Judith Eardley Save Wildlife Centre chairperson Peter Hannaford (centre) with centre volunteer Bob Gruar (right) were congratulated last week on their purchase by Kieran Martin, coordinator of Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater.By Kath Gannaway
THE Judith Eardley Save Wildlife Centre in Healesville has purchased about 20 hectares (50 acres) of bushland at Yellingbo, saving it from any threat of future development.
The purchase, for $305,000, has been hailed a victory for preservation of native bushland in the Yarra Valley, and, in particular, as a further step towards the survival of the endangered helmeted honeyeater.
Wildlife Centre chairperson Peter Hannaford said the property, Silvan Reserve, was purchased almost by default.
The centre was looking at buying land in another part of Victoria for their third reserve purchase, but were persuaded to buy the Yellingbo property when they found there was no guarantee it would not be cleared in the future.
Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater had asked the Centre to purchase the land.
“The land had a clearing for a building and Peter’s understanding was that the surrounding bushland was totally protected by shire vegetation policies,” Maureen Bond of Healesville Environment Watch (HEWI) said.
“Unfortunately we had to tell them that remnant bushland is still disappearing in our shire due to widespread illegal clearing and there was no guarantee this would not happen here.”
Ms Bond said HEWI was delighted the centre was successful in purchasing the land and looked forward to future revegetation activities on the site.
Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater chairperson Bob Anderson also congratulated the centre and its volunteers.
He said the parcel of land was number three on the group’s wishlist of properties it would like to purchase in and around its Yellingbo reserve.
Mr Anderson said the land was high value habitat with no guaranteed protection.
“This piece of land being zoned rural could quite easily be cleared, so now it is locked into natural habitat,” he said.
Mr Hannaford said the centre also felt it was important to purchase a significant local reserve to demonstrate that the people who traded with the Judith Eardley Save Wildlife Centre, and the people who donated saleable goods for the shop, could see they were making a difference in helping to conserve what was left of the natural world in the Yarra Valley.
“The purchase of the reserve coincides with our fifth birthday and we hope it will help us in our quest to expand,” he said.
“By 2006 we will have donated $750,000 to wildlife causes.”
