Revegetation success on Southern Yorke Peninsula
A project focussing on large-scale conservation works to conserve high-priority sites for declining woodland birds across Southern Yorke Peninsula (SYP) has recently been completed.
The Local Communities restoring critical habitat and landscape linkages in the Southern Yorke Peninsula project, which commenced in 2012, achieved whole-of-landscape biodiversity conservation by actively involving landholders around Warooka, Daly Head and Marion Bay in the Yorke Peninsula Council area.
Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources Ecologist Lee Heard said that the willingness of landholders to undertake revegetation activities on their properties greatly enhanced the success of the project.
“We really appreciate the generosity of farmers in providing land for revegetation which will increase habitat for birdlife in the area,” Ms Heard said.
“A number of landholders benefitted from funding and technical support to assist with site planning, site preparation, revegetation, fencing, pest control and other on-ground works.”
“As a result of this collaboration between landholders and Northern and Yorke NRM staff, increased areas of bushland and revegetated bushland corridors across SYP will gradually see the return of bird species such as the Diamond Firetail, Crested Bellbird and Scarlet Robin, which have been in decline over the last decade.”
Ms Heard said 70 hectares - or 127 kilometres of rows - were seeded in 2016, using over 80,500 seeds.
“Follow up monitoring took place recently to assess surviving seedlings, with Eucalyptus, Acacia, Dryland tea-tree Melaleuca lanceolate, Sheoak Allocasuarina verticillata, Swamp Tea-tree Melaleuca halmaturorum, Cockies Tongue/Coastal Parrot Bush Templetonia retusa and Christmas Bush Bursaria spinose recorded across the revegetation sites,” Ms Heard said.
“While at the moment it doesn’t look like much from a distance, it’s surprising how many seedlings are out there.”
Warooka farmer Dennis Taheny was involved in the project and said they could see the value in revegetating unproductive land on their farm.
“The seedlings have come a long way and it will be great to see them grow into larger trees,” Mr Taheny said.
Since 2012, the project has achieved major outcomes, including:
250 hectares of strategic revegetation to restore habitat for declining birds
150 hectares of high value coastal vegetation enhanced and protected from recreational impacts
Protection of sensitive breeding sites for coastal birds, including hooded plovers, sea eagles and ospreys
10,000 hectares of environmental weed control to protect high value habitat
10,000 hectares of landscape-scale rabbit and fox control to protect threatened species' habitat
This project was funded by the Australian Government's Clean Energy Future Biodiversity Fund.
For more information about natural resources management projects in the Northern and Yorke region, visit http://www.landscape.sa.gov.au/ny/projects or phone the Natural Resources Centre in Clare on 8841 3444.
