Caring for country - Northern and Yorke Natural Resources ...

A publication of the Northern and Yorke
Natural Resources Management Board
Number 3 > October 2010
Caring for
country
Aboriginal land revival
links past and present
Page 20

4what’s on
3rd SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH
Wirrabara Producers’ Market
The Wirrabara Producers Market showcases the
produce of the Flinders Ranges. It is a genuine
producers only market and items range from
fresh and dried fruit and meats to superb olive
oils and baked goods.
When 3rd Sunday of each month
Where High Street, Wirrabara
Time 8:30am –12noon
21 SEPTEMBER
Hart Field Day
Come along and view the latest trials at the
Hart Field Day.
When 21 September
Where Hart Field Site
Who Hart Field Site Group
Contact Sandy Kimber on 0427 423 154 or
email admin@hartfieldsite.org.au
27 SEPTEMBER
Northern and Yorke NRM Board Meeting
You are invited to attend the monthly Board
meeting of the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board.
When Monday 27 September
Where Conference Room 1, SA Water Building,
Eyre Road, Crystal Brook
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8636 2361
6 OCTOBER
Lower North NRM Group Meeting
Bi-monthly meeting of the Lower North NRM
Group.
When Wednesday 06 October
Where Farrell Flat
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8847 2544
9 OCTOBER
Intertidal Monitoring Training and
Monitoring Session
Would you like to become a Reef Watch SA
intertidal monitoring volunteer?
When Training and monitoring session -
Saturday 9 October, 8:00am, followed by a
free sausage sizzle and display at 11:00am.
Monitoring session - Sunday 10 October,
8:30am
Where Little Emu Bay, Yorke Peninsula
Who Reef Watch SA
Contact To register email Carl Charter at:
intertidal@conservationsa.org.au
15 - 17 OCTOBER
SA Rural Women’s Gathering
Help celebrate women’s achievements and
diversity with interactive workshops and tours,
inspirational guest speakers, delicious food
and like-minded women. The gathering will
be a weekend of fun, networking, education
and socialising for women of all ages and
backgrounds from regional and rural areas
throughout Australia. Limited places available.
When 15-17 October
Who Remarkable Women
Where Melrose, South Australia
Contact For further information please email:
Melissa.Koch@health.sa.gov.au
25 OCTOBER
Northern and Yorke NRM Board Meeting
You are invited to attend the monthly Board
meeting of the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board.
When Monday 25 October
Where Conference Room 1, SA Water Building,
Eyre Road, Crystal Brook
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8636 2361
1 NOVEMBER
Yorke Peninsula NRM Group Meeting
Meeting of the Yorke Peninsula NRM Group.
When Monday 01 November
Where Kadina
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8853 2795
9 NOVEMBER
Upper North NRM Group Meeting
Bi-monthly meeting of the Upper North
NRM Group.
When Tuesday 09 November
Where Yongala
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8658 1086
22 NOVEMBER
Northern and Yorke NRM Board Meeting
You are invited to attend the monthly Board
meeting of the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board.
When Monday 22 November
Where Upper North
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8636 2361
1 DECEMBER
Lower North NRM Group Meeting
Bi-monthly meeting of the Lower North
NRM Group.
When Wednesday 01 December
Where Riverton
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8847 2544
13 DECEMBER
Northern and Yorke NRM Board Meeting
You are invited to attend the next Board
Meeting for the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board.
When Monday 13 December
Where Conference Room 1, SA Water Building,
Eyre Road, Crystal Brook
Who Northern and Yorke NRM Board
Contact 8636 2361
COUNTRY SHOW DAYS
14 August Crystal Brook Show
21- 22 August Kadina Show
12 September Quorn Show
19 September Wilmington Show
25 September Balaklava Show
2 October Melrose Show
4 October Jamestown Show
9 October Burra Show
16 October Clare Show
Board Xmas/New Year
office closures
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board offices will
be closed over the Christmas and New Year
period on the following dates:
Monday 27 December 2010
Tuesday 28 December 2010
Monday 3 January 2010
For more information, please contact the Board
on 8636 2361 or visit
www.nynrm.sa.gov.au
Proof our baiting signage works.
This southern Yorke Peninsula bait station image was captured on remote infrared
camera by Northern and Yorke NRM Board.
GRANTS
Caring for our Country Community Action
Grants 2010-11
Community Action Grants are available to
groups currently operating in the environmental
and sustainable land management arena,
and to established and emerging Indigenous
organisations. The grants support local
activities such as tree planting, revegetation,
dune rehabilitation, field days, improving land
management practices, and recording and use
of traditional ecological knowledge.
When Now Open. Applications close at 5pm
(AEST) on 31 August 2010
Who Australian Government
Contact http://www.nrm.gov.au/ or phone:
1800 552 008
FRRR Small Grants for Rural Communities
The Small Grants for Rural Communities
program benefits people in rural and remote
communities. Not-for-profit organisations
can apply for projects and activities that offer
clear public benefit for communities living in
small rural and remote locations in Australia,
contributing to their development in social and
community welfare, economic, environmental,
health, education or cultural areas.
When Apply Now. Closing date
30 Sep 2010
Who Foundation for Rural and
Regional Renewal
Contact Visit www.frrr.org.au/programsDetail.
asp?ProgramID=4
Government of South Australia
Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board
HSI Marine Science Grants
Humane Society International’s $7,000 grant in
partnership with the Paddy Pallin Foundation
Science Grants Program supports marine
research. It provides financial support for
conservation-based research of Australian
marine ecosystems. The grant is open to
postgraduate students and early career
researchers (within three years of completing
a PhD).
When Now Open.
Who Humane Society International
Contact Robert Pallin from the Paddy Pallin
Foundation on 0409 748 109
Re-tooling for Climate Change
The Re-tooling for Climate Change program
will help small and medium-sized Australian
manufacturers reduce their environmental
footprint, through projects that improve
the energy and/or water efficiency of their
production processes. Grants of between
$10,000 and $500,000, up to a maximum of
half of the cost of each project. The program
runs for four years from 2008-09 to 2011-12.
Applications may be submitted at any time
and will be assessed on a regular basis by
Innovation Australia.
When Now Open.
Who AusIndustry
Contact AusIndustry hotline on 13 28 46
Yakka is a publication of the Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board. It promotes awareness and uptake of natural
resources management in the Northern and Yorke region of South Australia. Editorial Lance Campbell, Mary-Anne Young,
Wendy Fowler, Trevor Gill Photography David Sloper, Tim Froling, Vanessa Size, Catherine Gasmier, Dragi Marcovic
Design Stickybeak Productions Printing Cadillac Distribution Salmat and Australia Post Circulation 42.000
Acknowledgements The Board gratefully acknowledges the many individuals and organisations who have contributed photographic and
editorial content to this publication. Disclaimer While every endeavour has been made to ensure accuracy in this publication, the Board takes
no responsibility for any errors or omissions. Contributions: Please send your NRM stories and photos to the address below:
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board Office 41– 49 Eyre Road, PO Box 175, Crystal Brook SA 5523
t 8636 2361 f 8636 2371 E board@nynrm.sa.gov.au Website nynrm.sa.gov.au
2 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4inside this issue
10
From the Presiding
Member’s Desk
8
14
features
12
I will begin my first report for Yakka by
thanking the outgoing presiding member
Merv Lewis for his untiring efforts, over many
years, for the betterment of natural resources
in this region. I also thank Merv and Lynne for
their generous, open and frank induction into
the somewhat bewildering world of the Natural
Resources Management Board, and the Board
and wider community for welcoming me.
The Board has been through a fairly torrid
time while preparing the Natural Resources
Management Plan for our region. Fortunately
that task is completed and we now look to a
phase of implementation and ongoing review.
Our new challenge is the change which is
occurring within the new Department of
Environment and Natural Resources, and how
this restructure will affect us within the regions.
I have spent time in Adelaide with various
departmental heads, and have been assured
that adequate consultation will take place
so that we are well informed prior to any
legislative change. One opportunity may be for
a streamlining of some of our more onerous
reporting procedures, and I’m sure we would
all welcome that.
We are looking forward to the launch of the
region’s coastal gardens and coastal planting
guide in October by Minister Caica. Much
hard work has gone into these projects and all
concerned are to be commended for
their efforts.
The Board has been invited to send a
representative to the State Mouse Working
Group and we will be participating in that
enquiry. It seems that all the advantages to
our soil from no-till farming have proven to
be an equal advantage to mice, so we will
need to adapt and prepare for the next plague
whenever that may happen. there has been
some damage in the Northern and Yorke
region, we have been far more fortunate
than the people of Eyre Peninsula.
I also attended the Presiding Members’
Forum in Adelaide, and learned more about
the issues which are common across all
of South Australia.
In the meantime I am trying to visit each
of the Board’s NRM Groups in our region
and attend as many community functions
as possible. I believe there are
many unsung heroes who
contribute in all sorts of
ways to the improvement
of our sustainable resource
management, and I am
hoping to meet many of them
during my term of office.
Once again thank you to
everyone who has welcomed
and assisted me thus far.
Caroline Schaefer
20
Cover photo
Point Pearce community member Uncle Tinto is
taking part in Northern and Yorke NRM Boardfunded
programs to restore degraded country.
“We have to help the country get back to the
healthy way it was,” he says. “If we don’t,
future generations will miss out on the comings
and goings of the natural world.”
(Story page 20.)
Photo: Dragi Markovic
8Heaps better
Two-pronged fox control is giving our
Mallee fowl a fair go
10
Locust knowledge
Locals have learnt from the last time the
pests came to plague.
12
Sky juice
Fruit farmers are making the most of
what falls to earth
14
Treasured island
Labours of love in a majestic setting
16
Fighting for our hives
A bloodsucker threatens our
pollenated crops
18
Climate action
We must get moving on global warming
20
Aboriginal land care
Aligning the old and new
18
regulars
2 | What’s on
4 | All aboard
5 | Acting local
6 | Ground work
22 | Biodiversity
23 | Pest control
24 | On the land
25 | Coast lines
26 | Board talk
28 | Many hands
16

