Annual Conservation Report Bush Heritage in action, 2006–2007 Vision for the future By 2025 Bush Heritage will protect 1% of Australia by conserving more than 7 million hectares of Australia’s land and water and the wildlife that inhabits these protected areas. Protecting Australia’s biodiversity and restoring the health of the environment are our highest priorities. We also work in partnership with others to rebuild the resilience of whole landscapes, and use best available science to manage the land under our care. i Annual Conservation Report | © 2008 Bush Heritage Australia Liffey River Reserve, Tas. PHOTO: WAYNE LAWLER/ECOPIX Australian Bush Heritage Fund (trading as Bush Heritage Australia) ABN 78 053 639 115 Registered office: Level 5, 395 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Postal address: PO Box 329, Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 8009 Phone: (03) 8610 9100 or 1300 NATURE (1300 628 873) Fax: (03) 8610 9199 Email: [email protected] Website: www.bushheritage.org.au Artwork and production: Geoffrey Williams + Associates Pty Ltd Printed on combination 55% recycled and 45% plantation fibre using vegetable-based inks. Contents Vision for the future i Board of Directors 2 Chief Executive Officer 3 Patron 3 Ambassador 3 President’s report 4 Chief Executive Officer’s report 5 A strategic approach to conservation 6 Gulf of Carpentaria to Lake Eyre anchor region 9 Ethabuka and Cravens Peak reserves 9 Queensland Uplands and Brigalow Belt anchor region 12 Carnarvon Station and Goonderoo reserves 12 South-East Grassy Box Woodlands anchor region 14 Scottsdale Reserve 14 Kosciuszko to Coast 15 Tarcutta Hills Reserve 16 Nardoo Hills reserves 17 Burrin Burrin and Brogo reserves 20 South-West Botanical Province anchor region 21 The northern woodlands: Charles Darwin and Eurardy reserves 21 Map of Bush Heritage reserves (centre-page spread) 22 Kojonup Reserve 24 Gondwana Link 26 Midlands of Tasmania anchor region 30 South Esk Pine and Friendly Beaches reserves 31 Reserves outside the Bush Heritage anchor regions 32 Liffey Valley reserves 33 Fan Palm and Currumbin Valley reserves 33 Reedy Creek Reserve 34 Boolcoomatta Reserve 35 Financial summary 38 Fundraising and communications 40 Bush Heritage staff 42 Thank you 44 Front cover: Barbed seed head of bidgee-widgee Acaena novaezelandiae, Liffey River Reserve, Tas. Clockwise from far left: Unfurling fern frond, Liffey River Reserve, Tas. A dragonfly displays cryptic colouration. Fringe lily Thysanotus sp. Epiphytic fern. Photos on page 1 are from Yourka Reserve, Qld, a property recently acquired by Bush Heritage. PHOTOS: WAYNE LAWLER/ECOPIX Annual Conservation Report | © 2008 Bush Heritage Australia 1 Board of Directors President: Phillip Toyne LLB, DipEd – Director, EcoFutures Pty Ltd Phillip is one of Australia’s leading environmentalists. He was the Executive Director of the Australian Conservation Foundation where he helped to establish the National Landcare Program. Phillip was a visiting Fellow at the Australian National University before becoming Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Department of Environment. Earlier he worked as a lawyer for Aboriginal groups in central Australia. Phillip is also a director of ITC Limited, CVC Sustainable Investments Pty Ltd, Agri Energy Limited, the Australasian Carbon Exchange Pty Ltd and the Rein Foundation. EcoFutures is a company working on sustainability initiatives with business and governments. Phillip has been President of Bush Heritage since 2000. Vice-President: Dr Steve Morton BSc(Hons), PhD – Group Executive, CSIRO Sustainable Energy and Environment Steve is one of Australia’s most respected ecologists. He has 23 years’ experience with CSIRO as a research scientist in tropical northern Australia, arid central Australia and the southern temperate zone, and has worked to integrate biodiversity conservation and land use for grazing and agriculture. Steve joined the Bush Heritage Board in 2003. Treasurer: David Rickards BSc, BEng, MBA – Executive Director and Global Head of Research, Macquarie Bank David heads up the extensive and highly rated equities research group at Macquarie Bank, coordinating a team based throughout Australia, Asia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Before joining Macquarie, David was responsible for establishing a risk management company, BARRA International, in Australia and worked as a consulting structural engineer with Maunsell. David is an authority on the equities market, with particular expertise in strategic analysis. David joined the Board in 2006. Dr Guy Fitzhardinge BAgEcon, MAppSci, PhD – Managing Director, Thring Pastoral Company Guy is currently a member of the Commonwealth Threatened Species Scientific Committee and Chairman of the CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies. He has