WISF is the owner of a property located in Castella, approximately 75km northeast of Melbourne. The property is solely a dedicated wildlife sanctuary, which aside from 6 cleared acres is predominantly native bushland regenerating after the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009. Furthermore, the property is in the final stages of receiving in-perpetuity protection through a Trust for Nature Agreement.
The sanctuary covers approximately 165 hectares, predominantly made up of regenerating native vegetation including fern species such as mother shield-fern (Polystichum proliferum), austral bracken (Pteridium esculentum), rough tree-fern (Cyathea australis) and bat’s wing fern (Histiopteris incisa), acacia species including silver wattle (A. dealbata), black wattle (A. mearnsii) and mountain hickory wattle (A. obliquinervia), and eucalypts such as grey box (E. microcarpa), mountain ash (E. regnans) and mountain grey-gum (E. cypellocarpa), as well as various other species, approximately 70 observed in all.
Wildlife species present on the refuge are numerous and include swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), king parrots (Alisterus scapularis), crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans) and a wide range of additional native bird species.
