Don’t miss out: Bursaria for butterflies

Posted on 11 October, 2022 by Ivan

We’re still looking for local landholders to join our ‘Bursaria for butterflies’ project, but you’ll need to get your expression of interest (EOI) soon! Our EOI process closes 5 pm on 17 October 2022. Read on for details on how to get involved, and please be sure to read the project criteria.

Small but beautiful: the Eltham Copper Butterfly is only the size of a ten cent piece (photo by Elaine Bayes)

Connecting Country’s Bursaria for Butterflies project aims to protect and enhance priority habitat for the threatened Eltham Copper Butterfly (Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida) around Castlemaine VIC. We’ll achieve this through practical on-ground actions to reduce threats and improve the quality, quantity and connectivity of available butterfly habitat. We will work with key landholders to protect and restore priority butterfly habitat on their land. We’re supporting local landholders to control threats (including weeds and rabbits) and revegetate their land, focusing on the butterfly’s host plant, Sweet Bursaria (Bursaria spinosa).

We are looking for interested landholders with properties (of at least 1 acre) adjacent to the known local populations of the Eltham Copper Butterfly around Castlemaine. To read more about the benefits of being part of the project – click here

Property selection criteria

Not every property will be suitable as Eltham Copper Butterfly habitat.

We’re looking for properties that meet the following criteria.

Land with:

Minimum of 0.4 hectares (1 acre) land size with space for revegetation planting
Proximity (within 1 km) to Kalimna Park, Castlemaine Botanical Gardens northern section, Chewton Bushlands (Dingo Park Rd region), Walmer Forest Reserve (near southern end of Woodbrook Rd) and Campbells Creek (near Broad Rd).
Suitable conditions for the target plant species to facilitate healthy growth.
No domestic stock grazing.

Landholders with:

Strong interest in managing their property for biodiversity conservation and restoration.
Commitment to planting and maintaining the revegetated plants.
Capacity to commit to future land management actions (e.g., weed and rabbit control, grazing exclusion, maintaining plant guards).

Landholder expressions of interest

If you meet the criteria and are keen protect and restore butterfly habitat on your land, please complete our expression of interest form – Click here

Please return your expression of interest form to Connecting Country via email (info@connectingcountry.org.au). Expressions of interest close on the 17 October 2022

This project is funded by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment as part of the Environment Restoration Fund and Threatened Species Strategy Action Plan.

Learn more about the Eltham Copper Butterfly

For more information about the Eltham Copper Butterfly – click here