Wildlife Land Trust / Sanctuaries / WA / Doherty

Ken, Sandy and Steph Loveland are the trustees for the Kenandra Super Fund and recent owners of Doherty. This property is located in Mullewa, approximately 90km north-east of Geraldton, Western Australia. The property was formerly used as a wheat and sheep enterprise, but some areas have recently been repurposed for carbon sequestration by the Carbon Fund Australia Pty Ltd. Ken intends to use the land as a small-scale education and tourism venture. He will also lease out current agricultural areas to maintain wheat and sheep enterprises in order to fund future conservation efforts. The carbon sequestration plans will continue in accordance with the Tree Plantation Agreement, Carbon Right and Carbon Covenant held by the previous owners. Ken and Sandy are currently the owners of another WLT sanctuary called Kenandra, which is dedicated to wildlife conservation and rehabilitation.

Doherty is a large property covering approximately 1005.5 hectares in a semi-arid region. The property is dominated by oil mallee (Eucalyptus kochii) plantations, which were established for the carbon sequestration initiative by Carbon Fund Australia Pty Ltd. The Carbon Fund Australia will continue to retain ownership of the Eucalypt plantations, and Ken will work with them to maintain sequestration activities. The remainder of the land is comprised of paddocks intended for grazing and cereal crops.

Wildlife known to inhabit the sanctuary includes western grey kangaroos (Macropus fuliginosus), red kangaroos (Macropus rufus), common wallaroos (Macropus robustus), emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and bearded dragons (Pogona minor).