Gluepot Reserve is located 64 km north of Waikerie and the Murray River in South Australia's Riverland district. The Reserve is Birds Australia's first publicly funded Reserve. Located in the semi-arid South Australian mallee it is considered by many to be one of the crown jewels in the nation's reserve system. This 54,390 ha large area of virgin mallee scrub contains no less than 18 nationally threatened bird species, 53 species of reptiles and 12 species of bats (some of which are also nationally threatened). There are few areas in the world that support such a concentration of threatened species.

The Reserve is part of the largest block of intact mallee left in Australia and so the viability of threatened bird populations and other flora and fauna is high. Prior to the November 2006 fire (that burnt 8,000 hectares of the Reserve's 54,000ha) the last major fire on Gluepot was over half a century ago in December 1950. Importantly, some whole areas were not burnt at all during these widespread fires. A diversity of fire impacts, together with a diversity of understoreys within the mallee and other woodland communities gives rise to a wide variety of niches for birds and other animals. Many of the trees within the mallee and Casuarina woodland are hundreds of years old with numerous hollows. Such old-growth habitat is essential for many species including threatened species.

Purchased in July 1997, Gluepot rapidly became a centre for scientific research. Its accessibility means it is one of the few areas in Australia where birdwatchers can relatively easily observe otherwise hard-to-find species.

Access restrictions

A few times each year, a portion of the reserve is closed to the public for feral animal control. Certain parts of the reserve, including the visitor centre and at least one camping ground, will remain open. The next closure date is 5‒9 February 2012. If you're planning a visit during this period, please phone the Reserve Rangers on (08) 8892 8600 for more details.

Get Involved

Gluepot Reserve provides volunteers with rewarding experiences whether you are there for two months as Ranger or two days as a visitor filling out bird Atlas sheets. For more information, visit the Gluepot Reserve website.

Management Issues

By successfully combining the elements of biodiversity conservation through land management, scientific research and monitoring, environmental education and sustainable ecotourism, Gluepot Reserve has taken conservation management into a new era. The Reserve is providing an international model to show that sustainable use of the landscape is both feasible and desirable. A highly successful program of this size and complexity is unique in Australian land management.

Gluepot is protected in perpetuity as a conservation reserve by the signing of a SA Heritage Agreement and is the largest area of land in South Australia under Heritage Agreement. Gluepot is also part of the National Reserve System, is on the Register of the National Estate and is further protected under the Commonwealth EPBC Act as 'critical habitat' - the first area of land on mainland Australia to have achieved this protection.

With all domestic stock removed, much of the first 18 months was spent on planning and securing Gluepot Reserve's assets. The key management issues were identified as: control of wildfire, total grazing pressure from kangaroos and feral goats, visitor involvement, and monitoring the impact of management actions on the Reserve's biodiversity.

A fire policy was an early development with upgrading of access tracks and strategic water tanks important on-ground works. Gluepot is now included in a comprehensive 2008 fire management plan written for the Riverland Biosphere Reserve and was the first Biosphere Land partner to adopt the plans recommendations. A Bureau of Meteorology weather station, solar power system (the largest in the Riverland), and a communications system including VHF, HF and UHF radios, phone, fax, satellite internet and a sophisticated computer system have all been installed. Buildings have been upgraded and new ones added to house volunteer Rangers and to provide free accommodation for student researchers. A state of the art world class Visitor Centre has been built and the shearing shed has been converted into a large, Environmental Education Centre that includes a kitchen and dining room - 14 two day courses are run each year. The Reserve has also established 14 walking trails and one car trail; four camp grounds in prime birding areas and a large variety of maps and information brochures are provided at no charge. Five elevated bird hides, overlooking bird watering troughs, are strategically located around the Reserve. The entire north boundary (32km) has been re-fenced, and in a 'ground breaking' move for the environment, 16 dams were closed and the two remaining house dams fenced to prevent entry by herbivores. Following dam closures and their subsequent revegetation, goat numbers have reduced dramatically and kangaroo numbers have fallen to 'natural' pre-dam levels. Mallee birds are largely unaffected by dam closures as they have evolved in the absence of permanent surface water and rarely use it.

Management on the Reserve

A skilled 17 person volunteer Management Committee, with a strong background in business management, conservation, land management, fire management, wildlife survey, research and monitoring, weed, feral and pest animal control, computing, GIS, archaeology, history, education, ecotourism and community involvement, is responsible for all management issues. The Reserve is manned on a continuous basis by Volunteer Rangers and Assistant Rangers.

Volunteers are the life-blood of the Reserve and come from all states of Australia and overseas. Since the Reserve was purchased in July 1997 and to the end of 2007, volunteers had donated 202,926 hours and 1,228,516 km of mileage that equates to an overall donation of time and mileage of $4.232 million. Over the past 9 years, the average for donated hours has been 21,223 per annum. The Reserve is the recipient of 35 national and international awards in the fields of science, conservation, environment, ecotourism, health and the built environment - including five Landcare awards.

