Episode: Summer Special
Broadcast: 28th November 2015
Presenter: Trevor Cochrane

You don’t get recognized internationally as a world heritage site for no reason, and we have this amazing place on our doorstep that needs protection.

• Back in 1801, François Peron visited and recorded 23 species of mammals on the peninsula but by 1990 fewer than half that number were recorded. Twelve species had become extinct as a result of Mankind’s influence over the land’s use.
• The first lease in the area was for a sheep station in 1888. The pastoral station managed thousands of sheep on this hot, dry, red desert and it relied heavily on ground water. Access to water meant the difference between success and failure for many stations back then, when rainfall was high in the 1950’s & 60’s, wool prices reached their peak, but by 1970, the stations like Peron were no longer viable.
• Predation by introduced foxes and cats, habitat destruction and competition for food by stock and rabbits had driven many native animals to local extinction. Recognizing the unique geography of the bay presented an opportunity; a project was devised called Project Eden.
• Kim Branch, operations officer with the Project Eden, aims to restore the local environment. The conversation program was started in 1991 by the department of conservation and land management.

Project Eden
Home: http://www.sharkbay.org.au/project-eden-introduction.aspx

Department of Parks & Wildlife:
http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/