A decades-long conservation project aimed at restoring vegetation between two globally renowned national parks in Western Australia could be accelerated through the carbon economy, according to a conservation organisation involved.<\/p>\n
Several environmental organisations have purchased cleared farmland and spent years replanting it between the Stirling Range National Park and Fitzgerald River National Park in southern WA.<\/p>\n
Their goal is to build the Fitz-Stirling Corridor in the UNESCO Fitzgerald Biosphere, relinking the national parks with revegetated bushland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A honey possum spotted at Bush Heritage’s Monjebup Reserve, one of its revegetation projects within the Fitz-Stirling corridor.\u00a0 (Supplied: Kieran MacFarlane)<\/p>\n
More than 600 hectares replanted<\/p>\n
The Ediegarrup Nature Reserve near Boxwood Hill, 440 kilometres south-east of Perth, was established as a conservation reserve by Bush Heritage Australia in 2022.<\/p>\n
It covers more than 1,000 hectares, including pockets of untouched bushland and more than 600 hectares of cleared land that have been replanted over the past three years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nowanup Ranger Desmond Eades plants a seedling at Ediegarrup Nature Reserve.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
Bush Heritage’s natural capital partnerships lead, Helen Bryant, said the carbon credits issued to Ediegarrup would fund future work.<\/p>\n
“Traditionally, we would be relying on philanthropic donations from very generous supporters,” she said.<\/p>\n
“This kind of project really helps us scale up our operations, particularly in corridors where we really need that restoration effort to happen.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Helen Bryant says the carbon credits issued for the vegetation work at Ediegarrup will help fund ongoing management of the nature reserve.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
Specialised plantings<\/p>\n
Greening Australia works in landscape restoration and led the replanting at Ediegarrup.<\/p>\n
Program specialist Barry Heydenrych said the species were chosen to emulate the remaining pockets of bushland.<\/p>\n
“We’ve used well over 100 species of plants here \u2026 it’s very difficult to do that because there’s a whole lot of species that have never been collected,” Mr Heydenrych said.<\/p>\n
“We actually got specialised nurseries to use cuttings of the material to grow them out.<\/p>\n
“That included some of the proteaceous species, like specialised banksias and hakeas, and some of the bush tucker species such as the youlk.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Barry Heydenrych and Heather Barnes check plantings at Ediegarrup Nature Reserve. (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
Access to country<\/p>\n
Youlk, a native tuber, is one of several bush tucker species planted at Ediegarrup by the Nowanup Rangers, who were also involved in the restoration work.<\/p>\n
Noongar elder Aunty Elizabeth Woods is chairperson of Nowanup Noongar Boodjar, which runs the ranger program.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youlk, also known as the Ravensthorpe radish, is one of the bush tucker species that have been planted at Ediegarrup Nature Reserve.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
“We have limited places to go back [to] annually in different seasons to collect bush tucker, but [the rangers] know every plant that’s planted here,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We know there’s a place where you’re welcome to go and access that, and pass that knowledge on.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s just so good \u2026 all the disappointment and hardship we went through growing up, this is a place where you can come and heal.”<\/p>\n
Aunty Elizabeth Woods at Ediegarrup Nature Reserve.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
Animals are returning<\/p>\n
At other restoration projects that form part of the Fitz-Stirling Corridor, the impact of the revegetation work is becoming clear.<\/p>\n
Bordering Ediegarrup, at Bush Heritage’s Monjebup Reserve \u2014 where vegetation was replanted a decade ago \u2014 the animals are returning.<\/p>\n
Healthy Landscapes manager southwest Heather Barnes said this included threatened and endangered species such as the quoll, western whipbird and Carnaby’s cockatoo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Carnaby’s black cockatoos have returned to Monjebup Reserve following the revegetation work.\u00a0 (Supplied: Krysta Guillea)<\/p>\n
“We’re starting to really provide this habitat for some of those threatened species to come back, survive, enjoy, reproduce,” Ms Barnes said.<\/p>\n
“In a place of doom and gloom and climate change, we are actually restoring, we are actually putting one foot in front of the other and really trying to make a difference.”<\/p>\n
A pair of malleefowl on a nesting mound at Monjebup Reserve. (Supplied: Ange Sanders)<\/p>\n
Large malleefowl nests have also been found at the reserve.<\/p>\n
The ground-dwelling bird is particularly vulnerable to introduced predators, and its population has suffered from habitat loss.<\/p>\n
“It’s been persisting in pockets, and as corridors form, they can move between those pockets,” Ms Barnes said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A decade after it was replanted, vegetation at Monjebup is well established.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n
The Fitz-Stirling Corridor<\/p>\n
While the corridor project will be in the works for years to come, Ms Barnes said each new conservation reserve was a boost for threatened animals in the area.<\/p>\n
“Building that corridor and creating those macro and micro linkages in the environment builds resilience,” she said.<\/p>\n
“With the changing climate, it allows plants and animals to move between spaces, so if things are drying, they might move to the wetter areas.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Flowering flora at the Monjebup Reserve is supporting the return of native fauna.\u00a0 (ABC News: Samantha Goerling)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A decades-long conservation project aimed at restoring vegetation between two globally renowned national parks in Western Australia could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[138120,138115,138119,138121,138112,192,138116,138114,138113,79,138118,138117],"class_list":{"0":"post-254241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-bush-heritage-australia","9":"tag-carbon-credits","10":"tag-conservation-works","11":"tag-ediegarrup-nature-reserve","12":"tag-edigarrup-nature-reserve","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-environmental-restoration","15":"tag-fitz-stirling-corridor","16":"tag-monjebup-reserve","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-threatened-animals","19":"tag-tree-planting"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}