Back from the Brink! Eucalyptus copulans is one of the rarest and most endangered eucalypts in Australia. In fact only one plant is known to still exist in the wild despite extensive surveys in the Wentworth Falls area where it used to occur. The original Eucalyptus copulans population was always limited in its distribution but the urban development of its habitat and the changing fire regimes that accompanied European settlement did not help it’s cause. After the last known individuals were killed by the severe fires of 1958 and the site was subsequently developed for housing the species was presumed to be extinct. However in 1993 a single tree was rediscovered in a railway reserve in Wentworth Falls and in 1998 a further individual was found in the Jamison Creek Reserve. Unfortunately the individual in the railway reserve was subsequently struck by lightning and killed.

Due to the foresight of the NPWS and the Royal Botanical Gardens seed and seedling collections were maintained at the Mt Annan and Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens after the species rediscovery. The planting out of three Eucalyptus copulans seedlings for Threatened Species Day 2006 represented the first reintroduction of the species into it’s natural range and forms part of ongoing efforts to maintain the amazing World Heritage recognised diversity of Eucalyptus species present in the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area (107 eucalyptus species-15% of the global total).

The honors of planting the Eucalyptus copulans seedlings were shared among the members of the Jamison Creek Bushcare group which helps to maintain the Jamison Creek Reserve on behalf of the local community. The commemorative planting was followed by a free Discovery walk along the Charles Darwin Track which highlighted some of the key threatened species of the Upper Blue Mountains area occurring along the Charles Darwin Walk including the Blue Mountains Water Skink, the Giant Dragonfly, the Dwarf Mountain Pine and Eucalyptus copulans.

This article was found in the Gecko 2006 Spring Edition