Pulletop Nature Reserve Plan of Management

Pulletop Nature Reserve was used for intensive scientific research into the behaviour and ecology of the malleefowl from 1951 when Dr HJ Frith, Chief of the CSIRO Division of Wildlife Research, began a major research project on malleefowl. The reserve was dedicated as Pulletop Faunal Reserve in 1963 and renamed Pulletop Nature Reserve in 1967.

Surrounded by agricultural land, Pulletop Nature Reserve provides an island of natural habitat for many native animals within the region. A total of 123 mallee and woodland birds have been recorded in the reserve, including 14 threatened species.

The endangered malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata) was present in the reserve until the 1980s but, together with a number of other species previously recorded, it is now considered to be locally extinct. The number of woodland and mallee birds are declining rapidly due to habitat destruction and predation, and therefore the conservation of remaining areas of native vegetation such as Pulletop Nature Reserve is vital for their survival.