The Wheatbelt Region

The wheatbelt of Western Australia covers some 14 million hectares. The combination of soils and climate has made it an ideal area for wheat production and it is now one of the key Australian wheat producing regions.

There has been rapid and widespread clearance of this area with about 93% of native vegetation removed over last 100 years. The landscape is now mostly human modified consisting of a mosaic of fields, with small remnants of native vegetation.

Associated with agricultural production exotic species have been introduced into the landscape resulting in a further loss of native species. The remaining native vegetation exists in remnant patches scattered across the landscape (Saunders et al, 1993).