Department for Environment and Water

Now in its sixth year, the Landscape Priorities Fund has invested $32 million into natural resource management projects that deliver outcomes throughout regional South Australia.

The fund supports projects to help landscape restoration, aid recovery from natural disasters, bolster climate resilience and adaptation, boost sustainable agriculture and enable threatened species and ecosystems to recover and thrive. 

Of the new $3.84 million, the eight regional boards will share $2.1 million for projects to build nature-based resilience to climate change. They include:

• Alinytjara Wilurara: monitoring and implementing management strategies for priority species
• Eyre Peninsula: Ostrea angasi (native oyster) reef recovery at Coffin Bay to improve water quality and support biodiversity
• Kangaroo Island: Catchment to Coast – improving the health and water quality of significant waterways
• Limestone Coast: water use efficiency in industries across the region
• Murraylands and Riverland: delivering actions in the board’s Climate Change Strategy, including enhancing on-farm biodiversity, the restoration of paddock trees and upgrading weather data systems
• Northern and Yorke: Reviving the Southern Flinders, including Buffel grass and feral herbivore control, habitat remediation and riparian restoration in the Baroota Reservoir catchment
• SA Arid Lands: monitoring the water quality and flow of springs in the Flinders Ranges to inform future management options

The Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board will use a $325,000 grant for Deep Creek and Tooperang/Nangkita fire recovery works to stabilise priority assets and reduce escalating weed, grazing and predator pressure.

Large-scale projects in previous years have included: 

• The removal of more than 12,000 feral goats across the SA Arid Lands
• The removal of more than 10,000 weeds from Kangaroo Island
• The removal of illegal dams in the Mount Lofty Ranges
• The first rodent aerial control program on Flinders Island
• Establishing 25 demonstration sites across seven board regions to showcase methods to overcome soil constraints and build soil fertility

Department for Environment and Water Director of Climate Action and Landscape Partnerships Mary-Anne Healy said the fund was important in supporting outcomes. 

“The fund supports tangible on-ground outcomes across the state and enables local partnerships to achieve landscape restoration and rehabilitation,” Ms Healy said.

“Supporting the regional landscape boards is vital in ensuring South Australia’s environment can withstand the demands the changing climate and our needs place upon it.” 

To find out more about the projects funded through the Landscape Priorities Fund, head to Landscape Priorities Fund | Landscape Boards SA