September 2023

GM update: Board vacancies, water supply issues, local weeds

Well, here we are now officially into spring, although our landscape officers have been noticing spring conditions among our natural resources for a while now – certainly weeds have been flourishing. Our team have been out and about doing lots of follow-up compliance work on known infestations of priority pest plants. More about that below.

With some warmer weather across Eyre Peninsula this week, you might be noticing vegetation slowly drying out. Despite significant rain in the past two years, water supply issues are concerning. We are responsible for developing and maintaining the Water Allocation Plan (WAP) that regulates how much water can be taken from our local prescribed groundwater resources. In the Elliston district, there are real concerns about water supply for next year’s water allocations. If you’re in that area and hear about public meetings regarding water, I’d encourage you to come along to find out more and have your say about the way forward.

We’ve had some changes in our Board with members Justine Major and Debbie May resigning. We greatly valued the contribution of both these members to our Board since 2020, including in our transition from the previous Natural Resources Management Board which they had both been on since 2018.

That means we are now looking for two new Board members. If you care about managing our local environment, then I’d encourage you to apply. Find out more. Applications are due by September 28.

I’d also like to give acknowledgement to our staff who do a great job of working on our local landscape priorities and working with the community. Take a look at this video to hear from Board Chair Peter Treloar, and our staff about how they work with the community on local priorities including biodiversity, water and pest plants & animals.

All the best,
Jonathan Clark

General Manager,
Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board

Hear from our staff about how they work with the community on local priorities.

Environmental health check-up

Each spring, our staff look at what we call Bushland Condition Monitoring sites which provide a snapshot of the biodiversity in that area. It’s like a health check-up for the bush with our landscape officers noting weeds, impacts of feral animals, condition of the native vegetation and how the site visually changes over time.

Sites are checked every 10 years with around 35 sites monitored each year.

This monitoring is a long-term biodiversity program that gives us an indication of what change is occurring in different vegetation types.

It’s a lovely time of year to go into the bush and visit a range of habitat types – from heathlands and grasslands to eucalyptus forests and woodlands – taking a closer look at what is growing. In a 30m by 30m quadrat, we can find up to 60 different species.

So far this year, monitoring has indicated good recruitment of understorey at a number of sites with certain shrub species including Acrotriche patula and Calytrix Tetragona becoming more prominent and also observation of a range of orchid species (pictured) indicating a healthy ecosystem.

Good regeneration of species resulting from the last couple of wet years is also being observed.

Staff change at Wudinna

Welcome to our new Wudinna Landscape Officer, Chamaree Goonetilleke who takes over from Sam Morley. Chamaree joins us after some time working in NSW, including at Taronga Zoo; and in the Flinders Ranges where she worked as a field guide, educating guests about the diverse flora and fauna and unique landscapes.

She brings a degree in Plant and Animal Biotechnology, with a background in Plant Sciences, Ecology and Conservation and a strong passion for working in natural resource management. After enjoying a visit to the Gawler Ranges with a stop-over in Wudinna, she jumped at the opportunity to return as our local Landscape Officer.

“Every day, I am learning about the wonderful community and council members that share the same passion for the region,” Chamaree says.

“Whether you are in town or passing by, I welcome the opportunity to develop many new friendships and discuss how we can work together for the land.”

Chamaree works from the Wudinna Telecentre. She can be reached on mobile or email or schedule a time to come by to see her in the office.

M: 0417 404 129
E: chamaree.goonetilleke@sa.gov.au

Chamaree is our Wudinna Landscape Officer.

Getting on top of pest plants

Some of the pest plants that our Landscape Officers have been focusing on recently.

Our landscape officers have been involved with a range of pest plant control recently.

In the southern district, our Port Lincoln based landscape officers were pleased to see the effectiveness of past control on gorse populations. The number of plants now present has reduced significantly - good news given that seeds can be viable in the soil for up to 25 years. Continuous monitoring is necessary for this reason.

In the western district, gazanias were flowering early and control has been undertaken near Venus Bay and Lock. This plant may look nice but it’s highly invasive and we recommend getting on top of control as soon as possible to avoid spread. The western team has also been checking on previous Aleppo pine control sites. A few small trees had started growing again.

