Bon Bon Reserve
| Bon Bon Reserve South Australia | |
|---|---|
|
IUCN category II (national park) | |
  Bon Bon Reserve | |
| Nearest town or city | Roxby Downs |
| Coordinates | 30°31′43″S 135°31′35″E / 30.5286°S 135.5265°ECoordinates: 30°31′43″S 135°31′35″E / 30.5286°S 135.5265°E |
| Established | 2008 |
| Area | 2,164.53 km2 (835.7 sq mi)[1] |
| Managing authorities | Bush Heritage Australia |
| Website | Bon Bon Reserve |
| Footnotes | Coordinates [1] |
| See also | Protected areas of South Australia |
Bon Bon Reserve is a 2,164 square kilometres (836 sq mi) private protected area located in South Australia west of the town of Roxby Downs in the Woomera Prohibited Area.[2] It is owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia (BHA). It forms an important link of protected land between Yellabinna Regional Reserve and Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park.
History
Bon Bon Reserve was a sheep station for 150 years before being purchased by BHA in 2008 with assistance from the Australian and South Australian governments.[3] The station ran an average of approximately 15,000 head of sheep between 1970 to 1989 with flocks exceeding 23,000 at times prior to this.[4] The owner of Bon Bon Station, Grazier Paul Blight, sold the property to Bush Heritage Australia in 2008 for A$4 million with the state and federal governments sharing in the cost. Blight had kept stock numbers low to give the vegetation a chance to regenerate and wanted the property to continue to be managed in an environmentally sensitive manner.[5]
Landscape and vegetation
Bon Bon Reserve is characterised by arid-zone woodlands, mulga shrublands, bluebush plains and salt lakes. At the heart of the property is Lake Puckridge, a large (8 km by 4 km), ephemeral freshwater wetland that only fills, on average, every ten years, when it becomes an important site for many waders and waterbirds. The property also contains stands of Sandalwood.[3]
Fauna
Threatened animal species either known or thought likely to be present on Bon Bon Reserve include plains-wanderer, Major Mitchell's cockatoo, chestnut-breasted whiteface, thick-billed grasswren and southern hairy-nosed wombat.[3]
Protected area status
Bon Bon Reserve has protected area status within the Australian National Reserve System due to the property being subject to a conservation covenant where BHA has agreed to it being "reserved in perpetuity.’’[1][6] Bon Bon Reserve is classified as an IUCN Category II protected area.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Terrestrial Protected Areas of South Australia (see 'DETAIL' tab)". CAPAD 2014. Australian Government, Department of the Environment (DoE). 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
- ↑ "Bon Bon Reserve". World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA), a joint project of IUCN and UNEP. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
- 1 2 3 Bon Bon Reserve
- ↑ "Bob Bon Heritage Reserve South Australia" (PDF). Hawke Review of the Woomera Protected Area. Defence Department. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- ↑ Greg Roberts (9 August 2008). "Keeping hands off our lands". The Australian. News Limited. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
- ↑ "Standards for inclusion in the National Reserve System" (PDF). Commonwealth of Australia. p. 2. Retrieved 24 September 2015.