Endangered blue gums on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula focus of Nature Foundation native vegetation plan
Thirteen hectares of endangered blue gum woodland on an Eyre Peninsula property was the subject of a project by the Nature Foundation with the Eyre Peninsula landscape board. At right: Nature Foundation's programme coordinator Liam Cook examines grasses on the property.
The Nature Foundation worked with a landowner and its landscape board from 2022 to protect a significant patch of endangered native vegetation on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
The property had 13 hectares of Eyre Peninsula blue gum woodland that was listed as endangered under South Australia’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Nature Foundation programme coordinator Liam Cook said a part of the property would be designated as a Significant Environmental Benefit area with to improve native vegetation over 10 years. He said protecting remnant native vegetation was vitally important in South Australia because of past land clearance: “These pockets of existing native vegetation provide refuges for our native fauna and it is crucial to protect them in perpetuity, so they’re not going to be cleared or damaged in the future.”
The project would reduce competition from high-threat weed species that block available nutrients for native vegetation. Managing weeds and controlling feral animals allowed bush to regenerate and often increased biodiversity.
Eyre Peninsula landscape board provided $10,000 for the project and the Nature Foundation gave additional support to set up the offset area and a management plan for the landowner to follow. “We see that there’s untapped potential and opportunities on the Eyre Peninsula for landowners to improve and protect the native vegetation on their properties without being out of pocket as well,” Crook said.
Nature Foundation was a not-for-profit organisation that protected South Australia’s natural environment on its eight nature reserves, comprising over 500,000 hectares, with different partners and landowners. In total, it had helped protect the flora and fauna on more than 1.15 million hectares.
