The Wimmera region in western Victoria contains an extremely diverse range of communities.

These include the wet and rugged Grampians Ranges and the Mt Cole Ranges and Pyrenees Ranges where rainfall can be up to 750mm per year down to the dry, sandy expanses of the Little Desert and Big Desert where rainfall is lucky to reach 350mm per year.

At the same time there is a great range in soil types.

The types range from the sands of the Grampians and the deserts, through to the heavy alluvial Wimmera grey and red clays, areas of granite sands and loams, metamorphic hills and ridges, auriferous alluvial sediments and even wind blown gypsum and silty-sand lunettes near the extensive lakes and wetlands in the region.

As a result of these climatic and soil variations there are many different vegetation communities in the region, many of which remain threatened.

Of particular importance are the grasslands and grassy woodlands of the open plains. These are now largely destroyed, with only tiny and highly fragmented remnants remaining.

There is only now only 14 per cent of uncleared land left in the region and two per cent of this is privately owned.

Despite many challenges, the Wimmera recently became the first Victorian region to have protected 10,000 hectares of bushland through Trust for Nature's Conservation Covenants program. 

Help Trust for Nature permanently protect the rest of the Wimmera.