4all aboard
Welcoming Northern and
Yorke’s new chief
Opening of new drop-in centre at Wirrabara
A new Northern and Yorke NRM Board
and Greening Australia office and drop-in
centre has opened at Wirrabara.
New faces
Pam Pilkington
Community Member,
Crystal Brook
Pam has been a
member of the Board’s
Lower North NRM Group for the past
two years. She is also a member of
the Australian Plants Society and the
Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden
at Port Augusta.
Pam has been in farming circles all her
life and she has a passionate interest
in the care of natural resources,
particularly in terms of biodiversity and
the health of soils and river systems.
Claudia Smith
Community Member,
Port Victoria
Claudia is a long-term
resident of Yorke
Peninsula and a member of the State
Aboriginal Heritage Committee.
She is dedicated to conservation of the
natural environment with particular
concerns about vehicular access
to beaches and potential damage
to coastal native vegetation and
biodiversity.
Eric Sommerville
Community Member,
Spalding
Eric is a fifth
generation farmer,
and a member of the Yackamoorundie
Landcare Group.
He has applied natural resource
management principles on his farm
for decades and believes most farmers
are “excellent stewards of the land.”
His particular interests include soil
structure, water management, pest
management and care of coastlines.
Wayne Hutchinson
Representative of the
Department for Water
Wayne is Deputy
Director of Business
Services in the Department for Water.
His responsibilities include planning,
procurement, project management, risk
management and reporting.
Wayne will be a vital link between the
NYNRM Board and the Department on
water-related issues.
Photos: Catherine Gasmier
Caroline Schaefer is the new presiding member
of the Northern and Yorke NRM Board. She
succeeds the Board’s inaugural presiding
member, Merv Lewis, who completed his term
of office in June after six years in the position.
A Member of the Legislative Council of South
Australia from 1993 to her retirement from
parliament in 2010, Caroline and her husband,
Roy, are active grape growers in the Clare
Valley, having moved to the region in 1998
after many years of farming on Eyre Peninsula.
Caroline was one of the state’s most
experienced politicians serving as Minister for
Primary Industries and Government Whip in
the Legislative Council. She was also Shadow
Minister for Primary Industries and Regional
Affairs. Caroline held numerous parliamentary
committee positions, including six years on the
Natural Resources Committee.
“Having been involved in the agricultural
industry for many years, I have a personal and
vested interest in the health and conservation
of our natural resources,” she said.
“I am very pleased to come into the position
as presiding member of the Northern and
Yorke NRM region. It is a diverse, interesting
and productive area of our state with many
challenges and opportunities.
“While water management issues and
response to climate change are over-riding
factors that will impact on our natural resource
management and agricultural practices into the
future, there are also many localised issues with
different effects and solutions.
“I am new to the Board, but I know a
great deal of work has already occurred in
consultation with the community to develop a
regional NRM Plan and associated strategies.
“We are now into the implementation phase
with the plan and I am looking forward to
developing positive outcomes in association
with government, industry partners and
the community we serve. I will be travelling
throughout the region in the coming months
to meet NRM Board staff and volunteers and
to become more acquainted with local projects
and issues.”
Caroline paid tribute to Merv Lewis for his long
and untiring contribution to the NYNRM Board
and the regional community.
Board general manager Lynne Walden
welcomed Caroline and other new Board
members who were appointed during 2010
– Eric Sommerville, Pam Pilkington, Wayne
Hutchinson and Claudia Smith (see story left) –
and Peter White, the Board’s new Lower North
Group member.
“These people bring considerable experience
and expertise to the NRM Board and I look
forward to working with them all,” she said.
About 60 people attended the opening recently
at an event timed to coincide with the popular
Wirrabara Producers’ Market.
Greening Australia chief executive officer, Mark
Anderson, cut the ribbon to open the office
on the main road in Wirrabara. NYNRM Board
member Jackie O’Reilly highlighted the value of
the partnership with Greening Australia.
The new office will provide information about
Board projects, project development, grant
applications, plant identification, vegetation
management, revegetation, bushland
monitoring or grazing advice.
The office features an extensive library to assist
in plant identification, seed collection, farm
forestry and other land care activities.
Anne Brown, Greening Australia’s senior
vegetation consultant whose position is funded
by NYNRM Board, said the launch was a
successful and enjoyable event. It attracted
members of the community, including about 30
schoolchildren who participated in a colouringin
competition on the day.
The NYNRM Board contracts Greening Australia
to provide biodiversity management support to
community members.
Natural resource management has been
integrated within a single department following
the creation of the new Department of
Environment and Natural Resources effective
from 1 July 2010.
A separate Department for Water has also
been created.
The departments have been formed through a
merger of the Department for Water, Land and
Biodiversity Conservation and the Department
for Environment and Heritage.
A Soils Technical Advisory Panel has been
formed to help improve the health of soils
across the Northern and Yorke region.
The panel, chaired by farmer and Northern
and Yorke NRM Board member Neville Wilson,
will provide advice to the NYNRM Board, NRM
Groups, staff members and landholders on
measures to improve the physical, chemical and
biological condition of soils.
The panel comprises people skilled in soils
management. It met recently for the first time,
and will reconvene as required to address issues
referred by Board representatives or members
of the community.
Michael Richards, the Northern and Yorke
landcare facilitator, said the first task of the
panel was to prioritise issues and strategies
to improve land management by building
increased awareness, knowledge and skills
among regional land managers. Meeting
outcomes will inform project development
and delivery.
The office will be open during the regular
Wirrabara Producers’ Market and at least on
the first and third Mondays of each month.
Please contact Anne Brown in advance on
0409 684 312.
New State Government Departments
Focus on soil health
Mark Anders, Greening Australia CEO, at the launch
of the new Wirrabara NRM and GA office.
NRM Boards will continue to fulfil their key
roles of developing regional NRM plans and
undertaking NRM projects that involve local
communities.
“This is a great opportunity to streamline the
effort of the Boards and Government agencies
in NRM delivery and to further build our work
with the community,” said Lynne Walden,
general manager of Northern and Yorke
NRM Board.
Neville said the panel will work with members
of the community and industry experts.
It aims to achieve profitable, productive and
sustainable farming methods that protect soils
from the risk of wind and water erosion.
Priority areas include the hilly, high rainfall
sites in the Lower North region where grazing
practices and harvesting of field pea crops have
led to increased risk of soil erosion.
Neville said the panel was also concentrating on
improving grazing management in areas with
medium to high risk from wind erosion.
The panel will work to build awareness of
acidifying soils, increased pH testing and
selected liming of at-risk soils.
Rural Solutions SA’s soil and land management
consultant, Mary-Anne Young, said more than
270,000 hectares of soils in the region are
believed to be acidic and at risk of reduced
or failed crop and pasture productivity and,
ultimately, destruction of the soil’s clay
components.
4 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4acting local
Freshwater network
Conservation Volunteers Australia install interpretive signs at Telowie Beach. Photo: Deb Allen
Engaging coastal communities
The Northern and Yorke coastline is one of the
region’s most appealing and defining features
- and little wonder it is increasingly enjoyed by
residents and visitors alike.
Apart from being important for recreation
and tourism, our diverse coastline supports
economic vitality through commercial fishing,
ports and associated industries. A wide range
of marine and coastal life depends of the health
of coastal habitats and ecosystems.
However, the coastline faces many challenges
and threats including population shift, sea level
rise, pollution, pests and habitat decline.
A coastal motor vehicle access management
strategy and coastal councils signage guide
have been produced by the Coastal Councils
Network under a project designed to help
manage the coastal region.
The network includes Wakefield, Yorke
Peninsula, Copper Coast, Barunga West, Port
Pirie, Mount Remarkable and Port Augusta
councils, and is coordinated by the Central
Local Government Region of Councils with
funding from Northern and Yorke NRM Board
and Australian Government’s Envirofund.
The two year project was based on community
consultation, and resulted in coastal assessment
reports for each member council which
considered conservation value and the impact
of motor vehicles and unrestricted access to
the coast.
The project also involved community education
activities such as shorebird identification
workshops, a coastal wetland survey and ‘Code
of the Coast’ interpretive signage.
Boosting local partnerships
Future projects will build on local community
engagement in sustainable coastal
management.
Stephen Goldsworthy, customer services
manager of Yorke Peninsula Council, pointed to
the importance of consistent regional messages
about coastal care.
“Through clear signage and educational
material, people who use the coast can easily
understand which activities are allowed,” he
said. “They can then act responsibly and help
protect our unique environment.”
Local councils have joined an international
freshwater management program with support
from Northern and Yorke NRM Board, Central
Local Government Region and SA Murray-
Darling Basin NRM Board.
The Oceania Water Campaign is run by the
not-for-profit International Council for Local
Environment Initiatives (ICLEI).
Copper Coast, Mount Remarkable, Northern
Areas, Orroroo Carrieton, Port Pirie, Goyder and
Yorke Peninsula councils are among 30 councils
taking part in the program across South
Australia – representing nearly half the
state’s population.
The ICLEI Water Campaign helps councils
manage water resources more sustainably by:
• assessing current water consumption patterns
and practices affecting water quality;
• setting goals to improve water consumption
and quality;
• developing and adopting action plans;
• implementing actions and quantifying
benefits; and
• monitoring, reviewing and reporting
on outcomes.
Northern Areas Council aims to reduce
corporate water consumption by 20 per cent
(based on 2004-05 levels), and cut community
water consumption by 10 per cent by 2020.
Yorke Peninsula Council has identified caravan
parks, playing fields, open space, council
facilities and toilets as high water use areas.
It will reduce corporate, residential and nonresidential
water consumption.
Copper Coast Council is storing and filtering
treated wastewater to use on public areas such
as sporting grounds.
The District Council of Mount Remarkable has
conducted an extensive audit of water use in
council facilities and areas where savings can
\be achieved.
The Regional Council of Goyder has introduced
two wastewater treatment plants to irrigate
sporting grounds and community gardens
at Eudunda. Another wastewater treatment
facility will operate at Burra.
At Orrorro, the District Council of Orroroo
Carrieton has installed a wastewater treatment
plant at the local aged care facility to help
irrigate the town oval. The Council is
also planning a range of stormwater
capture projects.
Port Pirie has achieved funding to reuse waste
water from Nyrstar for use on sports fields and
for internal use at Nyrstar.
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board is working
to strengthen its collaborative working
relationships with councils throughout
the region.
Local government is already represented on
the NYNRM Board by Anita Crisp, executive
officer of the Central Local Government
Region of Councils.
NYNRM Board general manager, Lynne
Walden, said the Board had also endorsed a
memorandum of understanding process as a
framework for action with individual councils.
“The memorandum of understanding outlines
the expectations and agreed outcomes sought
by each council, the Central Local Government
Region of Councils and the Board,” Lynne said.
“It formalises the mutual agreement between
the parties on common values, principles
and actions specific to natural resource
management.
“This process recognises that all parties
contribute significantly to the sustainable
management of natural resources through
direct investment, planning, regulation and
implementation of on-ground works,” she said.
Specifically, each council has responsibilities
to local NRM as land manager, local planning
authority and service provider.
The Board is the regional coordinator and
promoter of integrated and sustainable NRM
programs and policies across the region.
Lynne said the agreements would create a
more inclusive, integrated and transparent
commitment through strengthening
partnerships, exchanging information and
building capacity.
The Board has also endorsed a similar
memorandum of understanding with
Conservation Council of SA (representing non
government organisations), and works closely
with Greening Australia.
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 5

4ground work
upper north
lower north
Walk on the wild
orchids side
Above: Ecologist Dr Eri Mulder with a couple of sleepy lizards at Buckaringa Sanctuary in Quorn. Photo: Kaz Bowland
It is easy to be captivated by the natural beauty of
Spring Gully Conservation Park - spanning rocky
sandstone outcrops, steep-sided valleys and flowing
cascades following heavy rain.
Situated south-west of Clare, this picturesque park of 400
hectares was set aside to conserve the State’s westernmost
population of red stringybark (Eucalyptus macrorhyncha).
It is the only reserve in South Australia featuring this species.
However, the area that once provided an abundance of food
for the Ngadjuri people prior to European settlement, is also a
showcase of diverse grassy woodland with a tapestry of native
orchids that flower in Spring.
It was on an orchid trail walk about 15 years ago that Elaine
van Dijk and her husband, Charlie, fell in love with the park
that embraces the meanderings of the Spring Gully Creek and
Iron Pot Creek.
“I have a passion for preserving our natural resources, and the
unique features of the park had an immediate impact on me,”
said Elaine, who is now president of the Friends of Spring
Gully volunteer group.
Rock stars
Spotting a yellow-footed rock wallaby is the highlight
of the famous ridge-top tours of the spectacular
scenery of Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges.
Turning off the engine of the Toyota and quietly watching
a family of the strikingly beautiful yellow-footed rock
wallabies interact with each other, and stare back at you
serenely, is a moment you won’t forget.
The yellow-footed rock wallaby is now listed as ‘vulnerable
to extinction’ by the Australian and South Australian
Governments. Getting a glimpse of these macropods that
call the mountain ridges of northern South Australia home, is
becoming a rare event.
But at the Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary near Quorn, the
Australian Wildlife Conservancy is playing a vital role in
helping the colorful wallabies to survive and prosper in
semi-arid areas where they live among the steep cliffs, rocky
outcrops and nearby caves.
The once abundant yellow-footed rock-wallabies have been
decimated by intense hunting for the fur trade in the past,
their habitats destroyed by goats, sheep and rabbits and fatal
attacks from feral cats and foxes.
Low numbers and competition from goats are the two most
significant ongoing threats that have reduced the species to
dangerously low numbers.
Colonies once healthy and vigorous, are down to a handful
and the little family groups are so isolated from each other
that they are extremely vulnerable to regional catastrophic
events, loss of genetic diversity and any habitat loss or
disturbance.
Buckaringa Sanctuary, 30km north of Quorn, covers
2000 ha of the southern Flinders Ranges. It is owned
by Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), a non-profit
organisation dedicated to the conservation of Australia’s
threatened wildlife.
Since being acquired by the AWC, Buckaringa has been
cleared of feral plants and animals with the help of
volunteers and the results are being assessed – with two
baseline studies into the flora and fauna.
The surveys are being carried out with funding support
from Northern and Yorke NRM Board and with the help of
dozens of volunteers.
Buckaringa wildlife ecologist, Keith Bellchambers said two
surveys had been carried out in the past 12 months –
the first on fauna and the second on the flora of the
wildlife sanctuary.
He said the survey results would help AWC come up with
better conservation and land management practices.
The first fauna survey was completed in late spring 2009 by
AWC staff and local volunteers. The survey covered 18 sites
and recorded 18 mammal species, 73 bird species,
29 reptiles and a single frog species.
The second baseline biodiversity study established a series
of vegetation survey and monitoring sites in a range of
plant communities that occur on the sanctuary. Native
plants were measured for re-growth following the culling
of more than 1000 goats.
Another important part of the survey was to find out the
rate of recovery of areas of the former sheep station that
had been contour-furrowed in the past.
“Vegetation recovery in these semi-arid areas is a
slow process dependent on seasonal conditions and
ongoing management of total grazing pressure,”
Mr Bellchambers said.
AWC owns and manages 21 properties covering more
than 2.5 million hectares around the county. Volunteering
opportunities for Buckaringa as well as some of its
other sanctuaries are outlined on its website at: www.
australianwildlife.org
Above: White beauty spider-orchid (Caladenia argocalla). Its range is
limited to the Barossa Valley, Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills regions,
and is listed as Endangered under the Australian EPBC Act and the SA
National Parks and Wildlife Act. Photo: Mick Higgins.
6 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4ground work
yorke peninsula
Once a month, about 15 active members of the group,
mostly from surrounding towns of Clare, Saddleworth,
Auburn and Watervale, meet at the park for working
bees to control weeds, maintain walking trails and
organise wild orchid walks to monitor their distribution.
The Friends of Spring Gully have received a State NRM
community grant to help control pest plants in the park
such as briar roses, wild olives, topped lavender, genista,
artichokes and milk weed.
“The grant will allow us to purchase tools and chemicals
to address the weed problem, which is particularly
threatening in the waterways,” Elaine said.
“The weeds can stifle native species and compete for
water and nutrients. It is very timely to receive this
funding because the natural fauna and flora of the park
is fighting to recover from a succession of drought years
and the effects of recent fire.”
Elaine said she hoped the purchase of safe, ergonomic
tools would encourage other volunteers to help protect
“a unique little part of South Australia.”
Port Julia Progress Association members (pictured) are striving to live in harmony with their natural surroundings. Photo David Sloper Orroroo School
students dig in
Greening Port Julia
to Pekina Creek
revegetation project.
Photo: Vanessa Size
Port Julia is a small, coastal township on Yorke Peninsula
where the residents are striving to live in harmony with
their natural surroundings.
Only a small proportion of the homes in Port Julia are
permanent residences, yet the commitment to care for the
natural resources is equally shared by those who live there, and
those who come for holidays.
Port Julia Progress Association secretary, Kerryn Moses, said
regular working bees to remove weeds, collect native seeds and
revegetate the surrounds helped to create a strong sense of
community.
“We know that many people come to relax and enjoy their
holidays, so we have to find the right balance between their
lifestyle choices and our efforts to protect and enhance the
natural assets of the township,” she said.
“I think we have done that successfully by making our working
bees something of a social occasion that brings people from
diverse backgrounds together. In terms of community and
environmental outcomes, we are making a difference.”
With funding support from the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board, the Port Julia Progress Association
is working on a priority project to remove boxthorn and other
weeds and revegetate a narrow strip of road reserve that links
with an existing coastal reserve and walking trail in front of
the town.
Stretching about 2km, the reserve features significant trees and
understorey, and is an important corridor between two areas of
natural scrub that provides habitat for a wide range of native
plants and animals.
However, weed infestation and grazing, resulting from fences in
disrepair, has had a negative impact on the reserve.
With NYNRM Board funding, contractors have been
employed to remove large boxthorns, and progress so far
has been significant. Members of the Progress Association
are swinging in behind this effort to collect seeds from local
plants, including sheoaks, melaleucas and coastal wattles,
to propagate and revegetate the reserve. Fencing repairs are
also required.
“We have received wonderful support and guidance from
David Sloper, the Northern and Yorke NRM Board’s NRM
Officer on Yorke Peninsula.
“We have also been working to remove pest plants from the
areas of coastal shrub that adjoin the reserve and revegetate
them with native plants from Trees For Life,” Kerryn said.
“If future funding is available, we would like to continue the
rehabilitation of this area, extend the walking trail through
the reserve, and provide some interpretive signage,”
Kerryn said.
“Through our working bees, we are protecting and
enhancing the natural environment, but also building
awareness about issues such as pest plants spreading from
home gardens and threatening native habitat.”
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 7

4feature
8 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Good breeding
The Mallee fowl mounds are one indication that living in Innes National Park is
appealing to wildlife. Lance Campbell reports.
For the shy, discreet but very Australian Mallee fowl,
there’s no place quite like Innes National Park. Foxes
and habitat clearance have pushed the gentle ground
dwelling bird to the edge of extinction in many parts of
the country, and in this State it is vulnerable.
But in Innes, at the bottom southwest tip of Yorke
Peninsula, a monitoring program shows that there are
3.8 Mallee fowls to each square kilometre – the highest
concentration in South Australia.
That’s the good news for the monitoring team led
by Environment and Natural Resources Department
threatened species officer Sharon Gillam. Breeding
activity in Innes is stronger than in other Mallee fowl
areas such as Murraylands, Sharon says, and will
contribute to research into how to conserve the bird’s
genetic diversity.
And while the Mallee fowl is the main wildlife success
story in Innes at the moment, other species are
finding their way back to the park. Baby penguins are
returning and there have been random sightings of
bush stone curlews. Innes acting ranger Aaron Smith
came across an echidna, the first confirmed sighting for
around 20 years.
These positive outcomes for native birds and animals
are largely the result of intense fortnightly fox baiting
programs in and around Innes since the reintroduction
of Tammar wallabies there six years ago. DENR baits
within Innes and nearby Warrenben Conservation
Park, while Northern and Yorke NRM Board operates
simultaneously on private property in the area.
Sharon reports no fox scats or tracks around the Mallee
fowl mounds – and no rabbits either, for that matter.
“You can almost say for certain that the fox baiting is
benefiting the Mallee fowl,” she says, while Ken Rudd,
NYNRM Board’s Yorke Peninsula animal and plant
control officer, is more certain.
“The Mallee fowl surveys are a key indicator that the
baiting programs are working,” Ken says. “And it’s not
only the Mallee fowl. It’s other birds, and lizards. The
two programs complement each other. We’re both
baiting for biodiversity spinoffs, and there has been an
increase in lamb numbers.
“We are keen to see the programs continue.”
The Mallee fowl, or incubator bird or bush chook, is
about the size of a small turkey and only flies when it
has to. It belongs to a family of 22 species known as
megapodes, or big feet birds, and eats seeds, flowers,
fruit, tubers, fungi and invertebrates.
Like the brush turkey, the Mallee fowl lays its eggs in
mounds, made of sand and mallee leaf litter, which can
be five metres around and a metre high.
Most of the year is spent building and maintaining the
mound. At Innes, breeding season is between October
and February, the eggs are incubated by the warm
sand decaying leaf matter at between 32C and 34C.
The male Mallee fowl tends the eggs and checks the
temperature by using his beak as a thermometer.
The male adjusts the temperature by adding and
removing soil cover, or opening and closing the mound.
He also digs a hole whenever the female is ready to lay
another egg, and starts all over again. This can happen
more than 30 times each breeding season.
Once hatched, the chick fights its way through the
debris and is immediately on its own, without parental
care. It can run within an hour, and fly in a day. Even
so, early mortality rates are high, but at Innes not as
high as they once were.
These Mallee fowl characteristics attract DENR
community liaison officer Deb Furbank to the 3.5
square kilometre survey grid of 47 mounds, out of
around 60 known mounds at Innes. Mallee fowl are
a “fascinating bird because of the way they incubate
their eggs by building a giant compost heap,”
Deb says.
“The eggs can be a metre down in the mound when
they hatch. In a harsh environment, with things going
against them, Mallee fowl still survive.”
Deb is one of a group of volunteers that works in Innes
under Sharon Gillam, who coordinates Mallee fowl
monitoring across the State. Most megapode birds
are found in the tropics or sub-tropics, and while the
Mallee fowl is adapted to the lower rainfall of southern
Australia, Sharon says Innes is in “a very good rainfall
position and has had good rain.”
This promotes breeding activity.
Each season about 10 of the mounds are active. In the
most recent survey, the monitoring team saw Mallee
fowl on or near five mounds, and another two in the
scrub. It also was taken to a mound about a kilometre
away from the grid, and saw another bird in the scrub
near Inneston.
An infra red camera was set up, and monitored
nocturnal Mallee fowl activity from November until
February. “We got some great data on Mallee fowl
behaviour from that camera,” Aaron says. “We saw
them opening the mound, and bringing material to
keep it warm.”
As well as trends in Mallee fowl breeding activity, the
team also keeps an eye out for other factors, such
as food availability, predators and human interference.
Sharon is pleased to report that the latter is not
an issue.
A Mallee fowl nest in Innes National Park is inspected by Ken Rudd
(right), NYNRM Board’s Yorke Peninsula authorised officer, and
Deb Furbank, DENR’s Yorke Peninsula community liaison officer.
Photo Hannah Short
The team saw an owlet nightjar and emu, and heard
butcher birds, grey currawongs and ravens. But there
were no foxes to kill the Mallee fowl, nor rabbits, deer
or goats to impinge on their food sources.
In SA, the Innes grid has had the highest breeding
activity per squared kilometre consistently over the past
four seasons, Sharon reported to NYNRM Board. For all
the kind conditions for Mallee fowl at the Bottom End,
she told Yakka, southern Yorke Peninsula was “a bit of
a bottleneck.”
She would like to see adjacent patches of mallee
connected, so the birds can disperse further.
Deb Furbank says being on the Mallee fowl team
has been “inspiring, working in an environment
where things are improving, instead of seeing them
downgraded. Nationwide the Mallee fowl figures are
dropping, but in Innes they are stable, even increasing.
“It’s nice to be involved in a positive outcome.”
Left: Australian Mallee fowl.
Photo: Graeme Chapman
Northern and Yorke Natural Resource Management Board 9

4feature
On the hop
It’s vitally important to know exactly when to deal with your most unwelcome visitors. Bill Nicholas reports.
Out there in the paddocks, along the roadsides,
creek beds and waterways, across the northern
agricultural districts of South Australia, a potentially
damaging locust plague is waiting in the wings.
A swarm of locusts that came in from southern
Queensland in late autumn has settled across South
Australia and laid eggs. In many areas, ag-scientists
have counted 1000 eggs per square metre. Come the
warm weather, they’ll be hatching.
Plans have been hatched to combat this major locust
plague and the action is now ready to roll, according
to Malcolm Byerlee, chairman of the Northern Locust
Community Reference Group at Orroroo.
“Community reference groups here and in the Mallee
have marshalled the most useful knowledge that was
learned in the last major locusts scare in 2000,”
Mr Byerlee said.
PIRSA’s Locusts Program manager Michael McManus
said community reference groups have played an
essential role in providing feedback on what worked
last time and shaping the new plan of attack.
“Mr Byerlee’s contribution has been particularly useful
because he chaired the last locust campaign and
provided pragmatic advice about winning support of
the local councils,” Mr McManus said.
Local hands-on experience was invaluable for the
Department of Primary Industries & Resources SA’s
division of Biosecurity SA which initiated the Locusts
Operations and Planning Committee. The committee
helped draft a plan from which Minister O’Brien took a
proposal to Cabinet resulting in a $12.8 million locust
response budget.
Mr McManus said this year’s plague is expected to
be one of the biggest on record. Insecticides have
been purchased, and regional councils have spraying
equipment at the ready.
The locust hoppers will be hit swiftly and intensely
when they’ve grown to the ‘mid-star’ stage (between
8mm and 14mm in size) and before they get a chance
to take to the wing, to minimise the number of adults
flying on to other areas.
Mr McManus said there is no benefit in farmers or
landowners spraying on their properties before the
locusts arrive.
“Farmers will simply be wasting their time and money
by doing this,” he said. “The time to hit the locusts is
when they’ve developed as hoppers and have grouped
together in large bands.”
Efforts by government, local councils, natural resources
management boards and landholders in preparing
for this ‘exceptional’ locust infestation have been
excellent, he said.
Regional NRM boards will be working closely with local
councils which have access to $1m in disaster funding
to help with roadside spraying of locust bands and
other mitigation efforts.
Agriculture Minister Michael O’Brien said locusts posed
a serious threat to crops and pasture in the southern
Flinders Ranges and Northern Agricultural Area,
Eastern Eyre Peninsula, the Riverland and Murray
Mallee regions.
“If left unchecked, there are wide-ranging ramifications
beyond the agricultural sector, including damage to
football and cricket ovals, bowling greens, golf
courses, parks and gardens. Swarms could also hinder
regional aviation and cause road safety concerns,”
Mr O’Brien said.
The expected locust plague has the potential to cause
significant damage to SA agricultural production in
spring and summer, he said.
“It’s important to understand that we can’t eradicate
the locust, but we can minimise the damage they
may inflict, with a well-planned control strategy,”
Mr O’Brien said.
In the Mid North and the southern Flinders Ranges,
preparations are well advanced for major aerial
spraying in open country and pastures to complement
work by the Australian Plague Locust Commission
(APLC) and authorities interstate. Aircraft have been
secured to ensure an effective blitz on affected
areas in South Australia.
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management
Board is managing ground spraying operations to
control locust bands in the Flinders Ranges, Mount
Remarkable, Orroroo/Carrieton, Port Augusta and
Above: NYNRM Board’s Upper North team leader Kevin Teague with a
chemical misting machine used to spray plague locusts.
Photo: Stacey Shackleford.
Right: Swarming locusts near Mildura, South Australia.
Photo: Excitations-stock
Peterborough District Council areas. It has budgeted
around $250,000 for the work which will be carried
out by Board staff and contractors.
The campaign in the Northern and Yorke NRM area will
be run from Orroroo, where a fleet of contracted fixedwing
aircraft are based. The northern region is suited
to aerial control of locusts because of larger properties,
less water courses that preclude aerial spraying and less
‘sensitive sites’ where aerial spraying is not an option.
Reports of hatching and banding locusts will be
received by local councils, assessed at the PIRSA locust
control centre and reports allocated for action to
either PIRSA survey teams or the NRM ground spraying
operations.
Board staff may be assigned for survey team work
to accurately locate locust hatchings and bands and
prepare a report for the ground spraying operation.
Farmers and residents can help the campaign to
eradicate the locusts in two ways: first, report bands
of hoppers by phoning the special northern areas
hotline on 8658 1456; secondly, fill in and return
consent forms to authorise aerial spraying on
private properties.
The website www.pir.sa.gov.au/locust will be regularly
updated and people can subscribe to e-newsletters and
SMS messages for the latest on the operation.
10 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 11

4feature
The sweet spot
Bill Nicholas finds there’s much more
to Wirrabara Forest than the trees.
The most important quality of any farmland has
always been access to water. In pioneering days it
was even more important.
For a number of reasons there are a number of ‘sweet
spots’ or ‘honeypots’ – tiny micro-climates that for one
reason or another get more than their fair share of rain
and underground water.
The pioneers judged the likely rainfall of an area by the
size and number of trees growing – lots of big healthy
trees – lots of rainfall.
One of the best of these early sweet spots was the
Wirrabara Forest on the eastern slopes and foothills
of the Southern Flinders Ranges about an hour’s drive
from Port Pirie.
The thickly wooded forest quickly attracted the
attention of timber cutters who from the 1850s logged
huge amounts of timber for station buildings, fences,
homesteads, shearing sheds, cottages, jetties and
mines - Charlton, Moonta, Wallaroo and the Burra. As
the railways extended to Silverton, Pichi Richi and the
far north, they needed millions of sleepers.
Wirrabara Forest was such a big success, the
government kicked off Australia’s first forestry
operation there in 1877 with a tree nursery and
plantations of pinus radiata and native gums that has
been supplying timber ever since.
Besides plenty of rainfall and groundwater, Wirrabara
Forest has another big advantage. Tucked in the hills, it
is out of the scorching summer north winds that cook
apricots on the tree out on the plains. The region is a
perfect little micro-climate ideal for growing fruit.
In 1878 some 30 acres of forest land in Wirrabara
was leased to four market gardeners, including Alfred
Curtis, a 20 year-old from Lyndoch, working as a pit
sawyer in the forests. His great great grandson, Peter
Curtis, still works the block stocked with thousands
of peach and other stone fruits which he sells
directly door to door in Port Pirie as well as the big
supermarkets.
Noel Curtis is the only fully commercial orchardist
operating in the Wirrabara Forest area as a certified
biodynamic producer. He has 2,500 peach trees – as
well as quinces, persimmons, apricots and plums – after
inheriting the 200 acre block from his father who in
turn took over from his father who planted the block in
1921.
Noel picks all of the fruit himself and sends the bulk of
it to Biodynamic Marketing at the Footscray Markets.
Fresh fruit is way more profitable than dried because it
takes 10kg of fruit to make 1.5kg of dried peaches.
Noel is about to plant another 500 peach trees. He
says the average rainfall in the district has fallen from
28 inches to “more like 20” and instead of getting
most of it in winter, it now comes more sporadically.
So he is using bore water with under-tree sprinklers.
Two of his neighbours, Paul and Denise Kretschmer
of Taralee Orchards and Jackie O’Reilly of O’Reilly’s
Orchard, are now putting the Forest on the map as a
source of quality pure foods and interesting B&Bs.
Paul Kretschmer discovered the Forest as an Urrbrae
student coming up to Booleroo for the holidays. After
graduating from Roseworthy he became an outdoor
education instructor. Upon the birth of their son in
1996, Paul and Denise, looking for other options, saw
the Wirrabara Forest property in the Stock Journal and
snapped it up.
Of the 1500 fruit trees on the property bought, Paul
has replaced 800 with younger ones and kicked them
all along with biodynamic soil practices.
Kretschmer’s Taralee Orchards is now a commercial,
Demeter certified biodynamic stone fruit orchard
property.
As a certified organic producer, Taralee fruit attracts a
useful premium in the wholesale markets in Adelaide
and Melbourne. One third of the fruit is sold this way,
another third at local growers markets and a third is
dried or value-added into sauces, jams, pastes, pickles
and chutneys.
They’ve invested in a Logisolar fruit dryer which
means sulphur-free dried fruit in just 23 hours from
tree to packet.
Paul says they’re going to stay with fruit despite the
current fashion to grub out fruit trees and replace them
with grape vines, olives or pistachios.
“We’ve diversified into apples, pears and cherries and
I’ve even beefed up the quince plantation of 60 trees
following the good market acceptance of quince paste,
thanks to Maggie Beer,” Paul says.
Farm profitability is maintained by two B&Bs which
Denise says offers a quiet, peaceful and relaxing place
to enjoy the natural orchards and the scenic Southern
Flinders Ranges. It is close to both the Heysen and
Mawson Trails.
O’Reilly’s Orchard began in 1994 as a rundown 40 year
old stone fruit garden of around 1500 trees by Jackie
and David O’Reilly.
Jackie O’Reilly says the investment was based on its
clean and stunning rural outlook with a decent quality
underground water supply.
“It felt like the sort of place we could really enjoy
spending our time on,” says Jackie.
“We set about reworking the old trees and grubbing
out those that didn’t respond. Along the way we have
harvested a great deal of fruit off those original trees
which in turn financed a replanting program.
“In 1998 we made a decision to stay with fruit after
looking around at what others were doing… which
included pulling out fruit trees and planting vines
and olives.”
“Our plantings have increased the diversity of types
and varieties and to complement the fruit we have
been slowly expanding our summer vegetable garden.
Chiefly this has been driven by local consumer demand.
Paul Kretschmer (pictured) developed Taralee Orchards into a
commercial, Demeter certified bio-dynamic stone fruit orchard
“Our basic principles are a sense of purpose, feeling
connected to people and participating with them in
a positive way.... just doing things that are hopeful
while delivering feelings of freedom and spirituality and
keeping us connected to the earth.”
O’Reilly’s Orchard uses a marketing system of produce
akin to what is termed ‘community supported
agriculture’ whereby customers elect to buy a regular
box of fruit and vegetables at a fixed price and take
whatever is in season. About half the turnover is
generated this way, with farmers markets another third,
and the rest is value-added dried fruits.
O’Reilly’s Orchard was, along with Taralee, the first
buyer of the Logisolar fruit dryers invented and
developed by Dr. Tim Steele in Birdwood. The highly
efficient, technology-rich dryers eliminate the use of
sulphur, providing intense-tasting dried fruit, for which
they have been granted organic certification status.
“We never set out with a clear ideal but as our business
has grown it has just fallen into place, based on choices
made by following our personal values and needs,”
Jackie says.
In her amusing web-site Jackie says: “Time is often
measured by when I look up from what I’m doing and
think ‘oh golly such and such is already flowering, I’d
better get a move on’ - quite a beautiful measuring
stick really.”
The O’Reilly homestead is undergoing a $100,000
renovation to cater to their “paddock to plate” affair
with food they are beginning to share with people who
really enjoy the whole food experience.
“Follow your heart, feed your soul and the dollars will
look after themselves... I guess that is similar to “count
your pennies,” says Jackie.
12 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Jackie O’Reilly at home in Wirrabara’s ‘sweet spot’. Photo: Clive Palmer Photography, Jamestown
Organic agriculture
Biodynamics is an enhancement of what is
generally termed ‘organic agriculture’. It is
based on the work of the Austrian scientist and
philosopher Dr. Rudolph Steiner, and adapted for
Australian conditions by Mr. Alex Podolinsky.
It involves improving soil structure and fertility by
increasing the microbal activity of the soil with
biodynamic preparations, which are produced,
stirred and applied under exacting conditions to
ensure maximum effectiveness.
Soil fertility is maintained by the application of
basalt rock dust and rock phosphate, spreading
cow manure, growing legumes and returning
all plant material to the soil by slashing and
brushcutting the orchards.
The aim is to maintain and improve soil structure
and vitality. No chemical fertilisers, insecticides or
herbicides are used.
According to the government’s SA Food Centre the
SA agrifood industry contributes $12.4 billion to
the state’s economy each year – and accounts for
146,000 South Australian jobs.
Official statistics for organic and/or biodynamic fruit
and vegetable produce are hard to come by but
organic wholesalers estimate the local market at
about $10 million.
Sam Aloisi, a wholesale dealer with Steve’s Organics
at the Pooraka produce market, reckons the market
for organic produce in SA has grown by about 30
per cent over the past five years.
“The eastern seaboard is where the real action is and
the bigger local growers send produce to Sydney
because that’s the market where consumers are
willing to pay big premiums for certified organic
produce,” Mr Aloisi said.
He estimated there were about 20 South
Australian organic growers with enough volume
to supply the local wholesale market on a
regular basis.
“But there are always new organic shops and
growers popping up all over the place but as for
making serious inroads into the heavy duty retail
food business, they are unlikely to compete
with suppliers with the firepower that big
retailers demand - huge steady stocks of
uniform product.
“But SA’s organic suppliers have some excellent
niche markets – such as the increasingly popular
growers’ markets – or direct retail - where they
can charge a decent premium for organically
grown produce.”
Northern and Yorke Natural Resource Management Board 13

4feature
Althorpe Island’s treasured lighthouse. Photo: Brad Butler
14 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
All hands on Althorpe
They come from all over to
maintain an island safe haven for
bird life and human nature.
Lance Campbell reports.
These days, the Friends of Althorpe Islands
Conservation Park fly in by helicopter twice a year.
Not bad for a bunch of boxthorn grubbers, but theirs is
an important job to do out there around the lighthouse
in the deep blue sea at the western end of
Investigator Strait.
They come from all over to the main 92-hectare
Althorpe Island, which has been a guiding light to ships
at sea for 131 years and home to mutton birds and sea
eagles and sea lions and seals, stormy petrels and
fairy penguins.
Althorpe is 4.5 nautical miles off Cape Spencer on the
south coast of Yorke Peninsula, with Marion Bay to the
west the nearest town. As Friend and former lighthouse
keeper John Lawley explains, “The remoteness of
Althorpe doesn’t lend itself to a local Friends group. So
we come from near and far – in and around Adelaide,
interstate and overseas.
“We’re widespread, cosmopolitan, all volunteers.”
The French explorer Nicolas Baudin sighted Althorpe,
the smaller Haystack and Seal Islands, and islets and
rocky reefs, in 1802. He named them Isles Vauban,
which survives with Vauban Point on the southwest
corner. But Matthew Flinders was right on Baudin’s
stern, deciding on Omicron Island.
That soon changed to the present name after Viscount
Althorpe, a Spencer and ancestor of the late
Princess Diana.
John lived on Althorpe as the lighthouse keeper’s son
from 1959 to 1961, and as the man in charge from
1978 to 1981. “It’s a majestic place,” he says. “The
island is high, and the wide views across Investigator
Strait are quite thrilling”.
The eye can see south to the cliffs of Kangaroo Island,
west to Wedge Island in Spencer Gulf and on to Port
Lincoln, 32 nautical miles away. North is Innes National
Park. East is Investigator Strait with the next lighthouse,
Troubridge Island, off Edithburgh at the entrance to
Gulf St Vincent.
Althorpe is a peaceful place, like a retreat and “very
good for reflection,” John says. The visiting Friends
have time for that, but they are also there to work. The
main trips to Althorpe are in May and November, in
groups of between five and nine.
They stay a week to eight days, living in the old
lighthouse accommodation, with solar power and
rainwater from the keepers’ cottage roofs.
By day, the Friends go hunting boxthorn, funded by
State Government community grants, which includes
the cost of the chopper. African boxthorn is rated
Australia’s 24 th worst weed, a scourge that invades
native vegetation, alters habitat and provides haven for
feral animals.
While the feral goats and cats of Althorpe Island
have been eliminated, getting rid of the boxthorn,
introduced in the 1930s, is easier said than done. The
Friends completely cover the island on their visits, but
they are up against a tough weed. The feral goats
controlled the boxthorn until they went in 1990.
Then Cadell Training Centre did much of the early
removal work as community service. However,
boxthorn will not pass up an opportunity to grow
again. If not bio-controlled, poisoned or removed
completely, it re-sprouts readily from its deep,
woody taproot.
“There’s plenty of regeneration from roots, stumps and
seedlings,” John says.
“There’s a seed pool. A good part of our work is
tidying up of boxthorn regrowth before it matures and
produces seed.”
Most South Australians are aware of boxthorn as a pest
plant, but in coastal areas such as Althorpe the threat
is heightened because its dense thickets can interfere
with sea bird breeding. The Environment and Natural
Resources Department acknowledges that the island
is an “important habitat for marine mammals and
sea birds.”
It is seasonal home to an estimated 22,000 mutton
birds, or short tailed shearwaters, which migrate to the
Aleutian Islands in the northern Pacific each Australian
winter, before returning via the west coast of the US to
breed in our summer.
From the time the light was first switched on in 1879
until it was automated in 1991, the white bellied sea
eagle was a common sight on Althorpe. The next
biggest raptor in Australian skies after the wedgetail
eagle and regarded as vulnerable on Yorke Peninsula
and endangered in SA, it disappeared around the same
time as the permanent human population returned to
the mainland.
A theory is that the sea eagle moved to nearby
Haystack Island, perhaps because its Althorpe habitat
Above: Volunteers Valerie and Rachael Lawley removing boxthorn at
Althorpe Islands Conservation Park. Photo: John Lawley
became overrun with boxthorn when the people and
goats left. It may be coincidence, but after the Friends
got on the boxthorn case, a pair of sea eagles returned
to Althorpe about four years ago.
John Lawley also recalls the rare osprey, or sea hawk,
on Althorpe Island. As yet the osprey, also endangered
in SA, hasn’t come back, but nobody has given
up hope. Another 40 native bird species live in the
conservation park.
Australian sea lions visit the island, while a colony
of New Zealand fur seals, hunted for almost 100
years until the end of the 19 th century, thrives in a
cove on the eastern side of Althorpe. DENR says that
other factors, such as the fishing industry, human
disturbance, oil spills and disease can still threaten the
two species, especially the sea lion.
With the spectacular land and ocean views and the
wildlife, observed from a sustainable distance, it’s no
wonder that John Lawley describes a working visit to
Althorpe Island as “an adventure.”
He says, “We are isolated out there. We go into a
tribal situation, a live-in community where we care for
each other”.
That includes working together, and not just on
boxthorn control.
Also on the tasks list can be other weeds such as tree
mallow, repairs to the three heritage listed cottages,
maintenance of gravesites, tracks, machinery and signs,
and a herbarium.
The Friends of Althorpe Islands Conservation Park
are always looking for new members to share their
experience. They can contact John Lawley or his wife
Erika on 8528 5331 or lawley@sa.chariot.net.au
“We have volunteers from all over the world,” John
says. “They say, ‘Why didn’t we do this before?’”
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 15

4feature
16 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Plan bee
Bill Nicholas reports on plans to resist a tiny killer.
Broadacre and horticulture crop yields are expected
to take a substantial blow if a global bee disease
that devastates beehive populations makes its way into
Australia.
Yorke Peninsula agri consultant, Bill Long, who has just
returned from a Churchill fellowship tour of the US,
Europe and the UK says despite our best quarantine
efforts it was inevitable that varroa mite would
establish itself in Australia.
His tour involved studying the effects of the mite on
bee populations and the impact on crops dependent on
the pollinating species. Varroa mites are insects the size
of a pinhead that attack bees making them susceptible
to other diseases. Bee populations globally have been
decimated by the varroa mite.
The US devastation of beehives has led to the situation
where Californian almond growers have had to
contract half of the US beekeeping industry to move to
their almond orchards for a month during flowering to
make sure the almond crop is fertilised to produce the
high value crop.
In the UK, the devastating bee mite has wiped out
beehives and now the country has a governmentsupported
and retail industry sponsored campaign
to beef up the numbers of feral bumble bees to take
over the fertilising work previously done by beehives of
working bees.
Bill Long said pollination was a factor limiting crop
yields in Australia because there were insufficient
managed, feral and native pollinators – and the varroa
mite could potentially further reduce these numbers.
He said his experiences had shown him that the
Australian industry must be prepared to minimise the
effects of the mite if it “arrived” in the country.
“The challenge for Australian beekeepers and the
industry is to develop a plan for when the varroa
mite enters Australia, and be very clear on what that
reaction and response will be,” Mr Long said.
“It affects a hive’s strength by sucking blood from
adults and the emerging bee brood. The hive is
eventually overrun by the mite, but it’s not the varroa
mite that kills the bees but the viral diseases that
develop because the hive is weakened.”
Mr Long said Australia needed to learn from the
mistakes of the US, and be fully prepared for the insect.
His Fellowship objective was to investigate profitable
large scale pollination services which have developed
since the varroa mite emerged.
Since his paper ‘Building large scale pollination and
preparedness to manage disease and varroa mite’ was
published, Mr Long has attracted serious attention
from top levels of agribusiness.
He has discussed the development of an Australian
pilot of Operation Pollinator with Syngenta, which
financed Mike Edwards on a UK trip in September to
conduct field studies and meet with key ecologists and
farmer groups.
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board has committed
$35,000 towards this project, and a scoping study on
Operation Pollinator is proceeding with Department of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s representatives at
Kadina and Crystal Brook.
Support is being sought from State Minister
for Environment and Conservation Paul Caica and
Shadow Minister Adrian Pederick MP, the member for
Wakefield, Steven Griffith, the Yorke Peninsula Alkaline
Soils Group and the Rural Industries and Development
Corporation to fund a scoping study for a proposed
Pollination and Honeybee Research CRC.
Mr Long said his local project to counter bee
devastation would be based on the success of
Operation Bumblebee in the UK, where bee
populations were increased by up to 600 per cent and
other insects were increased tenfold.
Syngenta was sponsoring Operation Pollinator, a five
year program to provide habitat and food sources for
pollinating insects across Europe. The project aimed to
boost numbers of pollinating insects in order to protect
biodiversity and improve crop yields and crop quality.
The project is currently being run in the UK, France,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the USA.
The project uses scientific research findings to develop
site specific ways of creating habitats alongside the
working farm environment.
“There is an urgent need to prepare for the arrival
of varroa mite and to identify alternative pollinating
species that exist in our environment,” Mr Long said.
“An examination of habitat that will enhance the
existence of both native and feral populations of
pollinating species is required.
“Together, policy makers need to link with the
scientific, agricultural, apicultural and ecological
communities to continue to develop and enhance
programs that will ensure continued and improved
pollination services to agricultural and ecosystems
across Australia.”
Top right: Yorke Peninsula agri consultant Bill Long.
Right: Operation Bumble Bee was launched on a property in Oxfordshire
in United Kingdom (pictured). It is working towards a better distribution of
flowering clovers to halt the decline of bumble bees.
Photo: Michael Richards
Left: Bee populations globally have been decimated by the varroa mite.
Photo: Rowan Edwards
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 17

