Eastern Mallee

The largest and best known town is Salmon Gums; others include Scaddan, Grass Patch, Red Lake and Dowak, Western Australia.

It has a variety of surface types, including calcareous clays and loams containing kankar; outcrops of metamorphosed sandstone; white and yellow sand; and loamy pan fields.

What information is available has been gathered in the context of conservation assessment: The subregion contains many endemic plant species in the Eucalyptus and Acacia genera.

[1] It also supports a number of rare or endangered fauna, including the mammals western quoll (Dasyurus geoffroii) and dibbler (Parantechinus apicalis); the birds short-billed black-cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus latirostris), slender-billed thornbill (Acanthiza iredalei iredalei), malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata), western whipbird (Psophodes nigrogularis), crested shrike-tit (Falcunculus frontatus) and hooded plover (Charadrius rubricollis); and the carpet python (Morelia spilota).

Coastal areas are also visited by the shy albatross (Thalassarche cauta), the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) and the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis).

The remaining three quarters of the subregion falls within the "Extensive Land-use Zone" (ELZ), where the native vegetation has not been cleared but may have been degraded by the grazing of introduced animals and/or changes to the fire regime.

[1] The subregion was given a Continental Stress Class of 4 when measured against the criteria, but the authors of that assessment stated that it should more properly be rated at 3, because of the threat of salinity, and because clearance of western parts has resulted in a biased reserve system.

[4] The Mallee, Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains regions together comprise Hopper's Transitional Rainfall Zone of Beard's South West Botanical Province.