ANOTHER THIRD OF A MILLION HECTARES PROTECTED
Three large and iconic areas of intact native vegetation will be perpetually protected after recently being listed as Heritage Agreement areas.
The sites total a whopping 346,321 hectares – the equivalent of 330 Adelaide CBDs.
Heritage Agreements are helping to maintain important ecosystems in South Australia. Since the scheme was introduced in 1980, more than 2,800 landholders have agreed to ensure the long-term protection of over 1 million hectares of the state’s native vegetation.
Calperum
While some parts of the Calperum site, which spans 242,800 hectares, show the effects of long-term pastoral use, the property has large areas of intact Mallee woodland, a vegetation that has been cleared from much of southern Australia for agriculture in the past century. Around 8,500 hectares of Calperum Station’s floodplain and wetland lie in the Riverland Ramsar Site, which is recognised internationally as an important habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.
Taylorville
The Taylorville site measures 92,600 hectares and is dominated by intact Mallee. Like Calperum, it provides important habitat for threatened species that depend on high quality Mallee habitat to survive. Across both sites, twenty native plant and eight native animal species have been found that are listed as threatened under national and state legislation.
BHP Billiton
BHP Billiton’s Gosse Springs paddock, rounds up the total with an additional 10,921 hectares. Gosse Springs shares an unfenced boundary with the Lake Eyre National Park. It contains four natural artesian spring groups, which have historically been reliable permanent water sources. Evidence can be seen of thousands of years of use by Indigenous people in its rich archaeological material. Eleven plant and 13 animal species of conservation significance have been recorded close to Gosse Springs.
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