Elena Guarracino and Richard Valler are the owners of Wildcroft, a property situated in Dalgety, approximately 35km southeast of Jindabyne, New South Wales. The property is a dedicated sanctuary and wildlife corridor, also used for releasing rehabilitated wildlife. Elena and Richard are members of LAOKO and are in the process of finalising a Conservation Agreement with the Biodiversity Conservation Trust to protect the property in-perpetuity.
The property spans 315 hectares of grassy woodland, featuring numerous gullies and dams and 1km of frontage to the Snowy River. Formerly a grazing property, the land is now destocked and is undergoing extensive revegetation work through Greening Australia, Monaro Dieback and South East Local Land Services.
Grassy woodland is the dominant vegetation type, featuring apple gum (Eucalyptus bridgesiana), candlebark (E. rubida), manna gum (E. viminalis), snow gum (E. paucilflora) and black sally (E. stellulata). Other species present include red-stemmed wattle (Acacia rubida), silver wattle (A. dealbata), Australian blackwood (A. melanoxylon), Cassinia, sweet bursaria (Bursaria spinosa), gruggly bush (Hymenanthera dentata) and lomandra, as well as native grasses and rock lilies.
A vast array of wildlife is found on Wildcroft including eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus), swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor), bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus), brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), black swans (Cygnus atratus), wedge-tailed eagles (Aquila audax), native bats and platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) which are monitored for the Australian Platypus Conservancy. The property is also a refuge for a variety of threatened bird species such as scarlet robins (Petroica boodang), hooded robins (Melanodryas cucullata) and speckled warblers (Chthonicola sagittata), as well as a wide range of water birds.