previously been a director of Meat & Livestock Australia and the Meat Research Corporation, Vice-President of the Australian Rangelands Society, an advisor to CSIRO Wool and Textiles Division, the wool industry and WWF, and a ministerial appointee to the NSW Biodiversity Advisory Committee. He currently manages three properties and a large cattle herd in central NSW. Guy joined the Bush Heritage Board in 2003. Gnarled trunk, Liffey River Reserve, Tas. PHOTO: WAYNE LAWLER/ECOPIX 2 Annual Conservation Report | © 2008 Bush Heritage Australia Dr Sue McIntyre BSc(Hons), PhD – Senior consulting widely with rural and remote Aboriginal and Torres Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Strait Islander communities on land management, enterprise Sustainable Ecosystems development, employment initiatives and cultural heritage. Sue currently leads a research group working For the past fifteen years, Rosalie has been involved with on sustainability in agricultural landscapes. working towards resolving native title on a state-wide basis She has 27 years of research experience in and is currently a representative on the Congress Executive weed ecology, landscape ecology and conservation biology. Committee, which includes representatives of claimant Throughout her career Sue has sought to make complex groups in South Australia. She has published and presented ecological concepts understood as simple principles that a number of papers at national and international conferences. enable land managers to put science into practice on their Rosalie also sits on the Indigenous Protected Areas land. Sue joined the Bush Heritage Board in 2007. Ministerial Advisory Committee and is currently Chair of the Nukunu Peoples Council. Andrew Myer GradDipBusMgt, MBA – Founder and Managing Director, Sestriere Investments Pty Ltd Chief Executive Officer Andrew has long been involved in investment, film and philanthropy. He has Doug Humann BA(Hons)Geog, DipEd interests in equities, property development Before coming to Bush Heritage, Doug and management, and is a director of numerous private spent eight years as Director of the Victorian companies. He has produced and been executive producer National Parks Association, Victoria’s of Australian feature films and is a board member of the largest member-based nature conservation Melbourne International Film Festival. Andrew was for organisation. He is a member of the World five years Director and Co-Vice-President of The Myer Commission on Protected Areas and has advised several Foundation and is currently a Trustee of the Sidney Myer governments on private protected areas. He won the Wild Fund. Andrew joined the Bush Heritage Board in 2007. Environmentalist of the Year award in 1997 and was a finalist in the CEO of the Year awards in 2005. Doug was Hutch Ranck BScEcon – Managing Director, appointed CEO of Bush Heritage in 1997. DuPont Australia/New Zealand Hutch is also Group Managing Director Patron of Dupont ASEAN. He represents the Business Council of Australia on the Prime Bob Brown – Founder, and Australian Greens Senator Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation for Tasmania Council and is a member of the Business Roundtable on Sustainable Development. Hutch joined the Bush Heritage Ambassador Board in 2006. Tim Fischer AC – Chairman, Tourism Australia Keith Tuffley BEc, LLM – Managing Director, Goldman Sachs Keith is a Managing Director with Goldman Sachs, now based in London. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2002 and for four years was the head of the Investment Banking Division and a member of the Board in Australia, until his relocation to London. Keith has over 15 years’ investment banking experience advising and financing corporations across a wide range of industries. He is also a Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation and a Governor of WWF- Australia. Keith joined the Bush Heritage Board in 2006. Rosalie Turner BAppSc (Natural Resource Management) Rosalie is a Nukunu woman from the central- southern Flinders Ranges and a named claimant on the Nukunu native title claim. She has worked for many years in Aboriginal health, education and land and cultural heritage management, Regenerating grass tree, Yourka Reserve, Qld. PHOTO: WAYNE LAWLER/ECOPIX Annual Conservation Report | © 2008 Bush Heritage Australia 3 President’s report footprint. Therefore, the Board and management have committed to creating a sustainable business model and being It is gratifying to see the continued expansion carbon neutral by 2010. of Bush Heritage’s work, as our nation engages in a This year both Vice-President Louise Gilfedder and Treasurer robust debate on sustainability and global warming and Mara Bún retired after each had served the Board ably for takes a genuine interest in protecting our environment. three full terms. Mara was