Regional partnerships

When Yantabulla Station, a property adjoining our Naree Station Reserve in the heart of the Paroo-Warrego wetlands, was purchased for conservation by the South Endeavor Trust, it made sense for us to manage it.

With skilled land managers already on the ground at Naree we've partnered with South Endeavour Trust, to manage the area as one consolidated reserve. This more than doubled our conservation footprint in the area and provided major efficiencies.

These properties sit about 150km north-west of Bourke on the inland floodplains of northern NSW. Mostly dry, during flood events they attract tens of thousands of breeding water birds and are one of the most important water bird sites in Australia.

The woodlands and grassy lowland plains of the Tasmanian Midlands are a national biodiversity hotspot. This ecologically distinct region is drier than the west, south and north of the state.

Less than 10% of the original native grasslands and 30% of all native vegetation remains, much of it degraded.

Most native vegetation in the Tasmanian Midlands is privately owned and many landholders have long historical connections to the land.

Buying properties here for conservation hasn't been practical or appropriate.

Instead, in collaboration with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, we've established a fund that provides stewardship payments to farmers in return for conserving biodiversity. Conservation now has a place on the farm balance sheet!

The South Australian Rangelands Alliance is a partnership with Arid Recovery in the Roxby Downs region, where 60% of mammal species have been lost since European settlement.

Arid Recovery has a 123km² fenced reserve where it's successfully reintroduced threatened mammals – the Burrowing Bettong, Greater Bilby, Greater Stick Nest Rat and Western-barred Bandicoot.

Our nearby Bon Bon and Boolcoomatta reserves make us ideal partners to collaborate on shared conservation goals.

The Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach (UMDR) is a 100km section of the Murrumbidgee River, established to demonstrate various ways to support the recovery of native fish.

The reach runs from Bredbo in NSW to Casuarina Sands in the ACT. It includes a section of our Scottsdale Reserve where various projects, including carp control and willow reduction have been conducted.

Key partners in the project include Bush Heritage Australia, the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the ACT Government, Upper Murrumbidgee Waterwatch, Icon Water, The Australian River Restoration Centre, Local Land Services, University of Canberra and the NSW Government.

The Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association was created alongside the Mount Gibson and Extension Hill iron ore mines, as a local community structure to help offset their environmental impact. Incorporated in 2015, it’s now managed by a committee of 10 members and works in the region bound by the townships of Beacon, Wubin, Morawa and Payne’s Find, about 350km north of Perth.

Over the past 5 years Gunduwa has funded 23 local projects and contributed over $650,000 to support biodiversity and conservation locally. In 2020 its focus is supporting an ecology PhD student to work in the region and collaborating with the Badimaya Traditional Owners to develop a Healthy Country Plan. Gunduwa is the local Badimaya name for echidna.

The first project of its kind in Australia, Gondwana Link's ambitious aim is to restore and reconnect fragmented habitats between the Stirling Ranges and Fitzgerald River National Parks in south-west Western Australia. This would create a 1,000km stretch of linked native vegetation from the karri forests of the south-west to the Great Western Woodlands around Kalgoorlie.

Reconnecting natural habitats across large swathes of country will allow plants and animals to move through the landscape in response to changing conditions (particularly important given predicted effects of climate change).

Our Chereninup Creek, Monjebup and Beringa reserves all contribute to the project.

Gondwana Link also encompasses many private landholders and we're working in partnership with some (see our Chingarup and Yarraweyah Falls partnerships) to help with conservation management on these private properties.