Meet the members: South Australia’s landscape boards unpacked
South Australia’s nine landscape boards support local communities to care for land, water and nature.
Each board has between 6 and 10 board members – as distinct to board staff – which adds up to a lot of local talent investing their time, knowledge and experience caring for local landscapes.
We’ve brought them all together in this SA Landscape Board Members chart.
The real work of landscape boards
Landscape boards have big jobs.
The Landscape South Australia Act 2019 summarises the functions of a regional landscape board as:
‘to undertake, promote and integrate the management of natural resources within its region, with particular reference to land management, water resource management and pest animal and plant control, to build resilience in the face of change and to facilitate integrated landscape management and biodiversity conservation’.
Each board takes the lead on developing a 5-year plan to define priorities and guide the contributions of many people and organisations across their regions to restore and protect their local landscapes.
A wealth of local talent
People who care about the sustainable future of their region’s natural and productive landscapes are the people who step up to work on a landscape board.
They are appointed by the Minister for their skills, knowledge and experience, and often have established networks with relevant stakeholders and partners.
Most board members live locally in their region which means they are ideally situated to galvanise and guide communities to care for their unique landscapes.
The Act lists qualifications for membership as including knowledge, skills and experience across:
- community affairs at the regional level
- primary production or pastoral land management
- soil conservation and land management
- conservation and biodiversity management
- water resources management
- business management
- local government or local government administration
- urban or regional planning
- Aboriginal interest in the land and water, and Aboriginal heritage
- pest animal and plant control
- natural and social science
- if relevant—coast, estuarine and marine management, fisheries or aquaculture.
The skills and make-up of each region’s board members is as diverse as the landscapes they seek to protect and improve.
Landscape board staff
While boards provide strategic leadership for managing their region's landscape, it is board staff that work with others to implement regional landscape plans.
Each board has a general manager, who is the employing authority for the board. Staff of regional landscape boards are employed by boards under the Public Sector Act, while staff of Green Adelaide are Department for Environment and Water employees.
Board meetings are open to the public
Landscape board websites list upcoming meeting dates as well as minutes of previous meetings. Everyone is welcome to attend their local board meetings and meet their local members.
More information
Find out a little more about the members of each board on the board information page of their regional websites:
