Gondwanalink and Atherton to the Alps

In the south of Western Australia, scientists and land managers stand in a paddock pondering a map showing remaining native bushland. Despite some big, globally important reserves such as the Stirling Ranges and the Fitzgerald River National Park, much of the landscape lacks the original native woodland and shrubland. In its place is farmland, often degraded by erosion and salinisation. This is an area in trouble, losing productive agricultural land and conservation value.

The people pondering the map are part of the visionary project Gondwanalink, in which community groups and non-government organisations are developing a grand vision for sustaining agriculture and retaining the conservation heritage of the remaining bushland. Good areas of bushland on private land are bought and put under effective management, areas of degraded farmland are revegetated, and diverse agricultural enterprises are established. Gondwanalink encompasses everything from the tall forests of the south-west to the semiarid woodlands of the goldfields and beyond.

In eastern Australia the similar ‘Atherton to the Alps’ venture will establish a corridor from the Victorian Alps across 2800 km to the Atherton tablelands in Queensland. It has the support of the New South Wales, Queensland, Victorian and Australian Capital Territory governments, and landholders who wish to conserve parts of their properties can sign conservation agreements. Nobody will be compelled to relinquish land. However, support from landholders is essential because national parks alone will not provide the necessary linkages along the corridor.