we arrived in September 2005 we have completely refurbished the guest accommodation including four bedrooms and a camp kitchen, we’ve run 2.5 km of new poly pipe to establish a new water supply (after the iron content in the old supply stripped our pump for the second time!), we have installed  thirteen water tanks, replaced the pool fence and the roof over the outdoor area to bring them up to Australian standards, set up a demountable building with plumbing and power for volunteer and researcher accommodation, relocated the campground, carted and spread around 1200 tones of gravel and, planted 350 trees and constructed diversion banks to reduce erosion and flooding of the homestead and removed over 80 tonnes of scrap for recycling.

Over the summer Paul removed over 170 feral goats from two key locations on the reserve and by autumn we were already seeing encouraging signs of native regeneration. Regrowth in the Bungabandy Creek valley is vibrant green and browse lines are dropping on some of the key palatable species. We were thrilled to finally see our first Malleefowl in late March, a sure indication that the health of its habitat is starting to improve after grazing pressure has been reduced. Regular baiting and spotlighting has also reduced predator numbers and we’ve noticed increased activity amongst the small mammals.

In May we started to consolidate our ecological monitoring program by installing four permanent pitfall sites, with the assistance of the Fennessy family and some conservation students from the Geraldton TAFE. We ran a brief trapping program using pitfalls, cages and Elliot traps with excellent results. Spinifex Hopping Mice and three different species of Dunnart: the Hairy-Footed, Little Long-Tail and Fat-tailed dunnart were all recorded and released. In early June we also assisted the Kalbarri NP Rangers to complete their trapping program, turning up Ash Grey Mice and more dunnarts just beyond our Western boundary.

Fencing has been the theme for the past three months. We installed a total of 11.4 km of stock exclusion fencelines to protect over 400 ha of remnant vegetation and salt-affected drainage systems. The project kicked off in April with some assistance from a team of Conservation Volunteers. We also had the trainees from Kalbarri National Park over to lend a hand for a few days. The next step will be to establish photo monitoring points at each of these sites and we’re looking forward to doing so at the end of this month so that we can start to measure the effects of our management activities.
 
We continue to host a high level of visitation, due to the property’s proximity to the major North West Highway and it’s reputation as a tourist destination. Some of these visitors are Bush Heritage supporters who are always thrilled to have the opportunity to observe or be a part of on-ground reserve management, but most of our guests are discovering Bush Heritage for the very first time so we get enormous enjoyment and satisfaction from raising people’s awareness about Bush Heritage and conservation land management in general. School holidays have kept us hopping with over forty guests through in the fortnight and the wildflower season is almost upon us so we will soon be commencing our Spring tours.

The change of season has also brought varied birdlife back to the reserve. At the moment, there are three pairs of Bustards, a flock of straw neck ibis, a Western Bower Bird, and a Western Gerygone as seasonal additions to our bird list. The Euros are back, the Emus are nesting and the shinglebacks are on the move.

We are excited to see how this season will unfold, after such a dry year in 2006. Recent rains have brought a wash of ‘green pick’ to our heavier, red soils. Imagine thousands of budding everlastings just waiting for that extra drop of rain to help them explode in to life and colour. Oh, and did we mention that in June we had lunch with the dedicated volunteers from the Wildflower Society and some Western Australian Herbarium staff to celebrate the hand over of the second installment of the Eurardy field herbarium? Well that’s a news article all on its own so stay tuned for more of an update on the bushland survey project.

Paul and Leanne Hales
Eurardy Reserve Managers