Mulligans flat sanctuary: The return of Bettongs

The beautiful grassy woodlands of Mulligans flat

It’s rare to find a sanctuary for native flora and fauna in the capital city of a country, but Mulligan’s Flat Woodland Sanctuary is one of those rarities. This sanctuary encloses over 400 hectares of critically endangered yellow box and red gum grassy woodland. But it’s the little guys who call the woodlands home that are the centre of this epic conservation effort. Eastern Bettong’s (Bettongia gaimardi) are positively cute, but they are also an ecological important for soil aeration as they dig for truffles and other fungi. Bettongs are woodland-dwelling, rabbit-sized kangaroo like marsupials. These little creatures were once local inhabitants of South-eastern Australia but where driven to extinction by our introduced predators and land alteration causing a scarcity of native grassy woodlands, one of their natural habitats. Until the mulligans flat project the Bettongs only existed in Tasmania.

This has been…