4feature
Climate action
Time to team up for the fight ahead.Trevor Gill reports.
Historical data collected from across the planet
confirms a long term warming trend of the earth’s
atmosphere and oceans, with projected flow-on effects
expected on global climatic systems and seasonal
weather patterns.
The majority of climate scientists internationally
conclude that human activity is significantly
contributing to and accelerating this warming.
Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide,
methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly
since the industrial revolution of the 18th century,
measured against ice core data going back thousands
of years.
Because every individual is affected by weather – from
personal comfort to income and for life itself – the
issue of climate change has been the subject of much
discussion and debate.
Amid all of the conjecture and unpredictability about
the scale of impact from climate change, there are two
certainties. The first is that South Australia is trending
towards a hotter and drier climate over the longer
term. The second is that communities and industry will
need to adapt.
Because of its geographic diversity across rural
landscapes and extensive coastal areas, and its strong
economic and social reliance on agriculture, seafood
and tourism industries, the Northern and Yorke region
has a great deal at stake from the effects of climate
change.
In searching for projections, there are potentially both
negative impacts and opportunities.
Anita Crisp is executive officer of the Central Local
Government Region of Councils, and the Local
Government representative on the Northern and Yorke
NRM Board. In these capacities, she has been closely
involved in developing a partnership plan to deal with
climate change in our area.
“There is an abundance of global and national data on
climate change, but we need to know a lot more about
the potential impact on our own regional environment,
economy and communities,” Anita said.
“The work in identifying these effects is yet to be
done, but it is most important that we develop and
strengthen collaborative responses and look at climate
change across the triple bottom line, recognising that
in our region, they are inherently linked.”
In 2008, the Central Local Government Region of
Councils, the Mid North, Yorke and Southern Flinders
Regional Development Boards and the Northern and
Yorke NRM Board hosted a regional climate change
forum attended by around 100 people from across
the region.
18 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Participants considered a wide range of information
and evidence presented by the Bureau of Meteorology,
the Federal Department of Climate Change and
the State Department of Sustainability and Climate
Change, CSIRO, universities and the SA Research and
Development Institute.
As a result of the forum, a Mid North and Yorke
Regional Climate Change Steering Group has been
formed comprising the Central Local Government
Region of Councils, the Regional Development Boards
(now Regional Development Australia) and the
Northern and Yorke NRM Board.
The focus of the steering group is to: promote a whole
of community, inter-agency approach to managing and
mitigating climate change across the region; provide
united, community-driven leadership on the issue; drive
on-going research and dissemination of information
on environmental, economic and social impacts; and
investigate and pursue regional opportunities arising
from climate change through carbon trading and
new industries.
Dr Peter Hayman, principal scientist climate
applications, with the South Australian Research and
Development Institute noted that recent dry seasons
highlighted the vulnerability of cropping in the region.
“Although agriculture is very sensitive to climate there
is a lot of adaptive capacity within the industry,”
Dr Hayman said.
“While the extreme end of projected changes will
challenge the boundaries of cropping and even
viticulture in the Clare Valley, the mid-range projections
for coming decades mean that systems will have to
adapt to do more with less water and cope with heat
events. There are some promising signs of how people
are already adapting.”
Even slight changes to climate can pose a threat to
native fauna and flora, and the ecosystems that
sustain them.
Alex Gaut, biodiversity program coordinator for the
SA Conservation Council, said such changes included
timing of animal breeding and plant flowering, animal
hibernation and migration patterns and availability of
food and water.
“We will need areas of good quality native habitat
set aside to act as buffers for our native plants and
animals, giving them room to move and adapt,”
she said.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources
has been working with NRM Boards on coastal
conservation assessments.
Dr Murray Townsend, the Department’s manager
of coastal management, said this work included
identifying the value of ecosystems and threats to
them, including impacts of climate change.
“For example, as sea levels rise, mangrove forests
fringing the coast will respond by migrating to higher
land,” Dr Townsend said. “In many areas, this land will
be saltmarsh habitat that will also try to migrate inland
to higher ground.
“Thirty centimetres of sea level rise can mean as much
as 600 metres of coastal recession in saltmarsh. Some
parts of the coast have natural and/or man-made
barriers that prevent this recession. Other areas have
space to allow migration where valuable ecosystems
can adapt more easily to sea level rise.”
Social impacts, human settlement planning and
infrastructure requirements will form a vital
component of a coordinated climate change response.
“Sea level rise will increase the impacts of storms and
king tides on the coast,” Dr Townsend explained.
“Some communities are vulnerable to erosion and
flooding during storms and any protection works
should also allow for higher sea levels.
“The Coast Protection Board works with councils
to identify and protect areas at risk. To ensure that
new coastal development is safe from sea level rise,
the Board requires that development should be safe
against 30 cm of sea level rise, and capable of being
practically protected against a further 70 cm of sea
level rise.”
The Australian Government recently released its ‘first
pass’ National Climate Change Coastal Vulnerability
Assessment with Yorke Peninsula forming one of six
case studies.
The Yorke Peninsula case study focused on
communities at Marion Bay, Moonta Bay, Port
Broughton and Fisherman’s Bay, using flood mapping
information from the SA Department of Environment
and Natural Resources and Department of Planning
and Local Government.
It identified risk areas including roads, caravan parks,
community sporting and recreational facilities, dune
vegetation and seagrass meadows that help to
sustain fisheries.
Anita Crisp said the Regional Climate Change
Steering Group was moving towards formalisation
of the partnership between the NYNRM Board,
Regional Development Australia and the Central Local
Government Region of Councils, along with the State
and Federal Governments.
This will involve development of a climate change
vulnerability assessment that will help to identify more
localised threats and opportunities that climate change
may bring to our region.
“The effectiveness of our actions will depend a great
deal on the strength of partnerships, our ability to
identify threats and develop united responses without
duplication of effort,” she said.
“We need to provide leadership on climate change at
the regional level, but communities and individuals will
play a vital role in our united response. The ability of
communities to adapt to and manage change will be a
key to our future sustainability.”
Dr Hayman said agriculture had always adapted to
changes in climate and markets.
“There are likely to be risks and opportunities for
agricultural enterprises as they respond to policies
designed to reduce emissions,” he said. “Not only is
agriculture a source of greenhouse gas emissions, it is
also a sink and there are interesting questions about
soil carbon, biofuels and trees as a source of carbon.”
Professor Barry Brook, the Sir Hubert Wilkins chair
of climate change at the University of Adelaide’s
Environment Institute, concludes: “The longer we
delay the move away from fossil fuel energy sources,
the more we will lock in the build-up of long-lived
greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, and the harder it
will be for human and natural systems to cope
and adapt.
“To have a 50:50 chance of avoiding a two degrees
centigrade or more increase in global warming, carbon
emissions must be slashed by around 80 per cent by
2050 and essentially eliminated in the few decades
after that.”
Top left: Aftermath of a 2007 bushfire at Wild Dog Hill Road on
Yorke Peninsula. Photo: Andrew Mezgek
Below: Hundreds of huge old River red gums were uprooted along
Boolcundra Creek during a severe flash flood in 2007 in the NYNRM
Board’s Upper North region. Flash floods are expected to become more
common as climate change progresses. Photo: Kevin Teague
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 19

4feature
Caring for country
Aboriginal Dreaming is a complex
concept that traces the journeys
and actions of ancestors and their
relationship with the natural world.
Trevor Gill reports.
Dreaming stories link the past with the present in the
land or country to which an Aboriginal person belongs.
The significance of what Aboriginal people call
“country” – embracing its land and waters – is central
to all aspects of their lives and those of their forebears.
There are places that are meaningful and treasured
for their association with birth, social interaction,
ceremonies, hunting, gathering, travelling and death.
They may be ancient camps or burial sites, stone
quarries, hunting grounds and fish traps, paintings
or engravings or land forms that help shape the
Dreaming stories.
History, laws and consequence belong in these places.
You can see it in the eyes of people like Aboriginal
Elder Lindsay Sansbury. It is a look into the long ago.
Uncle Tinto, as he is known among his people, lives
at Point Pearce and his spiritual links with the land
and sea in this northern region of Yorke Peninsula are
strong and deep.
Across the Northern and Yorke region there are various
nations of Aboriginal people, each with heritage values
that go back through countless generations. In each
of these places, Aboriginal people are being engaged
in structured natural resource actions that respect and
support key aspects of their traditional country.
So there is a fascinating and fruitful interface between
the custodial values of Indigenous people that are
passed from one generation to another with broader
conservation values.
Indeed, natural resource management seeks to protect
and maintain many of the natural features that are
embodied in the Dreaming stories and the way of life
of Aboriginal people today.
“It is about reviving the country to a state that
resembles the way it was in the past,” says Aboriginal
Landcare Coordinator, Roger Rigney. “Areas of the
country are looking tired and sick. Aboriginal people
believe that healthy country means healthy people.”
Uncle Tinto is among a group of people at Point Pearce
that has been working on boxthorn removal and
fencing in sand dunes as part of an NYNRM Boardfunded
program to restore degraded country.
“Many of our Dreaming stories that we pass on to
younger people today are about the natural birds and
animals of our region,” he said. “But seeing
is believing.
“We have to help the country get back to the healthy
way it was so that the birds and animals will return.
If we don’t, future generations will miss out on the
comings and goings of the natural world.
“That’s why it is so important to have natural resource
management programs like the boxthorn removal at
Point Pearce.”
The Aboriginal groups in the Northern and Yorke
region are the Narrungga, Nukunu, Ngadjuri,
Adnyamathanha, Pitjantjatara and Yankuntjatara.
The NYNRM Board’s engagement with the Indigenous
communities in the region is through the Aboriginal
Lands Trust (ALT), which holds land in trust for
Indigenous people. With NYNRM Board funding,
the ALT employs people to carry out natural
resource projects.
Chris Rains, the Trust’s Landcare Coordinator, said:
“The Indigenous people are paid for their work as an
investment not only in NYNRM outcomes, but also in
developing work skills.
“This engagement also involves people in the
management of their country in line with their cultural
heritage values. For example, the Wadgedin Scrub
area at Point Pearce is a very special place for the
local people, however it has been subjected to illegal
dumping threatening vegetation and habitat.
“Through an NYNRM project, the Wadgedin Scrub is
being revegetated and restored to its natural state.
There is also a major box thorn removal program at
Point Pearce.”
Other recent NRM projects on Aboriginal lands include
pest management at Yapala, Point Pearce and Baroota,
fencing off sand dunes at Point Pearce to prevent
vehicle access and subsequent revegetation with local
native species, and training programs including use of
machinery and safe chemical handling.
“We have also run a feral cat control program on
Wardang Island to protect fairy penguins that inhabit
the island,” Chris said.
“The activities are carefully supervised with outcomes
reported in detail to the Board, which funds the onground
projects. The outcomes are measured in terms
of hectares of land subjected to pest plant or animal
control and revegetation, kilometres of fencing erected
or restored, and numbers of people participating in
NRM related training programs.”
Darcy Evans, an Elder of the Nukunu people, said
natural resource management training had positive
benefits for community members in terms of
developing work skills that could lead to employment.
“Also, it is rewarding that the Board provides such
opportunities because when we work on our land it
lifts mental and spiritual health.”
Above: Community members take part in a
Reefwatch program at Point Pearce.
Right: Tom Wanganeen (left) and Carlo
Sansbury plant trees for a revegetation
program at Point Pearce.
Photos: Dragi Markovic
20 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4feature
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 21

