Money for Mallee
Kangaroo Island has received money to support the threatened narrowleaf mallee community
Kangaroo Island has received $50,000 from the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Program for the ‘Kangaroo Island Narrow-leaved Mallee Woodland restoration project’.
This project will address the issue of lost and fragmented habitat within the Narrow-leaved Mallee woodland community of eastern Kangaroo Island. This plant community is listed as a threatened ecological community under the Australian Government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
The Narrow-leaved Mallee community has over 300 plant species associated with it, many of which are threatened species at a regional, state or national level. A number of these are unique to Kangaroo Island and are not found anywhere else in Australia or the world.
The plant community also supports a wide variety of native animals, from small woodland birds such as Restless flycatchers, to Stone curlews, Rosenberg goannas, echidnas and Southern Brown bandicoots. The project will be of direct benefit to these and other native animal species on the island.
Due to historical clearing of Narrow-leaved Mallee habitat as well as continued pressure from over-abundant native animals and livestock, weed invasions and some road works, the Narrow-leaved Mallee community continues to be under threat. The viability of remaining patches is affected by their size and fragmentation, which also has an impact on their important wildlife corridor function.
The recently announced funds will be used to deliver five hectares of densely planted high quality Narrow-leaved Mallee habitat comprising 10,000 seedlings across 70 species. Most of the planting will be undertaken during the 2015 Kangaroo Island Planting Festival, which will be held on Friday 3 July and Saturday 4 July 2015. The restoration work will be delivered by Natural Resources Kangaroo Island through its KI Nationally Threatened Plant Project.
Commenting on the significance of the grant to Kangaroo Island, KI NRM Board Presiding Member Richard Trethewey said that it gave ‘an opportunity to expand on the good work carried out in the Eastern Plains Fire Trial and on habitat restoration to date’.
For more information about the ‘KI Nationally Threatened Plant Project’ please contact us.