Managing pests

Pest plants, animals and diseases can have significant negative impacts on natural environments and the economy. The Board works closely with the KI community, providing advice on control techniques for weeds, including environmental, declared and Weeds of National Significance.

The Board takes a strategic approach to feral animal control, working with the community to remove the highest priority species. In 2018 the Board was successful in eradicating feral deer and feral goats from KI, after a 12 year campaign, becoming the largest island in the world to do so. Following this, the Board has set the ambitious task of eradicating feral cats from KI, beginning with the Dudley Peninsula. Over the past five years an understanding of feral cat ecology on KI has been gained, a suite of effective control and monitoring tools developed, a fence to restrict movement between eastern and western KI built, and domestic cat regulations introduced with the support of the KI community.

Being an island, KI has a unique opportunity to prevent pests establishing and from 2006-2020 the Board ran a successful biosecurity program, which raised awareness, and investigated and prevented incursions, including khapra beetle and rabbits.

The coastal waters around Kangaroo Island are not immune from pests either. From 2008-2018 the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board coordinated a marine pest surveillance program which, combined with rapid response capabilities, stopped marine pests from establishing at key entry points into KI.