Webinar: Purchasing Dodgey Downs
Find out about an incredible opportunity to connect our neighbouring conservation reserves, Red Moort and Monjebup, and reconnect fragmented landscape in Koreng Noongar Country, Southwest Western Australia.
When we secured Red Moort (originally named Monjebup Creek) our staff had already coveted the site as a potential acquisition for many years.
It stood out as a remnant patch of intact bushland in an otherwise largely cleared or altered landscape.
More than 650 hectares of the reserve is virgin bushland and contains a unique vegetation complex including one of the largest known stands of Red Moort (Eucalyptus vesiculosa) in the world.
Around 30% of the land was cleared in the 1970s, with most regenerating naturally in decades that followed.
The reserve is now part of a mosaic of natural sanctuaries between the Fitzgerald River and Stirling Range National Parks (the Fitz‑Stirling region).
Our conservation work here is an important counterbalance to decades of land clearing and supports the Gondwana Link project, a plan to restore a 1,000km swathe of bushland from Western Australia's southwest to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain.
What Red Moort Reserve protects
Red Moort protects the recently discovered Corackerup Moort, a small mallee eucalypt that shows off stunning pendulous red flowers in early winter. It's also a sanctuary for these significant species and communities:
Animals: Carpet Python, Crested Bellbird, Tammar Wallaby, Black-gloved Wallaby, Malleefowl, Western Pygmy Possum.
Plants: Feather Flowers, Nodding Banksia, Corackerup Moort, Kangaroo Paw, Sandplain Orchid
Vegetation communities: Mallet and moort woodland, Mallee heath, Flat-topped yate, Proteaceous rich heath.
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Pygmy Possum in hand on Monjebup Reserve WA. Photo Nic Duncan.
Michael Tichbon Field Station
In 2019 the opening of the Michael Tichbon Field Station heralded a new era for field research in the region. For more than a decade, staff and volunteers faced long drives and no accommodation when accessing the reserves.
– Angela Sanders, Ecologist“When we just had a couple of days' work to do, it really wasn't worth putting a tent up for one night, so we used to do a lot of day trips. But then three hours of the day was spent traveling and less was done”.
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Michael Tichbon Field Station. Lee Griffith Photography.
The station has transformed the way our staff, researchers, volunteers and partners work by enabling them to stay out in the field longer. We've been able to attract a lot of volunteers and provide opportunities for community engagement and research with this base to work from.
What we're doing
Habitat is ideal for Tammar Wallaby, once thought nearly extinct in the region, with many being captured on infra-red remote sensor cameras on the reserve.
A survey of Malleefowl mounds in 2020 found 15 active mounds – the highest concentration of active mounds in south west WA at the time. We've since been working to enhance their recovery by controlling feral animals and restoring the landscape.
Walk trails are planned with the aim of using the Michael Tichbon Field Station as the start and end points for trails that will extend to other conservation reserves in the area.
Around 15ha was restored in winter 2014 using direct seeding on sandy soils to replace over 60 species of Banksia, Hakea, Melaleuca, Eucalypt and Acacia representative of the area. About 50ha contains a pasture of a native wallaby grass.
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Alex Hams approaches nest box. Photo Nic Duncan.
Cultural values
Survey work at Red Moort Reserve indicates that Aboriginal people used the area for a range of activities, including gathering raw materials, food processing, hunting, gathering, camping, making stone tools and for seasonal movement.
Working with Noongar elders and community, we're continuing to search for Aboriginal artefacts and other clues about how the land was used. This information continues to guide our management of the reserve.
The Michael Tichbon Field Station is also regularly used by Noongar groups for cultural field trips on country.
