‘It’s
mind boggling for a biologist to be here. This is one of the most
extra-ordinary places in the world’.
Michael Soule, Wild Country
Science Council,
after a trip to the region in May 2004.
ABOUT THE FITZ-STIRLING AREA
Clearing of
the land between the Stirling Range and Fitzgerald River National Parks
(Fitz-Stirling area) only started after the Second World War. Some has even been cleared in
the past decade, though tighter Government regulations are now in place. Fortunately, the
clearing has not been as extensive and all consuming as in other parts
of WA. Large areas of bush have been left, some in the Corackerup and
Peniup Nature Reserves, and some on land originally allocated to
farmers.

Situated between
national parks that are world recognised for their mega-diversity, we
can expect this area to be similarly rich. While only limited
biological survey work has been undertaken so far, we now know that a
number of rare and endangered plants are restricted to this area, along
with rare fauna that also occur in the nearby national
parks, such as the Western Whipbird, the dibbler and the tammar wallaby. Also, the area is rich in species such as the black-gloved
wallaby and the malleefowl, which are often observed
in thickets and moving across roads.
Because it has been so recently cleared, this part of Gondwana Link
will be easier to restore than other areas provided we move fast. Some
of the farmed areas are so recently cleared they still retain the
ability to regrow if tractors and stock are removed. Damaging
environmental weeds which choke regenerating bush, such as South
African lovegrass, are still localised and can be controlled. And, most
importantly, the large areas of remaining bush have only been
separated from each other relatively recently, so should contain the
full complement of species they had before clearing commenced.
Many areas that have been cleared are proving unprofitable, or too
fragile to farm, so we hope it will be possible to secure and restore a
link between the two national parks without causing significant
disruption of the farming community. In fact, some of the new
industries we are investing in are aimed at strengthening both the local
community
and the local economy.
ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE
Property purchase
To date the Gondwana Link groups Bush Heritage Australia
and Greening Australia have purchased 6 properties totalling over 7,000 ha. These properties have outstanding conservation values and are
often situated adjacent to reserves and national parks thus strengthen
existing bush linkages. These properties have large patches of bush and
cleared areas are being revegetated. These revegetation-restoration programs are some
of the largest ever undertaken in Australia and have employed purpose
built or modified machinery and innovative techniques to match the scale
of the work.

Chereninup
Creek Reserve, purchased by Bush Heritage
Australia
in 2002, was the first Gondwana Link property acquisition. Chereninup is an 877 ha property of
exceptional conservation value originally marked for clearing. It is the most diverse of
all the Bush Heritage reserves. Chereninup included 60 ha of land
cleared for cropping in the late 1980s. This was replanted during 2003,
through a joint project with Greening Australia, in what is thought to
be the
largest single
biodiversity revegetation project seen in Australia to that date. A
total of 50,000 seedlings and 50kg of seed from over 50
species of
naturally occurring native plants were used. Volunteers planted 10,000
of the seedlings on National Tree Day in July 2003. Click
here
for more information on Chereninup Creek Reserve.
Nowanup. The property known as Nowanup was purchased
by Greening Australia
in 2006.
Nowanup totals 754 ha including 400 ha of particularly diverse and biologically
rich bushland and 354 ha of cleared land previously used for grazing sheep and
cropping. The bushland is now protected
by a conservation
covenant. The cleared land is being restored in a number of ways. Most
will be revegetated for biodiverse bush while the balance will be used
to trial endemic plants for commercial use - sandalwood, melaleuca broombush
(for brush fencing) and bush poles.

Monjebup
Creek Reserve. Bush Heritage
Australia purchased an additional reserve
(Monjebup
Creek Reserve)
in the region in 2007. Monjebup is over 1100 hectares and forms
nearly 10kms of linked vegetation, including breakaway country, creeks in
deep valleys, a number of rare species, and wide variety of soil and
vegetation communities. This reserve lies between two existing nature
reserves and plays a very important role in creating an ecological linkage
between the Stirling Range and Fitzgerald River National Parks.

