In 2015, Terri Irwin added 33,000 acres to Queensland’s Mourachan reserve, now 117,174 acres of habitat for woma pythons, yakka skinks and koalas | World News

For most people, a major purchase is usually a house or a car. Terri Irwin had a very different one in 2015. According to Australia Zoo, she bought 33,000 acres of adjoining land, about 52 square miles, and added it to Mourachan, a conservation property in St George, Queensland. Today the zoo says it and Wildlife Warriors hold 117,174 acres there, about 183 square miles, of one of the rarest habitat types in Australia.A hunch that turned out to be rightThe story begins with Steve Irwin. He set up the property after suspecting woma pythons lived there, and the zoo says he was right. Farming had heavily degraded the area in recent years. After that damage, Steve and Terri began to repair the land. They planned to keep the semi-arid ecosystems intact and create a safe haven for native animals to slowly build up their numbers naturally. In 2015, Terri continued that work by buying the adjoining land.The animals that call Mourachan homeAccording to Australia Zoo, the property is home to the Queensland subspecies of the woma python, which it describes as endangered, and to the little-known yakka skink. The site is also the westernmost habitat for koalas, which the zoo calls vulnerable, and the land protects several endangered ecosystems and species. The yakka skink is the least familiar of the three. It is a large, secretive lizard that can grow up to 40 cm or about 16 inches long, according to the Queensland government's species profile. It eats plants and animals and may be active by day, at dusk, and sometimes at night. It is listed as vulnerable under the Nature Conservation Act in Queensland, and the profile says land clearing is a concern for the species across most of its range in the Brigalow Belt.Part of a larger networkMourachan is not the only property the zoo and Wildlife Warriors look after. Together they protect more than 450,000 acres across Queensland. In 2007, 330,000 acres of land in Cape York were designated the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve. The reserve has 35 different ecosystems, and the zoo’s team goes there every August to continue research. The way was not easy. Days after the reserve was named, plans to mine bauxite there were unveiled. Terri led a campaign that was credited with helping the Queensland government pass legislation to protect the land six years later.At Ironbark Station in Blackbutt, the zoo bought 3,500 acres in 1994 and has since added 1,630 acres, bringing it to 5,130 acres. The land was bought to restore the declining koala habitat, so Steve and Terri promptly planted 44,000 eucalyptus trees. The property has also been granted funding by the Queensland government to eradicate invasive plants and weeds that prevent native animals from moving freely in search of food and shelter.What we still don’t knowThe zoo is also open to researchers. Those interested in studying either ecology or conservation at Mourachan can apply by completing a request form and emailing it to the zoo’s research team. The zoo’s properties page doesn’t list population counts, so it’s hard to say how many pythons, skinks or koalas now live there. What it does show is a continuing effort to protect a rare patch of Queensland.It’s also a reminder that saving habitat can begin with one purchase, one plan and years of steady work. For nature-lovers, it shows how ambitious conservation goals are often accomplished one parcel of land at a time.