Holbrook Self Drive Ecotour
Loop 4: Stonehaven Road (61km)
22: Back Creek TSR and the Hulme Family Rebirding and Plantation – Along Back Creek there is a travelling stock reserve that provides an excellent example of remnants of a Grassy Box Woodland which is an endangered ecosystem in New South Wales. To the north east of the reserve you can see the Hulme family re-birding and farm forestry site. The trees planted at the top of the hill will soak up discharge further down the slope, addressing the issue of waterlogging.
23: ‘Stonehaven’ – The Landcare works on Stonehaven were funded by Bushlinks and BushConnect projects in 2016 and have established 70ha of new plantings to link remnant vegetation on the farm. Sawyers Creek runs through the property and has been fenced for the purposes of revegetation and erosion management. The mature White Box trees at this site contain hollows that are homes for many creatures including Squirrel Gliders and microbats. White Box is an important foraging species for the endangered Swift Parrot in this landscape.
24: ‘Siena’ – Veronica and Erik Doerr’s 330ha property is fully managed for nature conservation, including a permanent conservation covenant over most of it. The property extends over the hills and gullies away from the road, where rare intact shrub layers can be found along with Grass Tree populations, wildflowers and abundant woodland birds. The portion next to the road is in the process of recovery back to native grassland and woodland. Try to spot the expanding patches of Kangaroo Grass critical to the health of these ecosystems but relatively rare in grazed areas.
25: Forest Vale North – The Watson family have been working with Landcare and the (then) Murray Catchment Management Authority to address erosion and salinity issues on “Forest Vale North”. The stream system in the property has been fenced and revegetated with erosion sites addressed by the soil conservation service. There has also been a substantial planting effort to restore some biodiversity values to the property. These plantings consist of mixed native trees and shrubs that are local to the area.