4biodiversity
World class conservation planning
An internationally acclaimed conservation
strategy being applied across our region
is allowing the Northern and Yorke NRM
Board to implement priority projects
based on accurate information about
threats to natural resources.
The Conservation Acting Planning (CAP)
strategy embraces the Southern Flinders
Ranges, Northern Mount Lofty Ranges, central
Yorke Peninsula and the Mid North and
southern Yorke Peninsula.
Developed by The Nature Conservancy in
the United States, the CAP program has
been adopted around the world as a reliable
framework for conservation planning
and action.
In the Northern and Yorke region, this
collaborative landscape scale process involves
key partners and stakeholders including
Northern and Yorke NRM Board, Department
of Environment and Natural Resources,
Commonwealth and Local Government,
Greening Australia, Australian Wildlife
Conservancy, Rural Solutions of South Australia,
Wilderness Society, Nature Conservation Society
of South Australia, Aboriginal communities and
local landholders.
Within the CAP framework, detailed mapping
and extensive threatened species records are
used to identify key conservation areas. This
process is supported by workshops involving
key stakeholders.
The NYNRM Board and Greening Australia
have recently completed a draft summary of
achievements to date in conservation action
planning for the Southern Flinders Ranges.
The region covers an area of about 1.3 million
hectares from Port Pirie in the south, Hawker in
the north, the Flinders-Olary Plains to the east
and Spencer Gulf to the west.
This document throws light on the detail and
definitive approach to conservation assessment
and action in a sub-region.
Native vegetation covers around 76 per cent
of the Southern Flinders Ranges and 58 fauna
species of conservation significance have been
recorded in the region. There are about 1,700
landholders in the region with potentially
suitable land for conservation, including
government-owned parks and reserves.
By 2015:
• Restoring and protecting more than 50
per cent of permanent watered sections of
rivers, creeks and high priority water holes
associated with gorges, springs and seeps;
• Improving condition of coastal vegetation
impacted by recreational activities with
appropriate infrastructure and education;
• Controlling all core weed infestations and
eradicating any new or outlying infestations
from high priority coastal dunes;
• Controlling all core infestations and
eradicating any new or outlying infestations
of priority temperate weeds (for example,
roses, olives, Desert Ash, Montpellier Broom
and African Weed Orchid) from temperate
forests and woodlands.
The CAP process identified the viability of
conservation assets and applied an assessment
rating which showed coastal mangrove and
samphire communities were assessed to be in a
generally good condition.
Sandy coasts and dune were rated fair, but the
impact of weeds has been noted particularly
near townships. Rivers, creeks and waterholes
were considered to be in poor condition
generally because they were in highly cleared or
modified landscapes.
Northern mallee systems were considered good
overall, although areas in the Carrieton region
were noted as fragmented and impacted by
stock grazing. The viability of temperate grassy
ecosystems was ranked in poor condition,
particularly from inappropriate grazing regimes.
Temperate forests and woodlands with a
shrubby understorey were assessed to be fair
overall, with areas on the steeper ranges in
better condition due to inaccessibility for stock
grazing. A good rating was applied to arid
ecosystems, however grazing pressure was
noted north of Quorn while an abundance of
rabbits and goats are significant contributors to
vegetation decline.
Southern Flinders Ranges, site of an internationally
acclaimed conservation strategy.
Photo: Anne Brown
Escarpments, gorges, rocky outcrops and scree
slopes, the habitat for the yellow-footed rock
wallaby, were assessed to be in good condition,
but the threat of feral carnivores on fauna
populations was noted.
A series of threats to conservation assets were
summarised including inappropriate livestock
access and grazing, inappropriate cropping
practices, an abundance of feral carnivores
(foxes and cats), weeds, habitat fragmentation
from historic land clearance, excessive water
extraction and storage, unsustainable firewood
collection and inappropriate off-road vehicle
access.
Key CAP objectives have been identified for the
Southern Flinders Ranges.
By 2020:
• Eradicating outlying weeds of national
significance and establishing effective
containment lines around core infestations;
• Controlling all recognised opuntiod cacti and
African Boxthorn infestations and eradicating
any significant outlying populations;
• improving the viability of native fauna
species, particularly the yellow-footed rock
wallaby; and
• Improving vegetation condition and
increasing palatable native plant species in
areas heavily impacted by rabbits, goats, deer
and over-abundant kangaroos.
Todd Berkinshaw, Greening Australia’s State
conservation planner, said the CAP process
was now being applied across many regions
of Australia with the Northern and Yorke
NRM Board one of the earliest adopters and
strongest supporters of the process.
He said in the Southern Flinders Ranges, the
program was now moving out of the planning
stages and focusing on large-scale investment
into on-ground conservation.
“Importantly, as CAP is a collaborative planning
process between the key conservation groups
of the region, all now share a common vision
for conservation, and are working together to
achieve real on-ground change,” Todd added.
Wombats’ $38,500 rehabilitation
The coastal habitats of Wallaroo’s
hairy-nosed wombats will be upgraded.
The degraded coastal habitat of around 80
hairy-nosed wombats will be rehabilitated and
the wombats given health checks following a
$38,500 grant from the State Government’s
Community Grants program.
Glenn Shimmin, coordinator of the Wallaroo
Biodiversity Restoration Group was “very
pleased” about the result of its funding
application. He said the group was planning to
involve the community in the project, located
on an important piece of coastal habitat
immediately south of Wallaroo.
Besides local volunteers, project participants
include the Narrunga Aboriginal Community,
Northern and Yorke NRM Board, Copper Coast
Council and the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources.
The works will take place on a 32 hectare,
Viterra-owned site of largely intact coastal
habitat on 3.7 km of coastline. This site
contains the 80-strong wombat colony, the
fourth largest of Yorke Peninsula’s 30 wombat
populations.
The project will stabilize eroding dunes through
revegetation and improve the wombat’s habitat
by re-establishing native grasses. It will also
manage woody weeds and assess the
wombats for mange.
Mr Shimmin said native vegetation on Yorke
Peninsula had been heavily cleared and new
pressures were mounting on coastal habitats
through development.
“These pressures have resulted in the loss of
species and the fragmentation of habitats,”
Mr Shimmin said.
22 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4pest control
Teams tackle pests
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board
is driving a landscape scale control
approach to protecting and restoring
native habitat threatened by pest plants
and animals.
Across the Upper and Lower North and Yorke
Peninsula, the effort to increase native habitat
has involved landowners targeting infestations
of rabbits, wheel cactus, gorse, blackberry,
boneseed and bridal creeper.
This coordinated program is supported by
priority funding through the Australian
Government’s Caring For Our Country
initiative that aims to achieve and sustain an
environment that is healthy, protected, wellmanaged
and resilient.
Natural biodiversity is dependent on the control
of pests especially in and around areas of
remnant native vegetation.
In the Upper North, the program has
particularly targeted rabbits and cactus
infestations on public and private land.
Kevin Teague, the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management (NYNRM) Board’s
Upper North team leader, said rabbits had
been a major problem for some years around
Hawker, north east of Orroroo and in the
Peterborough Council area.
“Landowners have done all they can to stop
the spread of rabbits, and the Board control
program with funding support from Caring
For Our Country has been warmly welcomed,”
Kevin said.
“The landowners have signed agreements to
participate in the fully-funded rabbit control
program. For their part, the landowners
provide warren spotters on motorbikes to
identify sites to be ripped by contractors. This
local knowledge also provides occupational
health and safety support.
“The agreements with landowners also include
a commitment to undertake follow-up control
measures bearing in mind that we estimate that
only one in 500 burrows becomes active again
after ripping.”
Kevin said contractors using bulldozers
destroyed warrens that were mostly empty
after rabbit calicivirus disease greatly reduced
populations in late Spring.
“The few rabbits that remained after the effects
of calicivirus were then unable to enter their
warrens to breed,” he said.
Over summer, contractors destroyed 7,895
warrens over 93,887 hectares of land. This
$130,000 control program was funded by
the NYNRM Board through the Australian
Government’s Caring For Our Country program
and State Complementary Funding.
Meanwhile, wheel cactus has been a
widespread problem emanating from a core
infestation near Parnaroo east of Peterborough.
The NYNRM Board has coordinated two
chemical cactus control programs. Under the
first program, the Board provided $22,000 to
chemically control 18,383 plants over 26,500
hectares at no cost to landholders.
Secondly, the Board received $11,000 funding
under the State Opuntia Task Force program to
work with landholders on the basis that they
contribute 50 per cent of the cost either in time
or money. More than 9,400 pest cactus plants
were chemically injected over an area of 15,000
hectares to significantly reduce the density of
the infestation.
In future under this arrangement, participating
landholders must commit to on-going
controls, and contractors are providing training
assistance on appropriate measures to eradicate
the pest plant on their properties.
Peter Mattey of Franklin Station near Terowie
said there was a high level of cactus infestation
in the region. With the NYNRM Board, he has
invested in cactus control measures covering
around 10,000 hectares and over 4,000
hectares with part funding from the Murray
Darling Basin NRM Board.
“We are working at the extremities to stop the
spread,” he said.
In the Lower North, the NYNRM Board
has been working with Greening Australia
and landholders to identify sites of rabbit
infestation.
Contractors have been engaged to carry out
selective baiting programs and some warren
ripping across an area encompassing Avon, Port
Wakefield, Blyth, Lochiel, Halbury and Pinery.
Some of this work has been carried out on
private land with cooperation of landowners.
Grant Roberts, the Board’s Lower North
team leader, said the control work had been
extended beyond the immediate perimeter of
infestation sites as a further measure to protect
endangered species.
Outcomes have been successful, but the work
will require on-going monitoring to measure
positive effects on native habitat supporting
plants such as the large club spider orchid,
Halbury greenhorn orchid, spiny everlasting
daisy, prickly speargrass, bottle fissure plant
and New Holland daisy and birds including the
Jacky Winter, yellow throated minor, common
sandpiper and restless flycatcher.
Nantawarra farmer, Alan Baker, said there had
been good communication and interaction with
NYNRM Board staff and contractors.
“The baiting and ripping has been excellent
in controlling rabbits,” he said. “Rabbits are
destructive and any measure to control them
will help into the future. Within our ecosystem,
rabbits have no place.”
Meanwhile, in the Gilbert Valley and beyond
to Marrabel, Riverton and Clare, the native
habitat program has also included spraying and
excavating weeds of national significance such
as gorse and blackberry.
On Yorke Peninsula, the focus has been on
bridal creeper rust spraying along 700 km of
roadsides and in native vegetation corridors
across an area extending from Port Broughton
to Innes National Park.
Bridal creeper rust spores rely on natural
conditions to multiply and wind to spread.
Small patches of bridal creeper sprayed with
spore water can effectively spread rust spores
over large areas of infested vegetation.
In the past, the NYNRM Board has run
workshops for landholders on how to identify
and address the spread of bridal creeper.
Rob Lincoln, the Board’s Yorke Peninsula team
leader, said two contractors were engaged to
harvest bridal creeper rust spores and prepare
spore water for spraying under Caring For Our
Country funding.
Yorke Peninsula authorised officer Ken Rudd
said early signs indicated the spread of rust
had been extremely successful. However, more
definitive results will not be known until the
area is inspected later this year.
The NYNRM Board has also facilitated rabbit
control programs in both rural and urban areas
across Yorke Peninsula.
Meanwhile, a two-year fox control program
organised by the Board has significantly
reduced loss of native wildlife and lambs
around the southern tip of Yorke Peninsula.
At a property close to Innes National Park, a
landowner reported an increase in lambing
from 50 to 90 per cent.
Ken Rudd said a reduction in fox breeding
potential could be achieved by controls
during Spring and in late summer when
young, inexperienced foxes disperse from
family groups.
Above: The NYNRM Board’s team leaders tackle
animal and plant control around region. From
top left clockwise: Upper North’s Kevin Teague
inspects pest plants near Orroroo; Lower North’s
Grant Roberts surveys a rabbit warren in the Clare
region; and Yorke Peninsula’s Rob Lincoln (centre)
distributes fox bait to local farmers in Minlaton.
Two six-week baiting periods were carried
out each year in September – October and in
February – March.
Farmers on southern Yorke Peninsula were
approached to participate while NYNRM Board
authorised officers set up and managed bait
stations at no charge to landholders.
Around 24,000 hectares were baited on
24 properties using 370 bait stations that
were checked and replaced each fortnight
and destroyed at the completion of the
six-week program.
The program was particularly aimed at
protecting endangered species including
mallee fowl, western whipbird, hooded plover,
sand goanna and little penguins. It was run in
conjunction with National Parks rangers in Innes
National Park and Warrenben Conservation
Park. (See story page 8.)
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 23

