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Endangered woodland birds such as the swift parrot, the malleefowl and the bush stone-curlew are expected to benefit from a project to improve habitat in the Wedderburn area.
Conservation covenants – permanent, legally binding agreements that protect native vegetation – will be established on about 300 hectares of box-ironbark forest around Wedderburn and Kara Kara.
The project, funded by a $300,000 grant from a state government biodiversity initiative, will also include pest plant and animal eradication, and three community field days to give landholders the skills to manage their properties in a way that will enhance bird habitat.
The endeavour is a collaboration between Bush Heritage Australia, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, Parks Victoria, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Trust for Nature and the North Central Catchment Management Authority.
Bush Heritage Australia has about 1200 hectares of land around Wedderburn, known as the Nardoo Hills Reserves.
Healthy landscapes manager Glen Norris said the project progressed the organisation’s goal of acquiring high conservation value land and establishing private reserves, while also healing country with the input of the Dja Dja Wurrung corporation.
“Even though it is heavily fragmented, the box-ironbark west landscape is a haven for declining numbers of woodland birds so it is essential we conserve the landscape so we can protect these species,” Mr Norris said.
Dja Dja Wurrung corporation chief executive officer Rodney Carter said not only did the project incorporate Dja Dja Wurrung principles of caring for country, but the corporation had been engaged commercially to implement the plan on the ground.
DELWP biodiversity program manager Jill Fleming said the project would strengthen connections in the landscape between Koorooya State Park, Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve and Mount Korong Nature Conservation Reserve.
Ms Fleming said threatened plant species, including several rare orchids, would also benefit from the project.
Restoring region’s natural landscape
Conservation organisation Bush Heritage Australia owns more than 1200 hectares of land in central Victoria.
The land, known as the Nardoo Hills Reserves, lies near Wedderburn and adjoins the Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve.
Part of Bush Heritage Australia’s work is re-establishing native flora on these reserves, which, in turn, will improve the prospects of native wildlife.
And through holding these private reserves, the non-government organisation hopes to create better connectivity in the landscape, linking up patches of remnant bushland for the benefit of animals and the ecosystem as a whole.
Bush Heritage Australia has identified the Wedderburn area as a priority because within it is some of the most intact tracts of inland slope grassy woodland.
Some 82 per cent of this type of woodland has been cleared throughout Australia, and much of the remaining 18 per cent has been degraded.