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Australia:
Opportunity in an Ancient Land

“Everywhere we found the soil sandy, and very poor; it supported either a coarse vegetation of thin, low brushwood and wiry grass, or a forest of stunted trees … [H]e who thinks with me will never wish to walk again in so uninviting a country.”
—Charles Darwin,
Voyage of the Beagle

Even the renowned naturalist had trouble spotting a botanic wonderland when he saw one.

The landscape dismissed by Darwin in 1836 today stands as a prime example of his theories at work.With no glaciers or other cataclysmic events to alter biological processes, southern Australia’s Mediterranean habitats evolved over 250 million years into a mosaic of soil and plant “islands.” Today, hundreds of plant species can be found as little as 30 miles from their evolved cousins — similar, yet completely distinct, species.

Despite a post-WorldWar II government policy to clear “a million acres a year” and transform Australia’s southwestern region into the nation’s breadbasket — an endeavor for which much of the land proved unsuitable — Australia still has an opportunity to conserve and restore comparatively large swaths of native bush. One such opportunity is the Conservancy- supported Gondwana Link project, a visionary effort by six Australian partner organizations to reconnect and restore a 620-mile swath of Mediterranean habitat in southwestern Australia.

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Mediterranean Habitats: Lovely, Rare — and Endangered » 

Nature picture credits: Map © XNR Productions; Photo © Marie Lochman/Lochman Transparencies (Ironcap Banksia); Photo © Marie Lochman/Lochman Transparencies (Wandoo Forest)