Twenty-five four-wheel driving enthusiasts, from the combined clubs of the NSW and ACT Four Wheel Drive Association, spent a weekend recently working alongside NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service staff helping to rehabilitate 160 hectares of bushland near Burraga.
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The parcel of land within the Abercrombie State Conservation Area, known as The Glen, is a popular location for people and wildlife.
“The Abercrombie Reserve is such a diverse area. It has so much to offer four-wheel drive enthusiasts,” Black Diamond Recreational 4WD Club president Lee Dunstan said.
“It’s great that we could help out and give back a little.”
The area is home to gliders, Booroolong frogs and the Macquarie perch. The planting of 400 trees and shrubs will enhance habitat, reduce erosion and improve water quality in the area. The trees will provide an important food resource for several glider populations as well as nectar-feeding birds, bats and mammals.
“These animals depend on ready access to flowering shrubs and trees throughout the year,” Kanangra-Boyd to Wyangala (K2W) conservation partnership co-ordinator Mary Bonet said.
“While neighbouring Abercrombie River National Park is the largest intact patch of open forest on the NSW Central Tablelands, the Abercrombie Reserve is in poorer shape, having suffered the impacts of various land uses over time.
“The loss of flowering shrubs and hollow-bearing trees puts species such as gliders at risk of extinction, so repairing habitat and planning for future resilience is really important.”
Jules Bros, Kanangra area ranger with the NPWS, said it was fantastic to have the four-wheel drive groups embracing the conservation cause.
“It’s a social club with a strong emphasis on families and environmentally sound practices,” she said.
“It really demonstrates their interest in taking care of the bush.”
The Black Diamond Recreational 4WD Club’s efforts are part of a wider relationship with the NPWS in which the clubs help maintain camping areas and participate in conservation activities across the state.
