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Nestled between our Lawan Reserve and Ngarri (Mt Egbert), which is is part of the Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve managed by Parks Victoria and Djandak.
Extending habitat protection in this area is a significant step for our Victorian operations.
It means we now protect about 2,450 hectares across this heavily fragmented region, providing much needed connectivity and enabling isolated populations of threatened bird, mammal and reptile species to move more freely across the landscape.
These protected areas are in our Kara Kara Wedderburn Focal Landscape – the area between the regional town of Wedderburn and the Kara Kara National Park that we have been connecting up for more than a decade.
This landscape is home to patches of temperate woodland, which are the most threatened wooded ecosystem in Australia, primarily due to land clearing.
Sections of intact grassy woodlands will attract threatened woodland birds such as the Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus victoriae) and Hooded Robin (Melanodryas cucullata), while Yellow Box and Grey Box trees provide shelter and sustenance for myriad other species.
This reserve protects the vegetation communities of Sandstone Ridge Shrubland that is home to Broombush (Melaleuca unicinata) and Blue Leaved Mallee (Eucalyptus polybractea) (endangered in Vic) and Metamorphic Slopes Shrubby Woodland (depleted).
It also contains plant species that have declined in the region like Quandong (Santalum acuminatum), Common Eutaxia (Eutaxia microphylla), Weeping Pittosporum (Pittosporum angustifolium) and Drooping Sheoak (Allocasuarina verticillata) and native grass cover.
Some of the property was historically cleared but the previous landowner, Cassinia Environmental, working with its partners and Greenfleet had begun steps towards ecological restoration including extensive revegetation work with 25,000 seedlings and 400km of direct seeding lines.
The acquisition was made possible through the generous support of Bush Heritage donors Caroline and Terry Bellair, who gifted us $1 million to purchase remnant habitat in the Dalyenong region of our Kara Kara Wedderburn Focal Landscape.
Caroline and Terry’s generosity led to our 2019 acquisition of Bellair Reserve and their ongoing support means native species will now have even more freedom to move across the landscape unimpeded.
