News
03 Mar, 2024
The Wallabies move in to their new habitat
03 Jul, 2023
Project story
Sanctuary in the Murray region
Widgewah is a 400ha property located in the Murray region of North Eastern Victoria, around 1.5 hours drive from Melbourne. It is part of the Hughes Creek Landscape Zone, an important biodiversity area.
Rolling hills dotted with granite boulders are a common feature, making it a perfect environment for the agile Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby.
Restoring what was lost
Almost all of this part of Victoria is private land, of which 83% has been cleared for grazing over the years.
There is very little natural habitat remaining for native species, which is why projects like this are so important.
Planting to protect and restore
A mix of 30 different native tree species will be planted to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and restore the landscape to its natural state, creating new habitat for the critically threatened Southern Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby. This project is part of a breeding and recovery program aimed at bringing this vulnerable species back from the brink of extinction.
The first wallabies will be introduced to the site in mid-2023, safe within a predator-proof fence surrounding the entire sanctuary zone. Each hectare of trees planted will remove over 230,000kg of CO₂ in the first 10 years of the project’s life
Replanting native species
The trees you plant to help create the Widgewah Conservation Sanctuary will include a range of native species that once thrived in this landscape: Austral Indigo, Red Box, Drooping She-oak, Red Stem Wattle, Black Wattle, Silver Wattle, Lightwood, Common Cassinia, Drooping Cassinia, and others. The Reforest signature species for this project, which you will see in your virtual forest, is the Blakely’s Red Gum (Eucalyptus blakelyi).