In the eastern district, our Cleve landscape officers have been checking on some isolated boneseed infestations, including around Arno Bay, Rudall, Kelly, Middlecamp & Mitalie. Small plants have been hand-pulled while a few larger ones were cut and swabbed. In the southern district, checks on previous control sites showed significant growth again. This shows how important it is to keep checking sites. Each flower petal turns into a seed that remains viable for 10 years.

Our Whyalla landscape officer has been working on Opuntiod cacti control with a biocontrol having a great impact on the plants.

Fountain grass (pictured) is also a concern across the region. It’s highly aggressive, out competing pasture species and native plants.

Our landscape officers can provide advice on control methods for local priority pest plants that are declared weeds which must be controlled by landholders.

Not sure what our priority pest plants are for Eyre Peninsula? See our pest plant page for the list of priority weeds including fact sheets with control options.

Mallefowl at Buckleboo benefit from Heritage Agreement grant

A Heritage Agreement site near Buckleboo in central Eyre Peninsula will benefit from close to $20,000 in grant funding to help protect the land that potentially houses a malleefowl habitat.

The grant is one of the first across the state to be funded under the Native Vegetation Heritage Agreement Grants Program. Other successful grants include funding to help protect wildlife on Kangaroo Island and diamond fire-tail birds near Monarto. Find out more.

On Eyre Peninsula, there are more than 380 heritage agreements totalling 311,524 hectares of land.

Grants to help agreement owners with activities to protect biodiversity and important ecosystems on their land remain open. Learn more about the grants available.

Thanks to Sharon Gillam for the malleefowl photo.

Deer control success

In June, we teamed up with Primary Industries and Regions SA on a thermal assisted aerial cull of feral red deer around Marble Range in lower Eyre Peninsula.

In conjunction with local landholders and with the aid of monitoring cameras, deer numbers were estimated (less than 15) and with use of a helicopter, around 10,000 ha was covered to humanely cull the deer in hard to access terrain.

It is highly likely that this population has been eradicated from the area as there have been no deer sightings reported at Marble Range since, and each deer caught on camera has been cross referenced from the monitoring camera data.

This is great news as currently it is estimated that there are 40,000 wild deer across the state. With far lower numbers of feral deer on the EP, it gives us a great opportunity to eradicate them now before populations get out of control and management becomes much harder.

Over the next few years, we’ll continue to work with PIRSA to achieve this. You can help by letting us know if you have seen any deer or evidence of deer on your property. Report sightings via:

the Feralscan app
at www.feralscan.org.au/deerscan
email us at EPLBAdmin@sa.gov.au or call our Port Lincoln office on 8688 3200.

Managing acidic soils

A decade-long soil acidity monitoring program on Eyre Peninsula farms has shown the importance of pH testing as well as testing at varying depths, not just the top 10cm of soil.

These findings come from a 13-year soil acidity program that we supported with the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA, as part of our Regenerative Agriculture Program.

Findings included:

Farmers with soil acidity issues should definitely test the soil pH, both in the surface and subsurface with a paddock kit (pictured) and also at a lab.
Data has shown that once liming has begun, sampling at 5cm increments is important to find out if lime is working or if it’s stuck in the top 5cm.
When lime is spread, it doesn’t all react instantly with the soil – it depends on the pH, soil texture and other soil properties.
It’s really important to keep testing soil and trying to work out what is best for your type of soil and how you are working with it.

Our five-year Regenerative Agriculture Program, facilitated by Agriculture Innovation and Research Eyre Peninsula (AIR EP), through funding from the Australia Government’s National Landcare Program, finished in June this year. We have a range of case studies available on our website, to help local farmers learn from the trials that others have undertaken.

We’re currently working on implementing our next sustainable agriculture program.

Useful links

Need to check your stock water? We offer free salinity testing for landholders. September is an ideal time for testing.
Landholders have responsibility for controlling declared pest plants across the EP. See our pest plant page to find out more about the priority pest plants in our region and control options.
Spot a feral deer, fox, rabbit, cat, goat or wild dog? Report your sighting on FeralScan. See our pest animal page for more details on these pests.
Undertaking works on an existing or new water source? Our Water Affecting Activities page has permit information including application forms and factsheets. We also have a guide for siting, design, construction and management of EP dams.
Want more news about our Regenerative Agriculture Program? Subscribe to our quarterly Farmers Connect EP newsletter.
Need to get in touch with us? See our contact page for your nearest office.
Find out what is happening across statewide landscape management on the Landscapes SA website. There is also a regular statewide newsletter.