Last week we held our bi-monthly Board meeting, this time at Coffin Bay.

We were fortunate to hear from local oyster experts about oyster reef restoration which ties in with our three-year reef recovery project in Coffin Bay getting underway, funded by the Landscape Priorities Fund.

We also had members from Lower Eyre Council join us. These meetings – each held in a different location – are a great opportunity to connect and learn about local issues.

Applications to join our Board in 2027 were open last month. These are now being assessed but I was certainly pleased to see a range of high-quality applicants from across the region. Our Board is made up of community members with an interest in natural resource management and are essential to the success of our organisation.

Landscape officers across our region are currently busy with pest plant management, biodiversity projects, water affecting activities and community projects while our agriculture partners - Ag Innovation and Research Eyre Peninsula - are focusing on our sustainable agriculture and climate-ready livestock projects.

There’s always plenty happening and I am continually impressed with how much our staff achieve.

We operate within three districts – eastern, western and southern – and were fortunate to see successful recruitment for vacant landscape officer positions in all districts recently, as well as key business support roles. If you deal with our staff regularly, you will no doubt get an opportunity to meet some of these new recruits as they get stuck into their new jobs.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Seb Drewer, who was acting General Manager up until mid-August while I was on long service leave for nearly 6 months. Seb did an excellent job supporting the Board and leading the team. The team also did an exceptional job through this period delivering projects, providing services and supporting the organisation. The Board formally recognised these efforts at last week's meeting.

Keep reading for highlights on what we have been up to recently plus an opportunity for community members to get involved with the State Landcare Conference.

All the best,
Jonathan Clark

General Manager,
Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board

Are you a Landcarer or Coastcarer, or involved in caring for our local environment?

We are offering up to 10 x two-day conference tickets for the State Landcare Conference for Eyre Peninsula residents who are involved in local landcare activities (travel and accommodation not included).

With this year’s theme being: Growing Strong Together: Grassroots Landcare in Action – we think this is a great fit with the work we know many EP community members are undertaking, including recipients of our Grassroots Grants.

Interested? Fill out the registration form and send it to EPLBadmin@sa.gov.au by no later than 9am on Wednesday 9 September, 2026.

Feral deer and goats can cause significant damage to local biodiversity as well as impacting agriculture.

During the past few years, we have undertaken control programs across the region to help manage known populations. See our feral deer and feral goat control videos for insights on these programs.

Last month saw us coordinate feral deer programs in western and southern EP while goats were targeted in eastern and western EP resulting in good numbers of these pest animals removed from the environment.

Thanks to all the landholders in these areas who worked with us to make this a success.

More than 200 deer have been removed in the past four years after searching more than 600,000ha while close to 10,000 goats have been controlled since 2024, largely around eastern EP and Gawler Ranges.

See any feral goats or deer around? Please report via FeralScan or chat to your nearest landscape officer.

We love hearing updates on work we have funded through our Grassroots Grants program. Here’s some recent project updates.

Growing together in Kimba
While the Kimba AH&F Show is being held later this month, in late July they hosted a Pruning Pop Up session as part of its ‘returning to our roots’ series. The series is about strengthening local knowledge and practical applications for growing food along with sustainable practices.

Osprey perching poles in Port Lincoln
Across SA, community-led groups help to safeguard endangered Eastern osprey through activities such as the installation of artificial nesting sites and perches.

Water security on-farm is vitally important for a thriving agriculture industry. During the past year we have been part of the EP Farm Water Security Project.

This included workshops held last August and this February to provide farmers with a range of information and ideas for improving farm water security.

There is now a series of case studies and fact sheets relating to farm water issues including capture and storage, and managing hard water, salinity, pH, turbidity and dissolved iron. See our water pages and future water security page for further water management information and resources.

This project was led by the Department of Primary Industries and Regions through the South Australian Research and Development Institute, with ourselves as project partners along with SA Water, AWI Extension SA and AgCommunicators.

A water storage on-farm example at Wharminda during a workshop last year.

With so much rain around this season, we expect that weeds will unfortunately be flourishing this coming spring and summer.

Some of the spring-blooming priority pest plants in our region to keep an eye out for include white weeping broom, boneseed, gazania, African boxthorn and cutleaf mignonette.

As the weather starts to change to summer conditions, we expect summer grasses like buffel grass, African lovegrass and fountain grass to come up in known areas.

Our landscape officers will be involved in a range of roadside control programs for these priority pest plants.

Not sure what Eyre Peninsula’s priority plants are? See our pest plant page for more information.

Regenerative Ag Forum - Ungarra - 29 September
Come along to hear about research-backed ideas that growers can consider within their own systems. Registrations essential. For further information, contact Bek Peters on 0447 973 489 or projectofficer@airep.com.au.

• The Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board region extends from Whyalla in the east, along the Gawler Ranges in the north, to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in the west. There are eight offices within the region. Want to get in touch with us? See our contact page for your nearest office.
   
• Need to check your stock water? We offer free salinity & pH testing for landholders.
   
• 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 including management plans.
   
• 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 and other resources for managing on-farm water.
   
• Find out what is happening across statewide landscape management on the Landscapes SA website or subscribe to the statewide newsletter to hear news from across the state.