June 2025 marks a significant milestone—15 years since the transformation of the former pastoral property, Witchelina, into a nature reserve. This historic event, in 2010, saw Witchelina become the largest property to be incorporated into Australia's National Reserve System, a feat made possible through the Federal Government's Caring for Our Country Program.

For the past 15 years, Nature Foundation has protected the 421,000-hectare area, destocking the former pastoral property to assist with restoration of the land and other conservation tasks, such as weed and feral species management. Recent changes to legislation will now allow Nature Foundation to further protect Witchelina under a Native Vegetation Heritage Agreement.

Our work at Witchelina Nature Reserve has enabled people to experience the landscape and support conservation in action through volunteering and visitation offerings. Funds support its ongoing management, and research and biological survey work contribute to the ecological knowledge base of arid ecosystems. 

We are also proud to have developed good relationships with Traditional Custodians from the Kuyani and Adnyamathanha peoples to ensure our conservation practices with traditional ecological knowledge and respect cultural sites and heritage.

It was through consultation with Kuyani Elder Beverley Patterson that the concept for the Kids on Country™ Junior Ranger Program was born. It has now enabled over 500 Aboriginal young people to return to the country, learning valuable life skills, Aboriginal culture and conservation practices.

From a wildlife perspective, the reserve has witnessed a remarkable transformation since its acquisition. The abundance of bird life has notably increased, a strong indicator of our successful conservation efforts. Regular bird surveys, conducted by birds SA volunteers since 2010, have recorded 75 bird species at the latest survey in September 2024. Since its acquisition, 168 bird species have been documented on Witchelina Nature Reserve, a clear sign of the thriving biodiversity. Analysis of long-term bird survey data indicates that strategic management of factors within Nature Foundation's control (such as grazing pressure and predation by cats and foxes) has enabled us to promote greater numbers of granivores and insectivores than likely would have occurred in the absence of this management.

Through consistent attention to and management of threatening processes such as tackling feral and invasive species, 3,040 goats, 814 feral cats, and 201 foxes have been removed from Witchelina since 2010, significantly easing pressure on the landscape and its native inhabitants.

Witchelina remains at the forefront of innovative conservation research, actively involved in several pioneering projects. These projects, which we are proud to be a part of, include:

• An Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage grant, through UNSW in partnership with Nature Foundation and Bush Heritage, investigating the impact high numbers of kangaroos have on native ecosystems.
• A federally funded Innovative Biodiversity Monitoring project that, uses song meters to gather audio monitoring data. The project aims to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of processing and analysing audio biodiversity data by developing a streamlined data workflow process for large-scale monitoring programs in remote Australia.
• Thick-billed Grasswren research to better understand population dynamics of a cryptic arid bird species. 
• A recent grant by the Wetenhall Environment Trust to investigate heatwave refugia for native birds.

As a science-based organisation, we are proud of Witchelina's role in vital conservation research in Australia and as a refuge for native species.

We would like to take this opportunity to recognise the significant efforts of the many individuals and groups who have supported the activities and results achieved at Witchelina over the years and thank them for their service. This includes the contribution of the volunteers, along with Nature Foundation staff, contractors and partners.

Doubling our impact

With an area similar to Kangaroo Island, Witchelina is a vast conservation area. However, with increasing numbers of species being added to the threatened species lists annually and challenges due to a changing climate, more must be done to protect, conserve, and restore Australian landscapes, providing refuge for native flora and fauna.

With nine nature reserves, a combined area of more than 500,000 hectares, and further protected offset areas, Nature Foundation's goal is to double our impact to 1 million hectares of protected land by 2030, in line with the Federal Government's 30 percent of land, sea, and air protected target.

This is being achieved through our Forever Nature Fund, with valuable support from like-minded individuals and organisations, both financial and gifts of land. If you would like to learn more about or support the Forever Nature Fund, please visit forevernaturefund.org.au