Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in our community consultations recently. From August to October we asked for input into our next five-year regional landscape plan for guiding our priorities from mid-2026. This included a workshop with local government, stakeholder interviews and two Caring for Country Conferences for Aboriginal community members. We value the input from the Eyre Peninsula community at these events and through other feedback options.
Open for feedback now, is the draft water allocation plan for managing the region’s groundwater. See our story below for more details including how to get involved.
At the same time as we progress these plans, we’ve worked with Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula (RDAEP) and the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association on a new three-year strategic plan for the region, with consultation on that closing earlier this month.
These plans are all important for the sustainability of our vast region – and again I thank everyone who has taken time to get involved.
As you can imagine, these pieces of work alone have been significant for us throughout 2025. In addition, it’s been great to see our three-year sustainable agriculture project get underway with partners Ag Innovation and Research Eyre Peninsula and RDAEP.
Our other major projects have included our Caring for Country, Aboriginal Participation Plan being implemented, and project work progressing on sheoak drooping woodland recovery, creating a safe haven for threatened species on Flinders Island, feral deer control, and large-scale roadside weed control.
Thank you to everyone who has worked with us throughout the year to help safeguard Eyre Peninsula’s natural and productive environment. We look forward to seeing what we can achieve together next year.
I would like to also take this opportunity to make a special mention of our hugely dedicated staff, Board, volunteers, funders and delivery partners. Without your passion, dedication and support we would not be able to achieve the important outcomes for our productive and natural environment.
Please do keep an eye out in mid-January for our draft regional landscape plan which we’ll have open for feedback on YourSAy.
Until then, I wish everyone a safe and happy festive season and end of year. Please be mindful of respecting the local biodiversity if you get an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors during summer. Always taking your rubbish with you, sticking to existing tracks and giving wildlife plenty of space – are three small but important ways you can help keep our environment sustainable for years to come.
All the best,
Jonathan Clark
General Manager,
Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board
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Draft plan to guide groundwater use
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A draft amended Water Allocation Plan for Eyre Peninsula’s groundwater resources is now available for feedback.
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Updated science and information about the region’s long-term reductions in rainfall, falling groundwater levels, increasing salinity risks, the health of groundwater dependent ecosystems, and supply and demand considerations, were used to inform the drafting of the amended Plan.
General Manager Jonathan Clark says a reduction in the allocation available to some licence holders is necessary, as outlined in the draft Plan.
“The latest data from the Department for Environment and Water clearly shows that water extraction at current rates is not sustainable under a changing climate in some areas, with the risk of irreparable damage to the basins,” Mr Clark says.
“The SA Water desalination plant at Port Lincoln has been designed to offset these reductions in groundwater availability for public water supply.
“The Bramfield basin, which supplies water to Elliston, is facing risks from falling groundwater levels and changes in water quality due to seawater intrusion.
“The draft amended Plan has a simplified process to reduce allocations when groundwater storage drops due to a lack of rainfall and recharge in drier years. This allocation approach aims to provide adequate water for the Elliston town water supply, even after a dry year. However, increasing groundwater salinity may require alternative town water supply options to be revisited in the future.”
You can find out more on our YourSAy page including a summary of the major items in the Plan and the draft amended Plan in its entirety. We encourage the community to have their say on the Plan by completing a survey on YourSAy by 5pm on December 16, 2025.
Meet with us next week
We will be holding community consultation drop-in sessions next week on:
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Wednesday November 19 from 3:30-6:30pm at the Elliston Sporting Club
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Thursday November 20 from 3:30-6:30pm at the Port Lincoln Yacht Club
Joining us will be water experts from the Department for Environment and Water. Come along to find out more and have your questions answered.
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Have you seen deer on EP?
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Community projects: Aboriginal youth camp, gazania & rabbit control, ag tours
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We love seeing progress on the Grassroots Grants that we fund. Thanks to recipients who have recently shared their grant highlights with us.
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Rabbit fencing
We recently had an update from a Point Boston community group that has installed 600m of rabbit control fencing.
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Since the fencing was installed, the group has been seeing far fewer signs of rabbits around the area.
As part of the grant activities, the group has also undertaken removal of pest plant white weeping broom which is helping the native flora in the coastal area to thrive.
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Perlubie gazania control
Last Friday, we spent the morning with community members at Perlubie Point (20km north of Streaky Bay), hand-pulling gazania weeds to protect fragile coastal vegetation and biodiversity.
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Preventing further spread of gazania – and other declared pest plants in South Australia which threaten to reduce biodiversity and primary production – is vital to the integrity of local ecosystems and pastoral areas.
This work has been undertaken as part of a Grassroots Grant that we awarded this year to District Council of Streaky Bay, to focus on gazania control around the Perlubie township, complementing work being rolled out across the Streaky Bay district.
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Galinyala Yarniri Rangers Camp
In the October school holidays, Galinyala Arts Hub in Port Lincoln held a Galinyala Yarniri Rangers Camp for Aboriginal youth to connect with local culture, learn about the marine ecosystem and restorative land management to care for country, coast and islands; to plant career aspiration seeds for participants to become future rangers within the region.
