Cell Descriptions - South East Natural Resources Management Board

SE15-17 – The Coorong
the inner shore are stands of supra-tidal Melaleuca.. On the calcarenite slopes near the inner edge
of the coastal boundary, remnant stands of mallee form E. diversifolia, woodland E. leucoxylon, and,
in the north, tall shrubland Muehlenbeckia florulenta remain. Melaleuca halmaturorum shrubland and
Sarcocornia spp. shrubland are common along the inland edges of the Coorong.
306 fauna species have been recorded in the cell including 225 birds, 24 butterflies, 22 mammals,
27 reptiles and 8 amphibians. Listed threatened species include the EPBC listed critically
endangered Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster); also the State endangered White-bellied
Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster), Little (Sternula albifrons) and Fairy (Sternula nereis) Terns and
Western Barred Bandicoot (Perameles bougainville).
Land Use/ Land Ownership
Approximately 86% of the cell is in the Coorong National Park. Upper South East Marine Park
extends 20km north of 42 Mile Crossing to Kingston.
Values/ Uses (Field visits and local reports)
The wilderness character of the Younghusband Peninsula is commented upon by visitors and in
written accounts. This intrinsic value should be retained. Aboriginal Heritage values throughout.
Murray Mouth. Photograph Coast Protection Board 2008.
Threats (Field visits and local reports)
Cullen & Bird, 1980, (p.B2) report that dunes have been de-stabilised by 19C grazing and
burning, further damaged by rabbits and ORV. “In recent years ORVs have been much used
here, and these have further damaged the vegetation and extended the area of bare mobile sand."
Buick & Paton, 1989, estimated that 60% of Hooded Plover eggs and chicks were run over by
ORVs in the mid to late 1980s.
Altered freshwater river flows to the Coorong from the upstream catchments are a serious threat
to the regions ecology. Similarly, land clearance on the landward side of the Coorong poses a
Limestone Coast and Coorong Coastal Action Plan 455