Yarrabee
Wesfarmers Reserve was jointly purchased by Greening Australia and
Bush Heritage Australia early in 2006.
Yarrabee is a 923 ha property
that adjoins the Stirling Range National Park and was purchased as our
best option for making an ecological connection to the Park. The property
has 323 ha of bushland which ranges from tall marri/jarrah woodland to low
mallee heath. It contains the largest area of proteaceous rich vegetation
remaining in the
Stirling
to Fitzgerald link. During the winters of 2006 and 2007 the 600 ha of cleared land
was planted and direct seeded with around 120 species of naturally occurring
native plants. This restoration work was funded through the Natural
Heritage Trust with the support of the South Coast
Natural Resource Management Group.

Peniup Creek Reserve. The most recent property purchase is in the more western
part of the Stirlings to Fitzgerald section of Gondwana Link. In April
2007 Greening Australia purchased a 2406 ha farm not far from Jerramungup.
The property is around one third bush which varies from moort thickets,
stands of sheoak, yate woodland to mallee heath. Two creeks converge on
the property and there are pools all year round. Regeneration of cleared
land will substantially increase the areas of upland yate woodland and
significantly reduce pressure on the creek system.
Monjebup North Reserve was purchased by Bush Heritage Australia in
2010. This property is ideally placed linking the existing Monjebup
Reserve to the large nature reserve, Corackerup Reserve, to the north.
Monjebup North is a 1,100 ha property which is largely bushland with 400
ha of agricultural land which Bush Heritage plans to revegetate
over a three year period. Seed picking and planning have already begun for
the restoration program.
Private conservation buyers have purchased
other properties which are managed for conservation.
For example Gondwana Link supporters Eddy and Donna Wajon have
purchased a large bushland block on the Corackerup Creek now known as Chingarrup Sanctuary. Much of
this property had been cleared in the past, but is now regenerating
rapidly. Eddy and Donna have worked with the Reconnections project to
replant native species on 48 ha of Chingarrup. Eddy, Donna and their friends
also control weeds, had nesting hollows erected for white-tailed black
cockatoos and have Gondwana Link monitoring sites on their property.
Conservation planning
A conservation plan has been developed for the Fitz-Stirling region. Key people
with
knowledge of the area's fauna, flora, hydrology, geology and general
ecology have
documented what they perceive to be the steps required to protect,
enhance and restore the Fitz-Stirling natural ecosystems. This plan was then
circulated
for wider input and discussion. The Fitz-Stirling Functional Landscape
Plan guides work undertaken in the area by Gondwana Link groups and any other
group or individual who wishes to be involved. The plan will be
regularly updated as new
knowledge becomes available. For more information on the plan see the
Fitz-Stirling Functional Landscape Plan overview (1.3 Mb).
The Fitz-Stirling Functional Landscape Plan
has 6 conservation targets on which we focus our protection and
restoration efforts. They are listed below - follow the links to pdfs (280kb)
for details.
Restoration work
Restoring natural ecosystems after they have been damaged and
fragmented is challenging. Our aim is to provide nature with the
best headstart possible to repair itself. We undertake revegetation using
a suite of native species endemic to a property, preferably local
provenance, and create a mosaic of ecosystems that mimic those originally
present (the original vegetation is determined by looking at remnant
vegetation and also soil types, landscape position and other factors). Species
mixes incorporate the main structural species (the dominant tall
vegetation) as well as species from the different strata in the bush - ie
the grasses and sedges from the lowest levels, then the bushes then lower
trees that grow below the main structural species.
Revegetation of former agricultural land has been undertaken on three of
the Gondwana Link properties, 60 ha at Chereninup, 600 ha at Yarrabee and
450 ha at Peniup Creek. The 2008 planting season saw Justin Jonson,
Greening Australia's Restoration Manager, undertake a 250 ha
restoration program on Peniup. For information on this program see
Justin's article in Applied Environmental Decision Analysis
'Decision Point' newsletter. Specific detail on the vegetation
communities re-established on Peniup can be found in the
Peniup Restoration Plan 2008. Large scale revegetation has also been undertaken
on a range of privately owned properties. Some of this revegetation work
has been undertaken through the Reconnections project.

