Why conservation at Crookshanks?
Although John Boyd and I both have a scientific background, he, a Master of Science and a Doctorate in Space Physics, from Fairbanks, and I, a Bachelor of Science from the University of Sydney with add-ons, we had not thought much about conservation in a practical sense, before Crookshanks. However, Owen Whitaker, then of Greening Australia, came to Crookshanks to investigate the native grasses and forests in 1998 and declared them both to be of high value, putting us in contact with the NSW Department of Agriculture. Not long after, we were introduced to David Eddy, then of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) who likewise liked our grasslands and provided help). By the year 2000, we were well on our way to understanding the importance of locking up land for self restoration and its ecosystem advantages for native plants and animals alike.
Our first contribution to conservation at Crookshanks was the dedication of 500 hectares of dry sclerophyll forest (in 2000) to an in perpetuity contract, ensuring that there would be no grazing or development of this threatened forest country into the future. The forest, at the western edge of Crookshanks, is fenced off and has much renewed growth over the last 20 years on its difficult (and dry) slate and shale soils. The forest, previously logged for firewood, now has a thicker canopy, on its eastern boundary, of mainly Eucalyptus mannifera (the Brittle gum or red-spotted gum), Eucalyptus dives (the Broad-leaved peppermint or blue peppermint), and Eucalyptus rossi (the Inland scribbly gum or white gum). The still-thin understory is mainly of acacias, tall wallaby grass (Austrodanthonia caespitosa) and flowering forbs. The north-western reaches of the forest, with more light, includes Exocarpos cupressiformis, with common names that include native cherry, cherry ballart, and cypress cherry, belonging to the sandalwood family of plants.
Under the same contract, we were granted partial funding to fence off the two creeks where we had sheep, cattle and horses grazing and to install troughs for animal watering. This would ensure that our hard-footed animals could not tread in the sides of the creeks to cause erosion and that the riparian areas could re-establish native plant and animal populations, which is now evident.
John and I are very grateful that these and later developments, particularly partial funding for contractors to assist with weed eradication, have been assisted, over more than 20 years, by funding from the NSW Department of Agriculture/Primary Industries (now DPI), the Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT), Greening Australia, the Upper Snowy River Landcare Network, the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, Rivers of Carbon, the South East Local Land Care Service (LLS), and Land for Wildlife.
Since 2019, we have had another in perpetuity grassland contract with BCT over 89 hectares of native basalt grasslands. Our mountain grasslands to the north are now flourishing, with no non-native grazing animals, few weeds, and lots of recent La Nina rain. There is evidence of new patches of Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) everywhere across the mountain range.
The sheep camp patches at the top of the range are diminishing, but because the wild goats are still breeding in the vicinity, there are still goat camp patches in various high advantage places, particularly outside the dedicated conservation areas. Near goat camps, the acidity of the soil reduces desirable native grass and forb content and increases the opportunity for weeds to invade, meaning more work for us and our weed contractors.
Now, several years since the beginning of this funded BCT contract, the grass and forb swards are thick, the weeds are diminishing and there is less run-off from the mountains into the creeks after rainfall. The gully erosion has also diminished. We can now be proud of the progress towards a more sustainable ecosystem for all our native plants and animals. For instance, we (and friends) have recently photographed two more adult, and quite rare, Rosenberg monitors at Crookshanks. They were large, about 2 metres in length, and very beautiful. The white-striped fringe on the lower jaw identifies the species , and, looking like large teeth, makes them look quite scary to opponents in the landscape. They seem to have little body smell as our kelpie, Anna, was on the other side of our farm buggy, David, as I sat inside filming him/her, and took no notice.
Our first Rosenberg monitor sighting at Crookshanks was in October 2019 at the first planting of Greening Australia donated trees along Wambrook Creek. An expert from the Canberra Nature Map says that these three monitors are three different individuals and are the only ones recorded on the map south of the Australian Capital Territory!
Narelle Moody February 2023