DIGGING INTO THE FUTURE: HOW WILDLIFE IS RESTORING COUNTRY

If you’ve ever seen a brush-tailed bettong in action, you’ll know they’re very busy. These marsupials spend their days digging and scratching through soil and leaf litter, turning over the earth like tiny gardeners. On South Australia’s southern Yorke Peninsula, they’ve been doing exactly that as part of the Marna Banggara project. 

This isn’t just about bringing back a species. It’s about restoring an entire ecosystem. 

Since their reintroduction, brush-tailed bettongs have been helping to revive the landscape by aerating soil, spreading fungal spores, and improving water infiltration. Their presence shows that sometimes the best tool for healing Country is not a shovel, it’s the wildlife. 

The Marna Banggara project is part of a broader legacy WWF-Australia has built with Rewilding Australia. Since joining forces in 2020, our combined efforts have seen Eastern Quolls released into a safe haven in the Booderee Botanical Gardens in preparation for release into the adjacent national park and work has been undertaken to prepare Lungtalanana (Clarke Island) for the return of Bass Strait Island wombats. 

We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved together – and excited for what’s next.  

After five years of collaboration, the Rewilding Australia program is moving to the Invasive Species Council to scale up efforts tackling invasive species. 

WWF-Australia will continue working in partnership with ecosystem restoration projects like Marna Banggara, working with Traditional Owners, listening to Country and letting nature lead the way. 

 The Marna Banggara project is jointly funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.