Scotia Sanctuary

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).

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. [http://www.australianwildlife.org/scotia.asp?Type=History Scotia: History] ]

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. [http://www.australianwildlife.org/scotia.asp?Type=General Scotia: General] ] The climate is one of cool winters and hot summers in an arid region, with irregular rainfall averaging an annual 250 mm. [http://www.australianwildlife.org/scotia.asp?Type=Climate Scotia: Climate] ]

Ecosystems

Scotia’s habitats include various Eucalyptus open shrubland (mallee) communities and sheoak woodlands, . [http://www.australianwildlife.org/scotia_ecosystems.asp Scotia: Ecosystems] ]

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. [http://www.australianwildlife.org/scotia_wildlife.asp Scotia: Wildlife] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.australianwildlife.org/aboutAWC.asp Australian Wildlife Conservancy]