The Kelman family are the owners of Forest Hills, a property located approximately 65km south of Bathurst. The property is a wildlife-friendly sanctuary currently operating as a sheep and cattle farm, and while it is the Kelman family’s intent to sell the property it is hoped that a like-minded buyer can be found for it to continue in these purposes. Forest Hills is also a member of the Land for Wildlife program and is a declared Wildlife Refuge under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 (NSW).
Forest Hills covers 1,671 undulating to hilly hectares of which approximately half is dry eucalypt sclerophyll forest with dominant species including white (Eucalyptus albens) and yellow box (E. melliodora) and stringybarks (E. obliqua). The remainder is open grazing land, with improved pasture for grazing featuring new plantings for paddock trees and revegetation clusters, and unimproved pastures with some native scrub and forest regrowth. Thompsons Creek and Abercrombie River frontage provides water for wildlife.
Wildlife species known to inhabit Forest Hills include eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), common wallaroos (Macropus robustus), short-beaked echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatus), swamp (Wallabia bicolor) and red-necked (Macropus rufogriseus) wallabies and brushtail (Trichosurus vulpecula) and ringtail (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) possums. A wide variety of snakes, lizards and frogs, including shingleback lizards (Tiliqua rugosa), lace monitors (Varanus varius), eastern snake-necked turtles (Chelodina longicollis), red-bellied black (Pseudechis porphyriacus) and eastern brown (Pseudonaja textilis) snakes, and more than 50 native birds species have also been recorded.
