Boolcoomatta Reserve is a 630 km²

private protected area A private protected area, also known as a private reserve, is not an official category within IUCN's Protected Area guidelines, but includes those protected areas that fall under geographical space that is privately owned, 'kept aside' for public be ...

in eastern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, 463 km north-east of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and 100 km west of Broken Hill. It is owned and managed by

Bush Heritage Australia Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Heal ...

(BHA).

History

The land was used as a

sheep station A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...

for 150 years, running a flock as large as 90,000 sheep. There are also relics of some small-scale copper mining on the property. The land was purchased by BHA in 2006 with assistance from the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government ...

and Nature Foundation SA.

Landscape and vegetation

Much of Boolcoomatta is flat, with undulating ranges and rocky outcrops in the western section of the property. The ranges support open Acacia

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...

while the plains to the east support shrublands of chenopods, including

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to '' Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

, as well as tussock

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

. Usually dry creeks, with occasional waterholes, are lined with

river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

s. The climate is arid, with an average annual rainfall of 190 mm.

Fauna

A survey of the Boolcoomatta Reserve's wildlife conducted in 2012 by a team of 50 volunteers found healthy bird populations and increasing numbers of marsupials and reptiles. Other threatened animal species present on the reserve include the

slender-billed thornbill The slender-billed thornbill (''Acanthiza iredalei'') is a small bird native to Australia. It includes three sub-species: * ''A. i. hedleyi'' * ''A. i. iredalei'' * ''A. i. rosinae'' This thornbill can be found in shrublands and salt marshes, ...

and

thick-billed grasswren The thick-billed grasswren (''Amytornis modestus'') is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation. Taxonomy and systematics The thick-billed grasswren wa ...

. There is habitat suitable for the yellow-footed rock wallaby, which is present on adjoining Bimbowrie Conservation Park. The reserve is overlapped by part of the

Boolcoomatta, Bindarrah and Kalkaroo Stations Important Bird Area The Boolcoomatta, Bindarrah and Kalkaroo Stations Important Bird Area is a 1402 km2 tract of land in north-eastern South Australia. It comprises three pastoral properties, 53,000 ha Kalkaroo Station, 24,000 ha Bindarrah Station, a ...

which has been identified by BirdLife International as supporting a significant population of plains-wanderers.

Protected area status

Boolcoomatta Reserve has protected area status within the Australian

National Reserve System Australia's National Reserve System (NRS) is a network of more than 10,000 Commonwealth plus state and territory protected areas which, in combination, on a national scale, protect more than , greater than 17% of the continent, of unique biodi ...

due to the property being subject to a conservation covenant where BHA has agreed to it being "reserved in perpetuity". The reserve is classified as an IUCN Category II protected area.

References

External links