What we’re doing on the property
The plant-destroying disease dieback Phytophthora cinnamomi has infected parts of Yarrabee and must be prevented from further contaminating the reserve.
Flowering eucalypts on Yarrabee Reserve. Photo Keith Tuffley.
This deadly disease is particularly harmful to plants in the Proteaceae family (which includes banksias, grevilleas and hakeas), and has been likened to a biological bulldozer, killing dominant tree and understorey plant species.
We're also on guard against pest animals such as rabbits and locusts, which pose a significant threat to new bushland plantings.
Bush Rangers to the rescue
Reserve Manager Simon Smale and Ecologist Angela Sanders with reptile habitat materials. Photo Amanda Keesing.
How do you get a bunch of school kids interested in environmental restoration? Give them a project that lets them build habitat for snakes, frogs, geckos and goannas.
At least that was the plan Bush Heritage ecologist Angela Sanders came up with when confronted with piles of old farming junk at Yarrabee. And guess what? It worked.
Indoctrinating just over a dozen teenagers from Jerramungup District High School into the ways of the local reptile fauna proved all too easy.
A tiny Marbled Gecko uncovered on the Reserve. Photo Amanda Keesing.
After studying what makes good shelter for snakes and lizards, and learning how to treat these animals with caution and respect, the students ventured into Yarrabee with the mission of turning old sheets of disused iron and piles of timber into new reptile habitat.
And what the kids turned up excited even Angela, who was thrilled when they discovered Swimming Skinks, Marbled Geckos, a Rosenberg's Goanna, and five Black-backed Snakes, which are quite rare and a record find for the property.
This work was carried out as part of the Bush Rangers Western Australia program.