Rewilding the Desert: saving threatened species

One objective of the Rewilding the Desert program is to create more habitat for our local native wildlife. At our wonderful Salvana Conservation Reserve we are working hard to restore and rehabilitate approximately 400 ha of this property that was historically cleared or modified for agricultural use.

The aim of these revegetation projects is to improve the conservation value of the reserve and the region, and to provide biodiversity and climate change resilience for threatened species like the South-eastern Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo (RTBC) (Calyptorhynchus banksii graptogyne) and the Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata). The RTBC has a highly specialised diet, feeding exclusively on seeds of Desert and Brown Stringybark’s (Eucalyptus baxteri and E. arenacea), and the Buloke (Allocasuarina leuhmannii). The National Recovery Plan lists a shortage of food as a key threat to the RTBC’s.

In these projects our revegetation works will:

• help link the West and Central blocks of the Little Desert National Park to create a 132,000 ha biodiversity corridor by reconnecting fragmented patches of remnant vegetation, benefiting local biodiversity and threatened species alike,
• plant Desert Stringybarks for the RTBC’s to feed on in the future; and
• help protect the large old Desert Stringybark tree. These large old trees produce prolific amounts of seed and are therefore a critical feeding resource for the birds locally.

At the reserve we have four major revegetation projects currently underway totalling 171 hectares or 422 acres (see map) to help achieve these objectives. This year we:

• Targeted 84 ha (208 acres) across three project areas for revegetation. These sites were prepared for planting by slashing and spraying rows between 4m and 10m apart.
• Direct seeded 67 ha (165 acres) with a mix of native species. This involved towing a specialised machine down the pre-prepared rows that creates a furrow and sows the seed within the furrow.
• Planted 9,408 trees and shrubs across the sites with the help of our participants contributing 556 hours of volunteering

To our amazing supporters and donors, we would again like to say thank you! Without your support we cannot continue this critical project and help conserve Australia’s weird, wonderful and highly threatened native wildlife.

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