As well as buying land for conservation we also work in partnership with private landholders and other conservation groups to expand our reach and make a positive difference on a landscape scale. Below are examples of our regional partnerships.
Gondwana Link
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. It will 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, Yarrabee Wesfarmers 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.
More on Gondwana Link.
Kosciuszko to Coast
Scarlet Robin male (by David Cook Wildlife Photography).
The Kosciuszko to Coast (K2C) project, like Gondwana Link, aims to rebuild connectivity in a fragmented landscape, this time in the isolated woodlands and grasslands between Kosciuszko and Namadgi National Parks and the coastal forests of southern NSW.
The project began in 2004 and involves a number of community groups, government agencies and conservation organisations. Local landholders are also encouraged to engage and benefit from the collective resources on offer.
We have two significant properties in the area – our Scottsdale and Burrin Burrin reserves. In total over 40 conservation properties in the region are involved in the project.
As well as reconnecting fragmented habitats the project aims to improve the health of the landscape. Annual bird surveys (birds being a key indicator of woodlands health) run by the Canberra Ornithologists Group are among activities measuring long-term benefits.
More on K2C.
Tasmanian Midlandscapes
Video: The Midlands Conservation Fund.
The woodlands and grassy lowland plains of the Tasmanian Midlands are a national biodiversity hotspot.
This ecologically distinct region is surrounded by mountains and drier than the west, south and north of the state. It's also not strongly represented in conservation areas. Less than 10% of the original native grasslands and 30% of all native vegetation remains, much of it degraded in some way.
Most native vegetation in the Tasmanian Midlands is privately owned and many landholders have long historical connections to the landscape. Buying land here for conservation hasn't been practical or appropriate.
Instead, in collaboration with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy, in 2013 we established a fund that provides stewardship payments to farmers in return for conserving biodiversity. Conservation now has a place on the farm balance sheet!
More on work in the Tassie Midlands.
Arid Recovery
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 123-square-kilometre fenced conservation reserve where it's successfully reintroduced four 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. More on our work with Arid Recovery.
Upper Murrumbidgee Demonstration Reach (UMDR)
Video: Introducing the UMDR.
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 project is led by the Kosciuszko 2 Coast partnership, with more funding from the Murray Darling Basin Authority and Bush Heritage Australia.
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. See more about the UMDR carp control project on Scottsdale.
South Endeavour Trust
Click the map to zoom it larger
In 2015 Yantabulla Station, a property adjoining our Naree Station Reserve in the heart of the Paroo-Warrego wetlands (the last remaining free-flowing river catchment in the Murray-Darling Basin), was purchased for conservation by the South Endeavor Trust.
With skilled land managers already on the ground at Naree, it made sense for us to manage Yantabulla in partnership with South Endeavour Trust, as one consolidated reserve with Naree. 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.
More about our management of Yantabulla Station.
Gunduwa
The Gunduwa Regional Conservation Association is an ambitious partnership in Western Australia, which brings together local government, pastoral and agricultural businesses, Aboriginal landholders, State government and the minerals sector to collaborate on environmental solutions.
Our Executive Manager West, Luke Bayley, has taken a leadership role in the group. “There’s no doubt that collaboration is the best way to monitor and control regional threats such as invasive weeds, feral animals, bushfires and drought,” says Luke.
The association has already funded several applied research projects, helped promote the Central Malleefowl Preservation Group and run a leadership program for local young people in remote WA. Gunduwa is the local Badimaya name for echidna. More on the Gunduwa Young Leaders' Program.
Balkanu
An Umpila welcome-to-country ceremony.
The Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation is an independent body owned and directed by traditional owner communities in Cape York. It's an umbrella group that helps the Cape's various Aboriginal communities achieve economic development and self determination, including through conservation work.
We've worked in partnership with Balkanu since 2006 to help develop and implement the Cape York Caring for Country Strategy. We've funded Balkanu staff to consult with traditional owner clan groups and plan for implementing the strategy.
Between 2010 and 2012 we worked with Balkanu to support conservation assessments, planning and capacity building work with traditional owners in the Coen sub-region. The participating clans – the Kaandju, Umpila, Lama Lama and Ayapathu – own vast estates through Land Trusts that they manage as the KULLA National Park (KULLA is an acronym for the clan names) in cooperation with the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service.
In 2014 we developed and signed a 5-year partnership agreement to continue working with Balkanu.