NATIONAL WILDERNESS RED INDEX

Published by the Colong Foundation for Wilderness Ltd. 30/09/94
Level 2, 332 Pitt Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
Ph (02) 9261 2400; Fax (02) 9261 2144.

Name:

NINETY MILE DESERT

Nominated by:

Not recorded

Location:

Not recorded

Size
For size and tenure information contact the Colong Foundation.

DESCRIPTION

The Ninety Mile Desert is an extensive area of mallee and heath dunefield. It is
a remnant of the much larger desert, now the Coonalpyn Downs, which covered
approximately 1.5 million hectares until cleared and developed in the 1950's.
Together with larger adjacent tracts in Victoria this area forms part of a group
of wilderness areas of national significance.

The Desert has a relatively uniform landscape of low relief with few distinctive
features. Its elevation rises from 60 to 100 metres above sea level in the
south-west to about 100 to 150 metres along the Victoria-South Australia border.
There are no surface streams and only occasional freshwater soaks. Most of the
land consists of a relatively flat bed of Tertiary clay overlain by an
undulating mantle of infertile siliceous sands. Sand ridges and dune fields are
scattered throughout and separated by flats of variable size. [1]

The characteristic vegetation is a low heath or mallee heath rich in
sclerophyllous shrubs. Variations in the general mosaic of heath lands include
the steep but sheltered lee-side of sand ridges and hills where scattered trees
of Eucalyptus baxteri occur, and flats or soak areas with a relatively high soil
moisture where woodland dominated by E. fasciculosa is characteristic.
Additionally, mallee-broombush communities fringe the northern and southern
margins of the area. [2]

The native mammals of the area have been little studied, however the Silky Mouse
(Pseudomys apodemoides) is present. A rarer species is the little pigmy possum
(Cercartetus lepidus). These two species share the area with other more
widespread mallee country species. The area is rich in birds, reptiles and
insects although surveys are very incomplete. [3]

STATE FORESTS

ENDANGERED SPECIES

LAND USE HISTORY

CONSERVATION HISTORY

THREATS


Much of the Ninety Mile Desert is in a relatively primitive state, although
vehicular tracks and other disturbances reduce wilderness quality in places.
With the exception of grazing in some minor sections, fire has been the only
significant distrubance. Access from the Dukes Highway-Pinaroo Road isolates the
Ninety Mile Desert wilderness from the otherwise contiguous Big Desert
wilderness, which is, in general, similar to its western counterpart and which
extends into Victoria. [4]

CONTACTS

No contacts are recorded from that area.
ENDNOTES
1
Prineas, P., Lembit, R., Fisher, N., 1986, "Australia's Wilderness An
Inventory".

2
Prineas, 1986.

3
Prineas, 1986.

4
Prineas, 1986.

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