Located 18 km south of town on the Moora-Bindoon Road, Koojan Salmon Gum Reserve is adjacent to a designated rest stop and offers travellers the perfect break from their journey. There is a marked walk trail, including informative signage about the local history, agriculture, flora and fauna of Koojan. It is an easy 20 minute walk along the signed trail, and the gravel track is accessible by wheelchair.
The reserve itself is an example of Salmon Gum and Wandoo woodland, with an intact and diverse understorey of Acacias, Grevilleas, Melaleucas and much more. A townsite was gazetted and land set aside for a reserve in the 1900s but the town was never built. The reserve remains and can give you a glimpse of what the landscape would have looked like before clearing for agriculture took place.
The Salmon Gums are majestic trees, reaching up to 40 m high and can live for hundreds of years. They get their name from their beautiful salmon-coloured bark, most evident in late summer when the old bark peels away. Salmon Gums were often used as an indicator of good quality soils because they were generally found on fertile red clay and loam soils. It is thought that 96% of Salmon Gum woodlands have been cleared from the WA Wheatbelt.
Salmon Gums provide food for invertebrates, shelter for mammals and nesting holes for birds such as the Carnaby’s cockatoo. It can take 120 – 150 years for suitable hollows to develop.
A number of different bird species have been recorded in the reserve and you will also be able to spot orchids in the winter months.
Information sourced from the Shire of Moora, Eco Trails Booklet, Moore Catchment Council, and www.cookstours.com.au website.
