Australian Wildlife Conservancy
AWC is the largest private owner of land for conservation in Australia, protecting endangered wildlife across 6.5 million hectares which includes the Kimberley, the Top End, Cape York, Kati Thanka-Lake Eyre and the southwestern forests.
Their work involves Ecological Health Monitoring and Research, Feral Cat and Fox Control, Feral Herbivore Control, Fire Management, Weed Control and Wildlife Translocations.
Their work also helps to preserve indigenous sacred sites due to their EcoFire Project which Bunderra has been supporting for the last two years.
Biodiversity Month
Biodiversity Month, held every September, is an opportunity to celebrate Australia’s spectacular native flora and fauna. However, it’s also a stark reminder of our ~1,800 native plant and animal species currently facing extinction.
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Of these, some 100 are mammals and on the brink of disappearing forever. Unless we take urgent action, they are set to join the 10 per cent of Australia’s mammal species to have gone extinct since European settlement.
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This is the worst rate of recent mammal extinctions in the world, but what has brought us to this point? Key drivers include habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, the impact of feral herbivores and other invasive species, altered fire regimes, and – above all – predation by feral cats and foxes.
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With your help, we can halt Australia’s mammal extinctions and successfully restore wild, self-sustaining populations of threatened and locally extinct wildlife back to the Australian landscape.
Kimberley Conservation Hub
July 2024
In 2024, Bunderra Foundation is very proud to be supporting AWC by
contributing towards the Kimberly Conservation Hub.
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AWC has worked closely with the Ngarinyin People to design a set of facilities, the Kimberley Conservation Hub, to meet growing conservation efforts. Over the next three years, AWC aims to build research and office amenities, meeting and training spaces, housing, and visitor engagement infrastructure. The Kimberley Conservation Hub is expected to include:
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A field research centre with training and meeting facilities and a climate-controlled storage space for scientific equipment and samples.
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A workshop to house conservation land management operations.
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Eight new houses for permanent staff.
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New accommodation and facilities for Ngarinyin Traditional Owners and Wunggurr Rangers.
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Five eco-tents for supporter events and visitors.
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A campground interpretive centre.
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Accommodation for seasonal staff around the homestead.
To see more about this wonderful project or the importance of the Kimberley, please click on this button below or watch this very interesting video.
Bridled Nailtail Wallaby
The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby was thought extinct until 1973 – and AWC have just introduced 20 more (with 6 pouch young) to their existing population at Scotia in Outback NSW (one of their fenced safe havens).
They want to top up the genetic diversity of this endangered population – and of course, are measuring the impact of what they do by fitting many of them with radio collars so they can see how they are adjusting to their new home.
Koala conservation in the Sunshine Coast
A significant revegetation project comprising thousands of eucalypts and other native trees being planted in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast has been undertaken. The project aims to increase habitat for the endangered Koala at Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s (AWC) Curramore Wildlife Sanctuary (Kabi Kabi country).
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The sanctuary is located in south-east Queensland, a region which has been extensively cleared for agriculture and urban development. The land designated for reforestation was purchased by AWC in 2022, as part of a 26 hectare expansion of the sanctuary. While the central and western portion of the new section is healthy remnant forest, the eastern portion was utilised by previous owners as a cattle grazing paddock and is now a clear block with introduced pasture grasses.
“This project is a step in the right direction for helping to strengthen our Koala populations and create corridors which will in turn help other local species.”
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“This restoration project is designed to increase and connect Koala habitat at Curramore, while also encourage other wildlife, such as bandicoots, gliders and owls, to return to the revegetated area,” said Andy. “In 10 years, we want the restoration area to be starting to resemble the adjacent native forests and become habitat for a diverse community of plants and animals, and not just a monoculture plantation of eucalypts.”
Savannas of the Kimberley
Working in the tropical savannas of the Kimberley, AWC conducts the country's largest and most success full non-government fire management program, dramatically improving fire patterns across millions of hectares.
Wildfires which cause damage to property and infrastructure, indigenous sacred sites and remove food and shelter for wildlife have been reduced by 55%, due to the twelve years of effort of AWCs’ EcoFire Project. Bird species such as Gouldian Finches and Purple-crowned Fairy wrens as well as several mammals have seen a significant recovery. ​
Bunderra is proud to be supporting this vital work for the second year.
Controlled Burns
Performing controlled burns, AWC began implementing EcoFire in the Kimberleys more than a decade ago, over 3 million hectares of the central Kimberley in early dry season. Neighboring pastoralists and indigenous communities have also been closely involved in design and delivery of the program. Some of the outcomes and benefits are:
Incidence of late dry season fires has halved
Areas brunt in late seasons fires has been reduced from 90% to 20-40%
Populations of many small mammals in Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary have substantially increased
Stabilization of endangered Gouldian Finches over the last ten years
Populations of threatened Purple-crowned Fairywrens have increased by 180%
The results are delivering substantial benefits for native plants and animals and also successfully controlling fire and feral animals.
Numbats are home again!
December 2019
Australian Wildlife Conservancy continues its work with rare and endangered species.
For the first time in over 60 years, central Australia is once again home to Numbats. In December 2019, 10 numbats were relocated from Scotia Wildlife Sanctuary in far western NSW and after receiving a thorough health check, were each released into their own shelter of a hollow log at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary.
All of the numbats were fitted with radio collars and will be monitored in the coming months. Pending the success of this trial, more numbats will be moved to Newhaven and with stage 1 of the fenced area, which covers 9,400 hectares, this will support more than 200 numbats.
