Restoring Australian Biodiversity
Stephen and Prue have always been passionate advocates for a more sustainable way of living – seeking to restore balance to their natural environment, to regenerate vineyard ecosystems, and to minimise harmful impacts to the earth.
Achieving these ideals has taken many years of research, discussion and trials. Prue’s hands-on approach has seen her travelling kilometres of country roads exploring local ecosystems, participating in projects as detailed as counting the populations of frogs and microbats and as large as planting tens of thousands of native trees and plants on the Henschke property and vineyards.
Prue, who holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in Botany and Zoology, protects and nurtures 109 hectares of vineyard, 32 hectares of native timber trees, and 150 hectares of bushland under conservation. A conservation program has restored native grasslands, woodlands and forests to 50 per cent of the Henschke landscape – 18,000 trees were planted on one property alone. Some of these gum trees provide a food source for rescued koalas in South Australia.
By increasing native biodiversity in the vineyard, Prue has created a stronger, more balanced ecosystem than the vine monoculture of the past. She started with planting Native Wallaby grass (Rytidosperma spp.) between the rows. This grass sward, which was growing outside the vineyard fences doesn’t need mowing, is good competition with weeds, helps preserve soil moisture and is dormant during the vines’ growing season to minimise competition for water. Native Christmas bushes (Bursaria spinosa) and native Iron-grass (Lomandra spp.) are also planted in the vineyards to provide flowers and habitat for beneficial insects. In the once empty spaces across all the vineyards, Prue has established thousands of different Australian native plants. These contribute to soil health and support local life forms: insects, small animals, microbats and birds.
