The nighttime tree canopy was once alive with the bustling activity of Greater Gliders.

Now, it’s rare to see even one. 

With your help, we can give native creatures like the endangered Greater Glider the best chance of survival. 

This summer, please donate to help enhance our efforts to protect and restore private land, so our native plants and wildlife can thrive into the future. 

Placing a conservation covenant on private land makes a real and lasting impact, and ensures our native plants and animals have a more secure future.

This is exactly what Les and Darilyn Goldsmith did some 20 years ago.

The Goldsmiths – two former teachers with little knowledge of conservation – purchased a 60-acre block in East Gippsland in the early 1980s. The land was covered in bracken, and overrun with foxes, rabbits and deer.

But it was also home to a beautiful rainforest gully filled with ancient awe-inspiring eucalypts and teaming with native species. The more Les and Darilyn restored their land to its natural beauty, the more they understood its value.

With your support we can reach more landholders right across the state, and ensure our native plants and animals have a more secure future.

The Goldsmiths’ property is one of 18 landscapes and priority areas we’ve identified as critically important and that contain some of our most rare and threatened ecosystems and species. Examples of these landscapes include:

* Northern Foothills, north-east Victoria. Dry forests and grassy woodlands are home to the Golden Sun Moth and the Australian Painted Snipe. Around 86% of the total area in on private land. 

* Strzelecki Ranges, West Gippsland. Wet and damp forests, swamps and streams, provide habitat for the vulnerable burrowing crayfish that live underground on rural properties.

* Glenelg Woodlands, south-western Victoria. Herb-rich woodlands and riverine grassy woodlands are home to many endangered species including the tiny, but critically important, Southern Bent-wing Bat.

With generous support from people like you, we can work with landholders in perpetuity, even when the property changes hands, to ensure these habitats keep flourishing and thriving for generations to come.

There is no other organisation who can do this work.

Of all the creatures on the Goldsmiths’ property, the Lyrebird is their favourite. 

With over 40% of their habitat burnt during the Black Summer fires, Les and Darilyn are proud their home offers refuge for these usually shy ground-dwellers. But it’s not just their feathers or sophisticated voice skills that make Lyrebirds so special, as Darilyn explains: “They’re a fascinating bird with their own unique, elaborate sounds. And we live with them. We have them in the garden every day. All around the property, singing and dancing. They also move many tonnes of leaf litter and break it down. So for bushfire mitigation, they’re an essential part of this whole property.”

Thankfully, the covenant placed on the Goldsmiths’ rainforest gully means the Lyrebird – along with many other precious species, ecosystems and habitats – will be permanently protected.

Please donate today. Together we can increase the area of habitat protected and make a huge difference for nature.