A climate-ready revegetation project and trial at Nardoo Hills Reserve near Wedderburn is progressing to a stage-two planting this year. The collaborative experiment between conservation not-for-profit Bush Heritage Australia and environmental not-for-profit Greenfleet aims to provide long-term guidance on viable, climate-ready eucalypt revegetation options.

In 2019, 9000 seedlings representing three ‘climate-adjusted’ provenances for each of Grey Box (Eucalyptus microcarpa) and Yellow Box (Eucalyptus melliodora), selected from hotter and drier regions of New South Wales, were planted in a large experiment.

Bush Heritage ecologists and researchers aim to improve the genetic resilience of the local species in the face of harsher climates through diversifying the gene pool from provenances of the same species growing in more climate-challenged regions.

During 2020, additional provenances from Condobolin NSW (Yellow box) and Quorn SA (Grey box) will be added into the experiment, further extending the opportunities for within-species adaptation.  Monitoring of this 18-hectare experiment will persist for the long term.

Click on the following links if you want to find out more about Bush Heritage Australia or Greenfleet.