Heirisson Prong

Heirisson Prong is a community managed reserve established for the conservation of threatened mammals at Shark Bay in Western Australia. The reserve is at the point of a long narrow peninsula of the same name that juts into Shark Bay from the south.

It was established by a local community group from the small mining community of Useless Loop in 1989 (the Useless Loop Community Biosphere Project Group) on the adjoining pastoral lease. The reserve was modeled on the concept of the biosphere reserve of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme, whereby a core zone whose primary purpose was nature conservation was surrounded by a zone where the primary function was the sustainable use of natural resources, in this case the farming of solar salt. The outer zone was managed in such a way as not to hinder the conservation objectives of the core, but rather to help protect it.