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Activities included making shields and returning boomerangs, learning about bush foods and medicines, and visiting Rumi on Louth to learn about the environmental restoration of the island including wild harvesting of native plants.
The group also spent time in Lincoln National Park to assist Lincoln and Coffin Bay rangers to clean up marine debris.
Camp organiser, Evelyn Walker (pictured) a Barngarla-Nauo and Wirangu descendant from Port Lincoln, facilitated the Galinyala Yarniri Rangers Camp. She said it was great to see the camp bringing together elders, local youth and community services to revive and learn cultural practices and care for the environment. She hopes to run another camp in the near future.
Connecting women in ag
The WoTL group has held three events throughout the region to connect and educate women involved with agriculture.
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In Cummins, more than 20 women took part in a crop walk (pictured) and heard about automatic sprayer technology, tile drainage to help salt affected paddocks, and cropping trials.
At Cleve, an ag tour saw a group of women learning about other primary production businesses; while a sticky beak day at Minnipa explored virtual fencing, new wheat varieties, lentil agronomy, dry sowing and business diversification.
Next year’s Grassroots Grants program will open in April. Keep an eye on our website and socials for more details.
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We’ve started working on a two-year project to focus on large-scale roadside weed control.
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Funded by the Landscape Priorities Fund, this project is giving us the opportunity to tackle weeds on a scale beyond our usual capacity. With a road network stretching more than 13,000 km, it’s impossible for our nine landscape officers to cover this entire area so we’re working with contractors to make an impact on roadside weeds.
Already we’ve seen gazania control along more than 300 km of roadside on western Eyre Peninsula, spanning from Kyancutta to Streaky Bay and extending north to Ceduna. In the coming weeks we will cover a further 166km of roadside from Streaky Bay to Sheringa.
In eastern EP, thousands of African boxthorn and gazania plants have been treated, and around southern EP, bridal veil has been targeted.
There’s more to come and we’re excited to see what impact this project can make but it can’t happen without landholders taking care of pest plants that are popping up on their land too. See our pest plant page for more information about our 16 priority weeds and how you can control them.
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Meet the island detection dogs
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Six detection dogs and their handlers have been on Flinders Island, off Elliston, for the past few months, busy sniffing for any signs of feral cats and rodents.
The dogs are Fudge, Kalinka, Shark, Nui, Curly and Oaky (pictured below).
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Supporting the dog detection teams is camera monitoring, traps, foot searches and thermal drone surveys – all so far showing no signs of recent cat presence on the island.
Why is this good news?
The Flinders Island Safe Haven project is all about removing key feral predators and pests from the island, so that it can become a refuge for threatened species. If successful, it would see Flinders Island become one of Australia’s network of havens for our most at-risk mammals.
The unique nature of islands provide natural biosecurity barriers that dramatically reduce the cost to maintain a feral-free environment as well as having a high level of ongoing protection against reinvasion.
Flinders Island, off the Elliston coast, holds great promise as a safe haven.
Find out more about this project including biosecurity considerations if you’re planning a visit when it reopens in January.
This project is jointly funded by the Australian Government, the South Australian Department for Environment and Water and the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board in partnership with the Woolford family.
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Weather information for farmers
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A popular climate update series has been extended to include Eyre Peninsula, providing valuable information to local farmers.
Through a video update, Seasonal Risk Agronomist Dale Grey from the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, talks about rainfall, temperatures, the EP moisture probe network readings, climate model predications for the next three months and more.
Eyre Peninsula being included in this climate series has been made possible through the EP Sustainable Agriculture project, which is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Natural Heritage Trust under the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program and delivered by AIR EP for ourselves, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.
Providing farmers with more information about climate variability, aims to better equip them to respond. A key focus area of the sustainable agriculture project is helping the agriculture sector adopt practices to reduce emissions and build resilience to climate change.
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November 19 & 20: Draft Water Allocation Plan community drop-in sessions
We’re hosting two community sessions for feedback on the draft water allocation plan for Eyre Peninsula’s groundwater. Our experts plus those from Department for Environment and Water, will be there to answer your questions.
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Wednesday November 19 from 3:30-6:30pm at the Elliston Sporting Club
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Thursday November 20 from 3:30-6:30pm at the Port Lincoln Yacht Club
November 26: Board meeting at Tumby Bay
Our Board meets five times a year. Members of the community are welcome to attend as observers. If you would like to attend or make a presentation at any of the upcoming meetings, please contact ep.landscapeboard@sa.gov.au.
See our Board page for next year’s meeting dates and locations.
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Citizen science: goannas
Goannas can be found across a wide area of Eyre Peninsula, particularly in coastal dune areas.
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They can be quite active in summer so it’s important to take care on regional roads this summer and adhere to ‘slow down wildlife’ signs.
If you happen to spot a goanna in the wild – and it’s safe to do so – we’d love you to take a photo and share in our citizen science portal. It’s especially important to photograph their tail to help us with identification.
Share sightings at www.epgoannas.com.au.
Photo by Colin Butterworth, submitted to the EP goannas citizen science project.
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