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Reconstructing better habitats
Effective habitat supports wildlife, providing all the resources an animal needs, such as food and shelter. Self-sustaining habitat is where the plants and animals are able to reproduce adequately to maintain their abundance through time. Resilient habitats are those that can cope with and recover from short-term perturbations like droughts and fire, as well as the long-term impacts of climate change.
These goals will ensure our native plantings will provide habitat that can best support our declining wildlife in perpetuity.
When and where do we plant?
The flagship of our habitat reconstruction efforts are our planting festivals. We run these annually, in June, and our work is currently focused on restoring the 550 hectare property at Frahns Farm, Monarto in the eastern Mount Lofty Ranges. We have previously held planting festivals on Cygnet Park Sanctuary, Kangaroo Island.
How are plantings maintained?
Rarely are revegetated areas managed and monitored to look at factors like plant survival and vigour, grazing impacts, weed control and wildlife outcomes.
Revegetation takes decades of care and management, and these steps are crucial if we are to ensure plantings provide all the resources needed for animals to call them home in the long term.
In drier regions, such as at Frahns Farm, Monarto, watering seedlings is vital in the first year after planting to maintain high survival, and our team makes the effort to water over the summer months to give all our plants the best chance to grow deep roots and thrive over coming decades.
How can you get involved?
Donors and volunteers are crucial to support our annual planting festivals. If you are interested in helping, please consider making a regular donation to support our work and subscribing to our newsletter for updates about volunteer opportunities at planting festivals and watering days.
How your donation will help our wildlife
$15 monitors and maintains a nestbox for a year, providing a home in revegetation for owlet-nightjars, pygmy possums and parrots.
$30 surveys over 5 hectares (2.5 x Adelaide Ovals) to monitor bird populations and see how well they are recovering with our revegetation efforts.
$50 grows 50 seedlings in our Bio·R Nursery for upcoming planting festivals.
$75 covers bird banding equipment to track and monitor declining species like Diamond Firetails so we can build better habitat for them.
$100 raises 50 sheoak seedlings to grow a lasting food source for the endangered KI Glossy Black-Cockatoos affected in the 2019–20 bushfires.
$200 waters 2000 recently planted seedlings so they can survive the hot summer and flourish into a diverse habitat for our declining wildlife.
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News & events
Nursery Update: Dealing with Rats, Sparrows and Caterpillars
The trials of a nursery manager are not just about how to germinate and grow plants. Last growing season rats began eating seeds, particularly those of acacias and other peas, and plants of many species once the seeds had germinated.
ABC News: High flows from River Murray causes new problems for the Coorong
Scientists say the River Murray flood has been “disastrous” for the region’s bird species, prompting urgent calls for better management and intervention of the river system.
The Hon. Susan Close MP Officially Opens the Kangaroo Island Rare Plant Garden (KIRPG)
We are pleased to be partnering with the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre and Nature Conservation Society of South Australia to deliver the new Kangaroo Island Rare Plant Garden.