Reconnections
is a partnership between Greening Australia WA and Shell Development
Australia which undertakes large-scale revegetation. Plantings
undertaken by the Reconnections project have a range of outcomes,
including both pure biodiversity and mixed biodiversity plantings
with potentially commercial native species which will have a
range of benefits including nature conservation and carbon storage. Since 2003 the Reconnections project
has planted 680 ha for diversity and 91 ha for ecologically supportive
commercial production.
Managing existing bushland
South Coast Natural Resource Management (SCNRM) Southern Incentives programs
as well as Reconnections have helped a
number of
farmers fence and revegetate areas, particularly waterways and
wetlands. SCNRM have also assisted landholders to put protective
covenants over their bushland.
Living with the Land - Guidelines for the Fitz-Stirling, compiled by
Angela Sanders as part of the Lotterywest funded Knowledge Connection
project, are guidelines that assist land managers to plan and implement
actions that will contribute to the restoration and improved health of the
Fitz-Stirling landscape. These are practical suggestions that all
landholders can implement to manage their properties in an ecologically
supportive manner.

Commercial opportunities based on native plants
Work is also underway to develop investment opportunities involving
native
plant based industries. Much of the initial work has focussed on
sandalwood. Two sandalwood plantations have been established, 50 ha on Yarrabee
and 200 ha on Peniup. These plantations have been established through a
partnership between Greening Australia and
Spicatum
Resources Australia (SRA). The Reconnections project has also established
sandalwood plantings on Nowanup and private properties. Through Reconnections there is also a trial plantation of mallets for pole
production and broombush for brush fencing.
Working with the Noongar people
Noongar Elders, respected leaders of the Indigenous group from this
area, have been involved in discussions on planning the restoration and
other uses of Gondwana Link properties. It is wonderful to be working
together to 'heal the country'.
SCNRM, in partnership with the South West Catchment Council, hosts the
Restoring Connections project. This
project aims to strengthen participation by
Noongar people across a range of NRM activities and to facilitate people
of diverse backgrounds being part of country that, through an increased
understanding of the relationship between culture and environment,
accelerates and improves the work of NRM and restoration.
The project grew out of ongoing
discussion between the regions, Noongar representatives and Gondwana
Link partners.
Through Restoring Connections and work with the University of Western
Australia cultural mapping has been undertaken on several of the Gondwana
Link properties and other areas in the Fitz-Stirling region and Gondwana
Link. These surveys
identify Noongar artefacts and significant cultural locations. This
cultural mapping has been undertaken by Noongar people together with
archaeologists and anthropologists and has been an excellent opportunity
for the knowledge of the Elders to be passed to younger Noongar
generations.
Gondwana Link's Caring for Country project, under the leadership of
Greening Australia's Eugene Eades, also facilitates Noongar involvement in
the Fitz-Stirling. All the Elders of the region have supported the
building of the Meeting Place on Nowanup - a place for story telling,
exchanging knowledge and celebration. The Meeting Place has been visited
by Noongar dancers and gatherings, national and international Gondwana
Link supporters, school groups and neighbours.
Eugene Eades (Greening Australia) and Natasha Moore (SCNRM) have been
running education programs for school children at Nowanup. These programs
have a biodiversity and cultural focus. School children return home at the
end of a busy day of activities including learning Noongar dances and
songs, handling Noongar tools and artefacts, hearing stories of
traditional life, making damper, fauna trapping and learning about the
plants and animals of the area.
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