4on the land
What lies beneath the soil
Soil acidity is a problem lurking in the soils of the Northern and Yorke region, stealthily reducing productivity of
agricultural land and threatening some of the region’s other natural resources. Left untreated, acid soils will worsen until
virtually nothing will grow in them.
Jamestown farmer Lyn Moore testing for soil acidity. Photo: Mary-Anne Young
Treating acid soils ‘adds up’
Concerned about ryegrass, Lyn and John
Moore began treating acid soils in 1993.
“A local agronomist suggested that ryegrass
was more competitive than wheat on acidic
soils and this started us thinking about the
need to treat our soils,” said Lyn.
The Moores began liming paddocks, when
soil pH tests started to return results of
around five. The first paddock to be limed
was a lucerne paddock from which a large
amount of hay had been cut over the years.
Now the Moores keep an eye on their
paddock yields, and when there is a
suspicion that a paddock is not performing
as well as it should, its pH is tested and then
limed if necessary.
The property is a crop and livestock mixed
farm near Jamestown with an average
annual rainfall of 450mm.
Soils are predominantly red loams or clay
loams over a clay subsoil on the flats and
mid-slopes, with grey calcareous loams in the
hills. Cereals, canola and lucerne are grown
in rotation with legume pastures.
Paddocks are limed at a rate of 2.5 t/ha and
this is expected to last over 10 years.
This year’s cost of liming amounted to over
$112/ha with lime at $15/tonne, freight $20/
tonne and spreading $25/ha.
“It does add up when you look at all the
costs with freight being the killer but then
those costs are spread over 10 years,”
says Lyn.
“And while we can’t put a specific figure
on yield improvements, they are definitely
there.”
Soil acidification, while a natural process, is
accelerated by agricultural practices. One of the
key causes is the production of grain, hay, meat
and wool.
When these are harvested or taken from the
paddock, a considerable proportion of the
more alkaline elements are removed (such as
calcium, phosphorus and potassium) leaving
more acidic compounds behind. The higher the
production, the greater the removal and hence
rate of acidification. In a ‘closed’ ecosystem,
these plant and animal products are recycled
and returned to the soil resulting in a balanced
soil pH.
Certain fertilisers used in agricultural production
tend to produce acidic compounds such as nitrate
and sulphate. If these nutrients are not taken
up and used by plants, they can result in soil
acidification. Similarly, legumes (such as clovers,
medics, lupins, beans and peas) fix nitrogen
and produce nitrate. Unused nitrate can leach
through the soil, making it more acidic.
Some soil types are more predisposed to
acidification than others, for example, those in
high rainfall areas where clay and calcium have
been leached out over geologic time.
In the Northern and Yorke region, these
soils tend to occur in the Southern Flinders
Ranges and in the hills to the west of Clare. In
other areas, such as the lucerne flats around
Marrabel, Saddleworth, Tothill, Farrell Flat and
Bundaleer, neutral soils have become acidic
over time due to high production and removal.
The major problem with soil acidity is
that it affects soil fertility and nutrient
availability. When a soil is acidic, deficiencies
in phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and
potassium are common. Conversely, aluminium
concentrations increase, becoming toxic to
plants and severely reducing plant production.
In very acidic soils, clay minerals break down
irreversibly, leading to chemical erosion,
reduced nutrient retention and lower water
holding capacity. Heavy metals bound to clay
particles can be released into soil solution
leading to contamination of water supplies.
The most practical way of dealing with soil
acidity is to lift a soil’s pH using lime. The
alkaline product neutralises soil acidity. Rates
of lime application (in tonnes per hectare) are
based on the soil’s texture and how much the
soil pH should be increased. With lime costing
around $15/tonne and additional expenses
of freight and spreading, it can cost around
$60 /ha to spread one tonne per hectare on a
property approximately 200 km from the lime
source.
Farmers in the Northern and Yorke region are
applying lime to counteract acidity. However
across the region, the estimated amount being
applied is far less than the amount considered
necessary to balance acidification rates.
Nearly 60,000 tonnes of lime per annum is
believed to be required to balance acidification
but over the last 10 years, only about 24,000
per annum has been applied. This means that
regionally the problem is worsening and some
farmers could well be experiencing losses in
production because of soil acidity.
This article was contributed by Rural
Solutions SA soils and land management
consultants Mary-Anne Young and
Natalie Watkins
Rising water value
Less rainfall and a warming climate have
made surface water a rare commodity
pretty much everywhere in South
Australia; in the driest state in the driest
continent, water is becoming the
new gold.
And like gold, the scarcer it gets, the more
looking after it needs.
That’s why the Northern and Yorke Natural
Resources Management Board has kicked off
a new plan to make sure any surface water is
treated with the respect any precious
resource deserves.
The Board’s water officer, Jennifer Munro, said
the Board was monitoring permanent surface
water – identifying pools across the region and
setting up a program looking at water level,
water quality and plants and wildlife and was
looking for landholders with permanent water
to be part of the program.
“Rivers, creeks, floodplains and lakes are
natural features of the landscape and over
generations, people have diverted or altered
the flows of these natural watercourses to meet
specific needs,” Ms Munro said.
“It may have involved simply planting or
removing vegetation, clearing out a creek bed,
creating or enlarging a dam or constructing a
water crossing.
“Now, you need to share your plans with the
Board about anything you may want to do that
affects any natural watercourse. In specified
areas throughout the Northern and Yorke
region, a Water Affecting Activities (WAA)
permit will be needed before carrying out work
on a natural water resource.”
Ms Munro said work in areas that naturally
channel water could degrade riverbeds
and riverbanks or cause sediments to head
downstream and impact on waterways.
“There is potential for long-term damage to the
health of water resources that can affect other
dependent users including people, plants and
animals,” Ms Munro said.
Ms Munro said licensing was a positive step
forward because it helped target waterrelated
restoration and remediation projects.
Landholders are invited to be involved by
providing access to their surface water features.
Priority ground, surface and watercourse areas
have been designated in the Northern and
Yorke region where WAA permits apply.
The areas are outlined in maps in Volume D
of the NRM Regional Plan, which can be
downloaded from the Board’s website
www.nynrm.sa.gov.au. Hard copies and CDs of
the maps are available from Board offices.
Ms Munro said landholders, property managers,
councils, industry bodies or organisations
planning surface water affecting activities in
priority areas should lodge permit applications
with the Board.
For more information contact Jennifer Munro
on 8636 2361 or email jennifer.munro@nynrm.
sa.gov.au
24 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4coast lines
Diving into marine education
The foreshore beside Port Augusta
Yacht Club was recently transformed
into a living classroom when around 130
primary school students came together to
learn more about the marine environment.
The Marine Environment Day provided students
from local schools with insights into the
importance of aquatic biodiversity, tides and
water movement, and threats posed by
marine pests.
Coastal program a shore success
It’s very tempting for coastal gardeners to plant
a few cuttings or seedlings that seem to be
doing well in the neighbourhood.
South African daisies and numerous species of
succulents are freely obtainable from nearby
gardens and sandhills and they can look good
within a couple of months.
Isn’t this better than driving to a nursery to buy
native seedlings that may also take longer to
look as good?
“Not so,” says David Sloper, NRM officer
with Northern and Yorke Natural Resources
Management Board, who has just helped
rewrite an excellent guide, Coastal Gardens:
A planting guide for the Northern and Yorke
Coastal Region.
“Imported weeds such as South African
daisies and succulents have no natural pests or
diseases to slow them down, so when they get
established they take over – especially when
they jump the fence,” Mr Sloper said.
Launched by Marine Advisory Committee
chairman Peter Solomon, the event was
organised by the Northern and Yorke NRM
Board’s Upper North team and supported by
the Port Augusta Marine Advisory Committee,
Port Augusta Council and the former
Department of Environment and Heritage.
The Board’s Upper North team leader Kevin
Teague, and administration officer Stacey
Shackleford, said superb weather allowed the
students to enjoy a day out of their normal
classroom and gain a greater understanding
of the importance of caring for the natural
environment.
“The result of these weeds taking over is that
local native species are crowded out and that
means native birds, lizards and butterflies find
it harder to find the local foods and shelter
they need.”
To encourage gardeners along the coast from
Port Wakefield to Port Augusta, the planting
guide will be available from NYNRM Board and
council offices and from local nurseries.
The booklet will be launched in Wallaroo on
21 October by Hon Paul Caica, Minister for
Environment and Conservation, in an official
ceremony at the Wallaroo North Beach coastal
plant demonstration garden.
The coastal garden was jointly developed by the
Copper Coast Council and the NYNRM Board,
and will also be launched on the day - the first
of at least nine coastal demonstration gardens
planned for the region.
The gardens are designed to show coastal
residents a range of up to 20 local plant species
that can be safely grown along our coastline.
The species have been selected for their
low mature height, form, flowering and
foliage colour.
Sites at Port Clinton, Port Vincent and Port
Kevin said it was very much a hands on,
interactive experience for the students with
highlights including a presentation on coast
and marine pests, and camera vision of
underwater life.
Children also took part in a mangrove forest
walk, a guided tour of the Port Augusta
Aquatic Centre, and an inspection of the Coast
Guard shed, boat and equipment.
Above: Port Augusta West Primary School
students on board a coast guard boat.
Photo Jessie Nicolson
Broughton will be completed shortly with
planning well underway for sites at Coobowie,
Marion Bay, Point Turton, Port Victoria and Port
Hughes.
It is hoped that sites can also be established
in conjunction with local government in
Port Wakefield, Port Augusta and the Port
Pirie region.
Most of the gardens have been part-funded by
the NYNRM Board under its Community Grants
program.
The launch will be followed by a series of free
community workshops along the coast from
Port Wakefield to Port Augusta.
The NYNRM Board is already working closely
with local nurseries to ensure that they are
familiar with the planting guide and that
stocks of recommended plants are available in
the region.
The planting guide will also be available on line
through the Northern and Yorke NRM Board
website at www.nynrm.sa.gov.au
Beach access
on track
A motor vehicle access management
strategy has been developed for coastal
councils in the Northern and Yorke region.
The strategy to control unauthorised vehicle
access has been adopted by each of the seven
Councils represented in the Coastal Councils
Network (CCN) – Wakefield, Yorke Peninsula,
Copper Coast, Barunga West, Port Pirie, Mount
Remarkable and Port Augusta.
A coastal councils signage guide has also been
developed to provide a consistent management
approach across each of the Local Government
areas.
These outcomes follow a three-year CCN
research project managed through the Central
Local Government Region of Councils with
funding support from the Northern and Yorke
NRM Board and the Australian Government’s
Envirofund.
Unauthorised access by motor vehicles –
including two and four-wheel drive vehicles,
trail and quad bikes and specialised vehicles
such as dune buggies – was identified as a
major threat to environmental, cultural, social
and economic assets and values along the
region’s shoreline.
Anita Crisp, executive officer of the Central
Local Government Region of Councils, said
managing vehicle access to key coastal
locations required both a consistent
methodology and recognition of unique
conservation values and resources within each
Council area.
“Excess access roads will be considered for
closure,” she said. “Other key actions will
include rationalisation of informal access tracks
through coastal vegetation and clearly marked
preferred tracks. Foreshore parking facilities will
be improved at areas of preferred
coastal access.”
Ms Crisp, who is also the Local Government
representative on the Northern and Yorke
NRM Board, said other actions under the
management strategy include:
• speed restriction zones at beaches identified
for motor vehicle access;
• prohibiting driving on vegetated dune areas;
• improving safety and awareness through
signage and education programs; and
• a requirement that all motor vehicles
accessing coastal areas are to be registered
and operated by licensed drivers.
The actions plans will be implemented
progressively over a five-year period.
“This will require a process of engagement
with four-wheel driver owners, trail bike riders,
Aboriginal groups, local residents, tourism
operators and others who have an interest in
vehicle access to beaches and coastal reserves,”
Ms Crisp said.
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 25

4board talk
Lynne walden
General Manager, Crystal Brook
Wise investments in crucial resources
Achieving balance between using and protecting our
natural resources is a huge challenge.
The Northern and Yorke NRM Board is working with
partners to this end - all the way from Hamley Bridge to Port
Augusta and Hawker, and across Yorke Peninsula.
Our region contributes about a quarter of the State’s total
agricultural production from cropping and livestock. Its
economic stability depends on sustainable agribusiness,
which are all affected by the way natural resources
are managed.
Achieving long term positive change takes time. Surveys,
scoping studies, planning and working with community
groups to increase their involvement in NRM activities is a
lengthy process which will ensure better outcomes for our
natural resources.
The Board’s greatest challenge is allocating limited
resources effectively across the vast array of NRM priorities
in the region.
The Board has worked with stakeholders to develop a
strategic NRM Plan which sets long-term NRM targets for
the region.
Each year, programs are developed which build
incrementally on those of previous years. This is how
the NRM Plan’s targets are achieved. For example, if the
target is ‘improved native vegetation’, then first pests must
be controlled, land revegetated and then its condition
monitored to ensure the program is ‘working’.
It follows that NRM investment must ensure best possible
value for money. The NRM Plan is underpinned by the
Board’s three year Business Plan (2010-13) which outlines
regional NRM strategies and action targets, and highlights
past achievements. The Board delivers the NRM Plan
through its six investment program areas:
• Healthy soils - $747,000 (for this financial year);
• Healthy terrestrial ecosystems - $1.68 million;
• Viable water resources - $541,000;
• Healthy coastal, estuarine and marine ecosystems -
$342,000;
• Minimal pest impact - $872,000; and
• Community driven NRM - $1.08 million.
In terms of soils, the Board supports landholders to protect
the capability of our economic base - agriculture. In
collaboration with farmer support groups and a Landcare
facilitator, it provides advice on soil health, grazing
management and pest weed control.
Water is increasingly being recognised as a precious
resource, and the introduction of a Water Affecting
Activities (WAA) permit system has been implemented to
help ensure its long-term sustainability. A water officer
has been engaged to promote the WAA system and help
landholders understand processes and requirements.
The Board also supports sustainable farming. Regional
farmer groups, under the umbrella of the Ag Ex Alliance, are
developing and testing new sustainable methodologies and
spreading messages about better farming practices through
demonstration sites and regular workshops.
The community plays a vital role in NRM. For example,
a community committee has been set up to plan and
implement the Baroota Prescribed Area, while coastal councils
have collaborated to develop a coastal access management
strategy to protect sensitive coastal vegetation and provide
access to recreational areas.
The Board also supports a biodiversity program in the
Southern Flinders Ranges – where Peppermint Box and Iron
grass woodlands are under threat. These assets are a key
target of the Australian Government under its Caring For
Our Country funding program and activities, and regular
monitoring using the community based bushland condition
monitoring has been implemented over the last year. More
than 5000 ha have been restored, and more than 40 sites are
now monitored regularly.
Pest control is another Board focus, with more than 50,000
ha of weed control undertaken across the region during
2009-10.
The Board has also worked successfully with landholders in
the region’s far north to eradicate rabbits. Farmers have been
thrilled by achievements, which are more apparent following
revegetation of these sites with hardy local native species.
Meanwhile, an extensive fox-bating program in the southern
Yorke Peninsula continues to produce excellent results in
partnership with the national park programs. Increasing
numbers of farmers have undertaking baiting, with improved
outcomes for graziers and enhanced native habitats leading
to the return of several local native fauna species.
In terms of Community Driven NRM, 46 projects were
successfully completed last year including 20 school
programs. Board staff attended many local events such as
the YP Field days, Port Augusta Marine Environment Day and
country shows, providing information and support to local
farmers and community members.
In addition, the Board has allocated $207,000 to 29 projects
under its Community Grants Scheme.
Other regional projects include a small community funding
program, several research projects into the potential
impact of climate change on soils and pests, monitoring of
underground water and an Aboriginal knowledge project.
The Board is developing a comprehensive monitoring and
evaluation framework, using specific achievement indicators
to determine our NRM achievements. This vital area of NRM
ensures we are achieving the NRM targets in the long term.
An annual report card will compare our yearly progress.
In June 2010, the Board said farewell to its inaugural
presiding member Merv Lewis, who had a long-term
involvement in regional NRM.
On behalf of the Board, I now warmly welcome Caroline
Schaefer as our new presiding member and look forward
to working with her to continue to build on Merv’s work to
manage and protect our region’s natural resources.
Estimated Income Sources Board Programs - Proposed Expenditure 2010-11
Jayne Bishop
Educator, Peterborough
I have been on the NYNRM Board for two years. My experience is
in school teaching, adult training, water resources, conservation
and networking information about sustainable land management
since the early ‘90s.
The issues we face concerning water, land, coastal/marine,
biodiversity and pest animal/plant control are inextricably linked,
and the formation of Natural Resources Management Boards
is timely and appropriate. Climate change doesn’t depend on
science, but on the knowledge that climate changes and
always has.
Adaptation occurs best when natural systems are preserved and
rehabilitated, in regards to the extent that they are connected
and can thus move naturally over time through inherent
processes. I encourage diversification on-farm, connectivity and
the benefits of riparian vegetation for crops, stock, biodiversity
and water conservation. Fencing waterways from stock minimises
erosion and water pollution. With good planning, reforestation
can be recognised as having economic benefits as an investment
product and also subsequent local climatic effects that benefit
crops and stock.
I spent five years establishing homelands schools on the
Pitjantjatjara and Maralinga/Tjarutja Lands in the far North West
of South Australia. In this time I became aware of the huge
potential of food, medicines and timber that is indigenous to
Australia that we have hardly explored in mainstream agriculture/
forestry (probably because indigenous Australians hadn’t
developed a need for sedentary agriculture before invasion).
The knowledge of the elders is immense, and I am committed to
Aboriginal engagement in this regard, since European Australia
is in its infancy in respect to sustainable land management and
the value of indigenous species, beyond National Parks and
Conservation areas. These species are naturally suitable for the
conditions of this country and thus potentially more sustainable
in the long term. Indigenous food also tastes good, is good for
you and well worth efforts to develop them commercially.
John Cornish
Primary Industry and Resources SA
The Northern and Yorke Drought Taskforce has prepared a report
that identifies the key learnings from drought and identifies
strategies required for drought recovery across the region.
Drought Taskforce chair Jeff Burgess said there is an opportunity
for the taskforce to utilise the next twelve months with the
resources of a regional coordinator to move into recovery. He
acknowledged the support of Minister O’Brien and the State
Government in providing 11 phases of drought support and now
recovery to regional communities and businesses.
He went on to say that there are areas that have not really
moved into recovery, particularly the Upper North Cropping area.
The Taskforce has supported a new application for Exceptional
Circumstance for this area, and an inspection by National Rural
Advisory Council is likely by September.
The taskforce is keen to monitor the progress of the new national
drought program being piloted in Western Australia. The
program has a focus on supporting farmers to prepare for dry
seasons through effective planning and is a move away from an
emergency response and Interest Rate Subsidies.
Strategies in the Report on Drought Response and Strategies
for Recovery will guide the focus of the taskforce and provide
information on the needs of the agricultural industry and
rural communities to governments, key agencies and
interested groups.
If you would like more information, please contact Primary
Industries and Resources SA Northern recovery coordinator Liz
Connell on 88426270.
26 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board

