Craig Baulderstone is the owner of a property located approximately 20km south east of Adelaide. The property is a dedicated wildlife sanctuary protected by a South Australian Heritage Agreement and also part of the Woodcutters Road Environment Protection Association. The property is part of a ‘community cluster’ of 20 privately owned conservation blocks covering 160ha and an important corridor in the vicinity of Belair National Park, Mark Oliphant and Scott Creek Conservation Parks. Craig is seeking a like-minded buyer who will ensure the property continues in these purposes.
The property covers 4.06 hectares of pristine bushland under a South Australian Heritage Agreement with a small area excluded for a future dwelling. It has had over 15 years of intensive weed management that has reached a stage where no weeds threaten ecosystem functions and only sparse weed recruits are followed up. Habitat value and diversity has improved dramatically and is a result of only natural regeneration. Vegetation is predominantly messmate stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua) with also pink gum (Eucalyptus leucoxylon) and manna gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) woodland with a complex understorey including a diverse range of orchids. There are two tributaries of the Sturt River with natural soaks. Three EPBC listed plant species have been identified on the property.
Fauna surveys on the property have recorded southern brown bandicoots (Isoodon obesulus), yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes) and native bush rats (Rattus fuscipes). Western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus melanops), koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) and short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus) are commonly seen. The property hosts abundant and diverse birdlife with suitable habitat for a variety of bird species of conservation significance, including nationally endangered chestnut-rumped heathwrens (Mount Lofty Ranges) (Hylacola pyrrhopygia parkeri), all of which have been recorded in the region in similar habitat.
