Resilient links
Bush Heritage’s most recent reserve acquisitions share two key features: unusual names – Dodgey Downs and Nil Desperandum – and crucial links to existing reserves.
We secured Dodgey Downs as an important piece of the puzzle to connect Monjebup and Red Moort Reserves.
In the past the property was largely cleared for agriculture with only around 90 ha of remnant bush remaining. As the landscape is restored it will create a corridor of nearly 4,000 hectares of connected bushland in this globally significant biodiversity hotspot.
Together these reserves protect a significant patch of bushland that is critical to restoring the fragmented landscape between WA's Stirling Ranges and Fitzgerald River National Parks.
Our conservation work here is an important counterbalance to decades of land-clearing across the wheatbelt in the 20th century. It will also help support the Gondwana Link project, a plan to restore a 1000 km swathe of bushland from Western Australia's southwest to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain.
What Dodgey Downs will protect
Vegetation communities: Mallet and moort woodland, Mallee heath, Flat-topped yate, Proteaceous rich heath.
Results from initial flora and fauna surveys are yet to come in, but we expect the reserve to provide good habitat for species on our adjacent reserves to expand their range. These include threatened species such as Noolbenger (Honey Possum), Gnow (Malleefowl) and Ngoolark (Carnaby’s Cockatoo).
Image Information
Reserve Manager Heather Barnes inspecting foliage. Photo Grassland Films.
What we're doing
Dodgey Downs is mostly cleared agricultural land with patches of remnant bushland. Over the coming years we'll revegetate over 600ha of cleared land with a diverse mix of native species found on our neighbouring reserves. Revegetating Dodgey Downs will connect all these reserves together to form a continuous piece of bushland to allow movement of fauna across the landscape.
Ecological Scorecard
Learn more about our Conservation Management Process and how we measure our impact.
2 MB Cultural values
We seek to work in partnership with the Goreng-Noongar people to protect this valuable and culturally diverse Country for future generations. We hope to walk side by side with the Traditional Custodians in caring for Country, including developing access and cultural site management protocols.
