Michael Mueller is the owner of Crown View Ridge, a property located approximately 20km northeast of Oberon. The property is a dedicated wildlife sanctuary used for recreation, and it is Michael’s intent to preserve and enhance Crown View Ridge for native wildlife and protect the native bushland. As part of this, he intends to continue actively regenerating and restoring those parts of the property that are degraded and weed affected.
The sanctuary covers 57.8 hectares and is located on the NSW central tablelands near Oberon, with approximately 85-90% being natural bushland and the remainder pasture, ranging in altitude from about 960m to 1240m above sea level. A small part of the property is adjacent to an area of Crown reserve bushland which is in turn adjacent to an area of native State Forest, creating a corridor for wildlife. Native bushland on Crown View Ridge is mainly comprised of a mix of open and closed dry sclerophyll forest. Most areas (with some notable exceptions) do not have a substantial shrub layer, although this is not uncommon to the ‘Bathurst granites’ area.
Wildlife species known to occur on Crown View Ridge include eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), swamp (Wallabia bicolor) and red-necked (Macropus rufogriseus) wallabies, bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), reptiles such as blotched blue-tongue lizards (Tiliqua nigrolutea) and red-bellied black snakes (Pseudechis porphyriacus), and a large range of bird species including scarlet robins (Petroica boodang), spotted quail-thrushes (Cinclosoma punctatum), gang-gang cockatoos (Callocephalon fimbriatum), thornbills (Acanthiza spp.), treecreepers (Climacteris spp.), wattlebirds (Anthochaera spp.), wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), nankeen kestrels (Falco cenchroides) and powerful owls (Ninox strenua). There is also a healthy frog population present and koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) have been seen nearby Crown View Ridge, but are yet to be sighted on the refuge.
