The Jordan family’s Wimmera farm is nestled on the edge of the Little Desert National Park in Kiata. Caroline Jordan inherited this property and wants to give back to a place that has cared for her family by restoring the land to native habitat. By applying to the BushBank Program, Caroline will receive advice and financial support to carry out her vision. Caroline’s project is also attracting significant funding support from Greening Australia, specifically to restore habitat for the endangered Mallee Fowl.
The Victorian Government’s $31 million Private Land Stream of the BushBank Program, delivered by Cassinia Environmental, supports landowners to restore habitat on private land and contribute to carbon sequestration efforts.
Caroline’s great-grandfather purchased the property in the 1880s and it has been a farm and home for her family ever since. Caroline and her sister Louisa used to spend every holiday there, where their aunt Alison used to take them looking for wildflowers and fungi in the uncleared bushland.
Over the years, the family have witnessed the toll that cropping, over-clearing, and overgrazing has taken in the region. The land is home to native cypress, stringybark gums, and endangered Buloke trees which are a critical food source to the endangered South-east Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo. Caroline recalls how her family refused to chop down native trees, “They thought it was cruel to the stock to have no timber for shade, and they liked the scrub. They liked the fauna and flora of the land.” She recalls how much her grandfather loved the Mallee Fowl nests, an endangered species that relies on long unburnt habitat and a large covering of Mallee plants. Caroline remembers hearing the calls of Bush Stone-curlews at night during her stays at the land when she was younger. “I would like to have the curlews back, if they would come.”
Caroline’s father studied zoology and botany at university. “We called him “spess” because he always had a specimen in a jar to show us!”. A social worker and bushwalker with a deep love for conservation, his ambition was to “Leave some kind of memorial to 120 years of occupation”, as he wrote in a letter to Caroline and her sister in 1997. For Caroline, the restoration of native habitat is a matter of legacy and connection with the land. “I want to do what Dad would have done. This place has supported my family for 150 years, so I think we owe it a bit.”
Cassinia Environmental, the BushBank Program’s lead delivery partner, will implement a Native Vegetation Restoration Plan to combat the invasive weeds and reduce the harm pests do to the existing vegetation’s natural recruitment. Native trees and shrubs will be direct-seeded and planted to begin the process of restoring the nationally significant woodland vegetation that was once widespread throughout this region. Revegetating with the right species will ensure that this property recovers its capacity to sequester carbon and to provide crucial habitat for wildlife. A Trust for Nature conservation covenant on the land will then guarantee that the effort Caroline has put in to restore her property will be protected for generations to come.
For Caroline, restoring habitat and nurturing her family are concurrent, as the planting project means that family, kids and friends build a relationship with the landscape. Caroline, who initially felt isolated in her conservation efforts, has also found community in neighbours Greg and Linsy, who have successfully nurtured habitat for the Mallee Fowl just a few blocks away, demonstrating what can be done on her property.
When asked if she has any words of encouragement, Caroline reflects: “I’m in a very privileged position, and I have a sort of debt to the family and the country that has supported them. I inherited this land and I feel it’s the least I can do. I have the opportunity and with the BushBank Program there’s the resources and the support to get it done. I have the backup!”
The Victorian Government’s $77 million BushBank Program is restoring more than 20,000 hectares of land across Victoria to create healthy wildlife habitat and capture carbon. For more information or to express interest in a BushBank project on your property, visit www.cassinia.com/bushbank.