4board talk
From left: Jackie O’Reilly, Wayne Hutchins (Department for
Water), Cathy Bowman, John Cornish (Primary Industries of
SA), Anita Crisp (Central Region of Local Government),
Lynne Walden (general manager), Eric Sommerville,
Caroline Schaefer (presiding member), Kerry Ward),
Pam Pilkington, Neville Wilson and Claudia Smith.
Not present: Tim Collins (Department of Environment and
Natural Resources) and Jayne Bishop.
Photo: Catherine Gasmier
Jackie o’reilly
Horticulture, small business and engagement,
Wirrabara Forest
Balance – what is it and how do we find it? Who gives and who
takes? How do we measure it?
Our living world is the biological medium that supports all that
we have. A living interconnected organism. Investing in our
natural resources is an investment in our future.
Many of us look to government and other major players for
the answer, with the expectation that ‘they’ should solve this
dilemma. Certainly I believe many policies are economically
geared and deserve a much increased environmental value.
The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has coined
such considerations in Accounting for Nature - A Model for
Building the National Environmental Accounts of Australia. www.
wentworthgroup.org Here it discusses the need to value the
services that nature provides, and to monitor the health of our
natural world in much the same way as we do our economic
world. With increased taxpayer-funded environmental spending
occurring, the Wentworth group points out that we do not have
a commensurate accounting system in place.
The Conservation Council of South Australia has attempted to
answer some of these questions in its recently released South
Australia in a Changing Climate – A Blueprint for a Sustainable
Future (www.conservationsa.org.au)
As individuals I feel we have the most important role to play,
as it is our day to day decisions that impact on the elements on
which we depend – our water, soil health, marine life, vegetation
communities and fauna habitat.
Daily we also play a role in waste management and pest and
disease control, as well as resource consumption. How we
journey through our lives and the footprints we make along the
way is what we will leave behind for future generations. We as
a human race have not yet learned to reconcile our lifestyles and
prosperity with functioning natural ecosystems.
It is our choices that will reflect who we are.
Claudia Smith
Environmentalist, Port Victoria
I am a proud and active member of my community. I grew up
on the Yorke Peninsula and am part of a fishing family. I have
devoted my 16 year career to aged care and Aboriginal health
and have been working in the Aboriginal health/education sector
for 10 years. I am a Chairperson on the Port Victoria Progress
Association Steering Committee for the Medical Facility and a
member of the Aboriginal Ethics Committee, Aboriginal Heritage
Committee and Narungga Nations Aboriginal Corporation
(NNAC) for Land. I am particularly proud of my role as a
researcher and writer/recorder of family histories.
I have a strong interest in the protection and conservation
of natural resources and am committed to ensuring that
development does not negatively impact on the health and
environment of Aboriginal communities. I am pleased to be a
representative on the Northern and Yorke NRM Board.
Pamela Pilkington
Farmer, Crystal Brook
My interest in natural resource management has evolved and
expanded throughout my lifetime of growing up, living and
working in the Koolunga, Redhill and Crystal Brook communities.
Being involved in farming for the entirety has exposed me to
the challenges land managers face. These challenges include
protecting soils, reducing pests, looking after waterways and
maintaining healthy ecosystems. We also have a crucial role
in managing these resources sustainably to pass on to future
generations.
A particular interest I have is in protecting and maintaining
native plant species, remnant native vegetation and ecological
communities. I see the need to enhance connectivity between
these systems. Effective control of pest plants along roadsides, in
parks and reserves, as well as agricultural land, will assist in the
re-establishment of many native species. Native grasses which are
incorporated as an integral component of grazing pastures have
proven valuable in supplementing year round fodder, as well as
stabilising soils during summer periods, and I would like to see
continued support for graziers who have implemented
this practice.
I value the importance of vibrant, supportive communities
which develop strong networks, and work together to achieve
desired outcomes. Many valuable projects have been undertaken
throughout the region, with immense benefits not only to
the natural resources, but also to building the capacity of our
communities. Economically viable country communities are the
backbone of our Northern and Yorke region, and one of our
greatest challenges is to provide the support which our farmers
need to produce an efficient, safe and secure food supply for our
nation, and globally, into the future.
Kerry Ward
Vigneron, Clare
I am a vigneron from Clare with experience in Local Government,
soil conservation, animal and plant control and water resource
management.
The next stage of water resource management for the Board is
the creation of the Baroota Water Allocation Plan (WAP). I am the
chairperson of the local committee overseeing the process. The
task of this committee, on behalf of the Board, is to help balance
the interests of the three major stakeholders.
They are the water dependent ecosystems of the Baroota
catchment, the groundwater irrigators and the Baroota reservoir,
which dominates the surface water flows and contributes some
of the recharge to the ground water systems.
The Baroota WAP will be the first plan of the Board to create
licences that have four management components as required
by the National Water Initiative (NWI). This initiative is an
Australia-wide approach to improving the management of
water resources.
In Clare the completion of the Clare WAP has resulted in
the conversion of the area-based allocations to volumetric
allocations. This is one of the reforms that have resulted from the
NWI guidelines. The Clare WAP will also be amended in the next
few years by ‘unbundling’ the existing licences, so that they also
consist of four components as required by the NWI.
kathleen Bowman
Farmer, Orroroo
I wonder if many of us think about how much planning we do
in our everyday lives. I’m sure it’s a lot more than most of us
realise. We plan on a daily basis, what we’ll cook for dinner for
example and which paddock to spray today. We plan on a weekly
and monthly basis, where and when to shift our stock and our
seeding and harvesting activities.
Most importantly, we plan on a yearly basis, our crop rotations,
our stock and cropping enterprise mix and whether or not our
cash flow budget will stack up. Without planning I’m concerned
we would spend far too much of our time ‘chasing our tails’.
We on the NYNRM Board have spent the better part of the past
two years planning, both for the next year and for the short to
medium term. I have felt that it has been a rather long, drawn
out process but I’m very pleased now to have a blueprint with
which to work.
It makes what we do so much easier to manage. That is the
aspect of NRM which I worry is being under-appreciated. The
object of the Board is natural resource MANAGEMENT. It is
our duty to put in place policies which are to the advantage of
everyone involved in the sector.
Here in the Northern and Yorke region where so much of our
natural resources are in the hands of our farming community, it
is very important that not only do we make sure that our policies
protect our soils, our water resources, our coasts and marine
ecosystems and our biodiversity, they also should be aimed at
keeping our farmers viable and sustainable.
That is our challenge - to get the mix right and have sufficient
for all players.
Eric Sommerville
Farmer, Spalding
As a new member to the Northern and Yorke NRM Board, I
would like to introduce myself. My name is Eric Sommerville
and I am a fifth generation farmer in the Spalding District. I and
my wife, Judith, and our two sons, Damien and Ben, manage a
farming and agricultural contracting business.
We continuously crop all arable country and have been direct
drilling since the early 1980s. Stubble retention and soil structure
has been a major focus on our farm. Sheep lightly graze our
stubble over the summer for approximately twelve weeks to
manage grain residues and re-growth.
I believe agriculture is maligned for its damage to the
environment, whereas my opinion is, and I see it on a daily basis,
most farmers are excellent stewards of the land. Acidic soils are
being limed, organic content is increasing, pest plants controlled
and revegetation patches are appearing. Farmers now talk of
integrated weed and pest management and are very aware of
the environment. I am intensely proud of the young farmers in
our district and believe that we can achieve a lot in the
next decade.
My interest in the environment goes back to the 1970s when
Judith and I decided to ‘pretty up the place’ by planting trees and
to stop some dust and wind around the house and sheds. Since
then, we have fenced off sites for revegetation, planted wind
breaks and tried to minimise dust wherever possible.
Natural resource management is a natural extension of this. As
a member of the Yackamoorundie Landcare Group, I became
aware of the Northern and Yorke NRM Board and to cut a long
story short, I was appointed to it in April 2010. I have been
‘blown away’ by the size and responsibilities of the Board.
Soil structure, water management, pests, plants, animals and
coastlines are all in the portfolio. My particular interests are soils,
water and pests (like farming, really).
The first few months have been enlightening and enthralling and
I look forward to the future with the Board.
Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board 27

4many hands
Eye for the birds
Birds Australia – a national organisation working for the conservation and
protection of native birds and their habitats – recently received a Community
Grant from Northern and Yorke NRM Board to help conserve South Australia’s
migratory and beach-nesting shorebirds.
The funding will support the Shorebirds 2020
National Shorebird Monitoring Program and Beachnesting
Birds Project in the Northern and Yorke
NRM region.
The program started in 2007 in response to growing
concern over declining shorebird populations in
Australia and throughout the East Asian-Australasian
Flyway (the path used by shorebirds migrating from the
Northern Hemisphere).
It is designed to reinvigorate community efforts to
monitor Australia’s shorebirds; reliably determine
population trends; and support conservation and
management activities in important shorebird habitats.
A total of 48 shorebird sites are currently monitored in
South Australia by an established network of around
200 volunteers.
In the Northern and Yorke region, there are around
a dozen shorebird sites of particular importance to
migratory shorebirds.
Some birds breed in places like Siberia before migrating
to areas around Price (stretching along the coast to the
outskirts of Adelaide), Port Victoria and the Port Pirie
coast where they spend the summer.
The Beach-nesting Birds Project has been running
in Victoria and South Australia for five years,
focussing on community engagement and education,
threatened species monitoring and habitat
management.
“The Hooded plover, which is vulnerable in South
Australia, is a flagship species for engaging coastal
communities in beach-nesting shorebird conservation
and as an indicator of coastal health,” said Beachnesting
Birds project manager Grainne Maguire.
Shorebirds 2020 program manager, Jo Oldland, said
the monitoring and conservation efforts would be
coordinated with the NYNRM Board, the District
Council of Yorke Peninsula and local volunteers.
It will involve training and supporting volunteers
in monitoring and protection techniques, and
distributing community awareness and
education materials.
Above: Birds Australia’s Chris Purnell eyes resident
shorebirds at Black Point. With him are novice ‘twitchers’
Vaughan Rattley, Sue Leverton and Elizabeth Dau.Photo:
Jenny Oldland, YP Country Times.
Top: Hooded plovers are a flagship species for beachnesting
shorebird conservation. Photo: Glenn Ehmke
28 Northern and Yorke Natural Resources Management Board