Volunteer Ranger positions on Gluepot have historically been booked out 2 - 3 years in advance. The Reserve's Assistant Ranger Training Program offers young graduates and under-graduates the opportunity to obtain training in many facets of conservation and park management, scientific research and monitoring methodology and a wide range of other skills not readily available in any other training programs - there is no charge made by the Reserve for this service. During 2008, nine French and German second year university students are at the Reserve. Students stay for up to nine moths and many undertake special projects on the Reserve as part of their university course. The Reserve provides a supervisor/mentor to these projects.

Research and Monitoring

The Reserve has been extremely successful in developing Gluepot as a 'Quality Centre for Scientific Research' and to date, 14 Australian universities and research institutions conduct ongoing research projects on the Reserve. To date, five PhD projects have been undertaken at Gluepot along with a number of MSc and Honors projects. The Reserve has recently completed 'hosting' a $1.4 million research project that is studying fire mosaics in relation to biodiversity. This project is supervised by La Trobe and Deakin Universities and six PhD projects were involved over three seasons. Visitors to Gluepot are encouraged (where practical) to assist with the Reserve's research and monitoring projects.

Gluepot has the greatest number of permanent biodiversity sites of any Australian land area - 95 sites. These sites are monitored annually by Reserve personnel for vegetation, birds, mammals and reptiles. 50 of the sites are photo-point, vegetation quadrat sites and seven 1km x 2km Malleefowl research and survey grids have also been established. These are monitored annually. Bird banding is conducted a week per month in selected areas to establish populations of cryptic ground dwelling species of birds for long-term research. The Reserve's Bird Banding Manager also provides a bird banding service to students undertaking bird research projects. A vegetation exclosure was established in 2000 and is monitored annually. Gluepot also has the highest concentration of Atlassed sites in Australia. Following the 2006 fire that destroyed 8,000ha, additional monitoring sites have been established in the burnt areas to monitor vegetation and fauna recovery in those areas. The Reserve is establishing Australia's first permanent bat recording station in addition to a number of long-term bat research projects (12 species of bats occur on Gluepot two being on the endangered list). Accurate base mapping of the entire Reserve was completed in 1999 by orienteering volunteers, and floristic mapping was completed in 2001 by botanist Michael Hyde, who also published a 100 page report on the Vegetation of Gluepot Reserve. Feral pests such as goats and foxes are controlled and their numbers monitored. A Weed Management program has been in effect since 1999. All of these data are entered onto a Reserve GIS database to guide managers.

Gluepot is also the field study centre for the endangered Black-eared Miner and years of intensive research has produced an intimate knowledge of the species breeding habits and behavior. Through this research we now know that there are over 200 colonies with more than 3,500 birds breeding on and around Gluepot Reserve - over two thirds of the species remaining numbers. To spread the risk to the species, the Recovery Team successfully translocated eight colonies of Black-eared Miners from the Gluepot area to supplement tiny, genetically isolated colonies in north-west Victoria - this was a world first for such a highly social species. Further colonies will be translocated to Scotia in the NSW mallee when the drought breaks and breeding conditions improve.

Planning and International Recognition

Because of the outstanding volunteer input, it costs only $60,000 - $80,000 a year to run the Gluepot Reserve Operating Budget. Nevertheless, obtaining these operating funds is one of the biggest challenges the Management Committee faces. For this reason, how the actions in the Management and Monitoring Plan will be funded, is detailed in a Business Plan. The Reserve has published two, 5 year Plan of Management publications and the third is in the process of being written (2009 - 2013). This significant progress was recognised at the BirdLife International World Conference where Birds Australia received one of two International Conservation Action awards for its work at Gluepot Reserve.  Gluepot has also received a total of 35 prestigious awards in its recent past.

Gluepot Philosophy

The Reserve's overall management philosophy is to "Effectively manage a large, internationally significant protected area for biodiversity conservation as an addition to Australia's National Reserve System and to develop a successful, financially independent program that will be a model for other community groups with small operating budgets (approximately $50,000)". Other objectives include the increase of public awareness of measures to conserve biodiversity through on-site education programs and by involving volunteers in all aspects of the Reserve's programs; development and implementation of high quality management, monitoring and business plans; to implement and monitor management actions aimed at improving the quality of native vegetation and enhancing populations of threatened species; and initiate and support high quality research based on problems associated with the mallee environment and in particular, threatened species.

Gluepot Accreditation

The many thousands of visitors that come to the Reserve each year are mainly birdwatchers, conservationists and environmentalists. The Reserve has been an industry leader in the accreditation process and was one of the first tourism attractions in SA to achieve Advanced Eco Certification and National Tourism Accreditation. Members of the Reserve's Management Committee are represented on the boards of Eco Tourism Australia (Deputy Chair); SA Tourism Accreditation Board (Chair); Riverland Biosphere Reserve (Deputy Chair); Scientific Expedition Group (Management Committee) etc.

Many of the research projects undertaken at Gluepot Reserve will help solve the problems of land degradation and loss of biodiversity.  They will assist in providing the opportunity for this generation to sustain itself and to make sure that there are resources left for the generation to come. Importantly, they will increase awareness of the environmental issues surrounding this highly endangered area of Australian wilderness.