The Southern Highlands Link partnership was formed to enhance regional corridors and promote the long-term viability of ecosystems and native species. We do this by fostering partnerships and highlighting the importance of connectivity conservation across the region.

The partnership is made up of representatives from state government, local government, local landcare groups, landholders and the business community.

What makes this landscape special?

Although the Southern Highlands has been extensively farmed and cleared since the early 1800’s, there are still many significant areas of native vegetation remaining including three important woodland communities and a rainforest ecosystem. These remaining patches of habitat form a series of stepping stones across private and public lands that connect the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area and Sydney Catchment Authority lands in the North, to Morton National Park in the South.

The region supports a diversity of plants and animals, with the woodlands and forests of the Wollondilly and Burrogorang Valleys alone containing more threatened species than anywhere else in the Sydney Basin. Connections between habitat in the Southern Highlands also provide important east-west movement corridors for a number of coastal wetland birds that travel inland during wetter seasons.

Sadly, urban expansion and the encroachment of rural subdivision are significant threats that could serve to further fragment habitats in the region and break the vital connection between the Blue Mountains and the Southern national parks.