Trust for Nature has purchased a property in Christmas Hills, ensuring rare and endangered species have somewhere to call home.
Australia’s leading, not-for-profit, private land conservation organisation Trust for Nature has purchased the Reeves Road property because it helps form a cluster of protected bushland.
This bushland houses a healthy population of wombats, the cryptic Brush-tail phascogale, and echidnas and is reported to be part of the Barking Owl and Powerful Owl home ranges.
The property itself supports numerous old trees which offer excellent roosting and nesting sites for the owls as well as habitat for small birds including pardalotes and grey-fantails. Eastern-grey kangaroos and Black Wallabies are also known to use the site.
Trust for Nature will now put a conservation covenant on the property to permanently protect it for futuregenerations. A conservation covenant is a permanent, but voluntary, agreement with a landholder that is placed on a property’s title. This protects the property’s high-conservation value bushland forever.
Trust for Nature GIS, Spatial Planning and Data Manager Chris Lindorff said the site formed a larger part of continuous, quality bushland located just a short distance from the restricted-access catchment areas of Sugarloaf Dam.
The property is also in the heart of wine country – just a short drive to Yarra Glen and Yarra Valley wineries and less than 15-minutes from Eltham.
Mr Lindorff said the property formed an important part of a cluster of bushland properties in the region. He said Nillumbik Shire Council had a reputation for high-level environmental protection which helped Trust for Nature protect the region.
Mr Lindorff said many residents in the Christmas Hills region were also sympathetic to the conservation values that existed on their properties.
“Some landholders have already registered covenants on their properties and are carrying out important works to reduce weed infestations,” he said.
“Trust for Nature’s purchase of this eight-hectare property on Reeves Road is both an acknowledgement of the high conservation value of the area and a commitment to the environmental protection of the wider Christmas Hills landscape.
As leaders in conservation management, it is hoped that this purchase by Trust for Nature will signal and encourage others in Christmas Hills to place protective covenants on their properties, whereby a collective effort of like-minded residents will result in reducing the threats to the high-conservation values that exist in the area.”
Trust for Nature Port Phillip and Westernport Acting Regional Manager Lynlee Tozer said the bushland on the property was distinctive.
“Valley Grassy Forest and Herb-rich Foothill Forest remnants in this condition are hard to find,” she said.
“The species diversity here is impressive.”
Trust for Nature will now develop a land management plan for the site before selling it on to a new owner who wants to work with Trust for Nature to conserve this important site.
Proceeds from the sale of the property through the Trust for Nature Revolving Fund will be used to purchase and covenant other high-conservation value properties.
Trust for Nature was the first Australian organisation to develop a Revolving Fund to ensure permanent protection for high-conservation value land and ongoing care through private ownership and management.
Trust for Nature Revolving Fund Manager Ralph Dalton said 61 Reeves Road, Christmas Hills, was expected to sell in the $250,000 range.
Property details: 61 Reeves Road, Christmas Hills. Certificate of Title: Volume 10672, Folio 525.
Property is 7.98 hectares or 19.72 acres.
