Eighteen projects funded to improve landscape values
Aboriginal Rangers will monitor endangered mound springs flora and Buffel Grass infestations and Mountain Daisies will be monitored near Quorn in the next year as two of 18 projects valued at almost $150,000 to receive funding in the latest round of the SA Arid Lands Landscape Board’s Grassroots Grants program.
Community workshops and events, weed control and protection of endangered native flora have also been funded in the 2024/25 grant round.
In the North East Pastoral, a project to assess the impact of wind on the grazing patterns of sheep and the associated behaviour at watering points has been funded, with the results to be shared with other landholders.
Funding has also been provided to protect native flora across three districts. Stands of Bullock Bush will be protected with exclusion fencing in the Gawler Ranges, along with fencing designed to exclude kangaroos to protect false Sandalwood and Bullock Bush in the Port Augusta-Quorn district. In the North East Pastoral fencing will protect Slender Bell Fruit, Purple-heart Acacia and Bullock Bush to encourage new recruitment and create a seed bank for future regeneration.
A grant for feral pig control in the North East Pastoral will continue a trial undertaken on Mutooroo Station, with the use of monitoring cameras before, during and after baiting. The results will be shared across the district.
Quorn’s Avenue of Honour, established during World War 2 received funding for new trees to be planted at an event with veterans and community members; while Yunta Race Club was awarded funding to purchase native trees and shrubs.
Two school camps were also funded. School of the Air students will enjoy a cultural learning experience at Iga Warta, while Oodnadatta Aboriginal School students will learn land management practices at a school camp at Bush Heritage Australia’s Bon Bon Reserve.
SA Arid Lands Landscape Board chair Douglas Lillecrapp said all funded projects address one or more of the board’s key priorities and align with the goals of the Grassroots Grants program. These include community capacity building, pest and weed control, biodiversity protection and monitoring, along with land and water management.
“It’s great to see applications from community groups that haven’t previously applied, as well as others that have applied to expand ongoing projects,” he said.
“I’m also encouraged by the number of landholders looking to protect native flora, some listed as endangered, for future generations through the creation of exclusion zones on pastoral properties.”
This was the fifth round of the Grassroots Grants, an annual funding program that was introduced with the Landscape South Australia Act 2019.
For more information on who received grants and the projects that are now underway, visit www.landscape.sa.gov.au/saal
