Ecological restoration of cleared agricultural land in Gondwana Link: lifting the bar at ‘Peniup’

Summary Large scale ecological restoration in a highly heterogeneous and species‐rich landscape requires big commitment to fine scale planning. In the southwest of Western Australia, in the Fitz‐Stirling area of Gondwana Link, the Peniup Restoration project aimed to improve on such works. A multi‐faceted approach was employed to re‐establish a self‐replicating biologically diverse plant system, ecologically informed in its design and consistent with the heterogeneous mosaic of plant associations found in the surrounding landscape. Outcomes from the project included a 950‐ha restoration map composed of nine newly developed soil landscape/vegetation associations. A new 6 m wide direct seeding machine was developed to improve delivery and spatial configuration of establishing plants. These two developments were put to the test in 2008 through a 250 ha biodiverse carbon‐funded restoration effort. This paper summarises the approaches used and initial results of those works.