Scotia Sanctuary

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Scotia Sanctuary is a 650 km2 nature reserve in the south-western plains of New South Wales, Australia, adjacent to the border with South Australia. It is located in the Murray Mallee subregion of the Murray-Darling Depression Bioregion, 150 km south of the city of Broken Hill. It is owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC).

Contents

[edit] History

Scotia is comprised of two former grazing properties, Tararra and Ennisvale, which were purchased by Earth Sanctuaries Limited in 1994, and eventually acquired by AWC in 2002.[1]

[edit] Landscape and climate

Scotia is characterised by a low-relief landscape of plains with parallel sand dunes and open calcareous swales. Surface water is limited by the sandy soils and there are no watercourses.[2] The climate is one of cool winters and hot summers in an arid region, with irregular rainfall averaging an annual 250 mm.[3]

[edit] Ecosystems

Scotia’s habitats include various Eucalyptus open shrubland (mallee) communities and sheoak woodlands, .[4]

[edit] Fauna

The Scotia Endangered Mammal Recovery Project is a program of reintroduction of mammals that have become extinct regionally, in order to establish viable, self-sustaining populations. Species reintroduced so far include: Numbat, Greater Bilby, Burrowing Bettong, Brush-tailed Bettong, Bridled Nailtail Wallaby and Greater Stick-nest Rat. Threatened bird species present on Scotia include Malleefowl, Regent and Scarlet-chested Parrots, Striated Grasswren and Black-eared Miner.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Scotia: History
  2. ^ Scotia: General
  3. ^ Scotia: Climate
  4. ^ Scotia: Ecosystems
  5. ^ Scotia: Wildlife

[edit] External links


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