WildCountry in South Australia

WildCountry is The Wilderness Society's vision for protecting Australia's wilderness, plants and animals into - and beyond - the 21st Century. The Western Wilderness Corridor project aims to protect the Eyre Peninsula to WA border region through the WildCountry vision.

Background

A primary WildCountry goal is to produce an Australia-wide, comprehensive system of inter-connected core protected areas, each surrounded and linked by lands managed under conservation objectives. Eventually every region of the continent would be represented.

The cores of this protected area system will be established by identifying and protecting "the best of what's left" of Australia's wilderness and other natural areas of high conservation value. The existing reserve system would be encompassed by the project and critical gaps in the reserve system will be identified and filled.

The effects of modern technology on the landscapes of South Australia have been profound. The clearance of native vegetation in some areas has been extensive and now only fragments remain. This, combined with the impacts of feral animals, such as the cat, rabbit and fox, as well as the effects of livestock, has caused high levels of species extinction. Of the 137 species of mammals that lived here 167 years ago, 27 are now extinct and a further 14 are classified as endangered. With the new threat of global warming comes alarming evidence that the capacity of our ecosystems to adapt to temperature change has been seriously diminished by the fragmentation of habitat. Under these circumstances, protecting high quality wilderness areas requires a broad scale approach. Coongie Lakes in the far north of the state provide a good example. To protect these internationally important wetlands, we not only have to protect the core areas of the Lakes from oil exploration and grazing, but also the head waters of the Cooper Creek in Queensland which flow into Coongie.

The Western Wilderness Corridor - the first step in South Australia

The west of South Australia has some of the biggest tracts of high value wilderness - including the Yellabinna system which is the largest stretch of relatively undisturbed mallee in the world. There are both acacia and eucalypt systems which stretch from the centre of the Eyre Peninsula into Western Australia.

However the whole area is inadequately protected by the national park system which allows mining inside many of the parks. Track construction for mining exploration and other uses fragments these sensitive arid ecosystems and can lead to the introduction and/or increase of weeds and feral animals.
 

	Western Wilderness Corridor

A priority for WildCountry is to get core areas in the band of mallee strictly protected.

Benchmarks for this would be the full protection of core areas of the Yellabinna Wilderness, Gawler Ranges and the mallee to the south of the ranges.

Restoration of systems in the Central Eyre would focus on areas around Pinkawillinie, Hincks, Hambidge and Bascombe Well Conservation Parks. Due to the relative isolation of these parks within a cleared agricultural region, developing and restoring links is a priority. To be successful, the project has to be looked at as a long term venture which will need the involvement of landholders, indigenous management, threatened species programs and local communities. All groups will be needed to develop a conservation network through protection, restoration and rehabilitation of the landscape.

WildCountry takes root in the West with appointment of a WildCountry Project Officer

The implementation of WildCountry in the Western Corridor has taken a big leap forward with the appointment of Steffen Schultz as Project Officer for the region. Funding for the position has been secured from the Federal Government's NHT Regional Competitive Component Grants process, and covers the initial period of twelve months. The position will be administered out of the Conservation Council of South Australia. A Steering Committee from The Wilderness Society, Conservation Council of SA, Greening Australia, the SA government's NatureLinks program, and several Natural Resource Management groups will help coordinate management of the role.

Central to this cross-regional partnership is the need to establish an NGO presence in the regions that can facilitate greater collaboration and coordination between State and regional objectives, incorporating WildCountry principles.

Who is Steffen Schultz?

"I was formally trained as a Forest Engineer in Germany and have spent a considerable time working with NGOs in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America on environmental and scientific projects.

 I managed an environmental project inNamibia, with the objective to reforest in order to stop the exploitation of the last remaining natural forest resources. With this goal in mind, I planned and implemented small scale forest plots, which included timber plantations, fruit and vegetable gardens and reforested areas with slow growing indigenous trees. In this fragile environment, my aim was it to provide fire wood, building material and fruits and vegetables for the people, whilst conserving the remaining forest.

 I have also worked in the Aspropotamus Mountains in northernGreece, a region used for grazing and logging by the local people, but also targeted for its conservation value. We were working closely with the local forest authorities who were trying to implement sustainable forestry practices and provide alternative grazing areas in order to satisfy both needs.

 My projects inPanama were undertaken in cooperation with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and involved the examination of CO₂ exchange, thallus water relations, and microclimate of macro-lichen".

Where to from here?

 Steffen's role will focus on:

• securing independent funding for land acquisition
  
• facilitating the interchange of information and data between stakeholders (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous) in the region and the WildCountry Science Council
  
• guiding science projects where key knowledge gaps have been identified, such as large-scale fire regime management and using vegetation mapping models to fill in gaps in existing data; and,
  
• promoting WildCountry initiatives within the community, with the aim of developing local habitat restoration and protection projects as a priority.

Steffen is keen to expand community involvement in his work. In the longer term, he will be assisting with a regional tour of the WildCountry photo exhibition, helping to set up a fire management workshop under the direction of the WildCountry Science Council and assisting with the production of the WildCountry in SA booklet. He will also be coordinating a Biodiversity Day on the Peninsula, bringing together local and metropolitan scientists, stakeholders, teachers, students and anybody with an interest in biodiversity conservation. If you would like to be a part of these activities, contact Steffen on 08 8683 1452.

 Following on from the push to secure wilderness protection for Yellabinna, TWS has nominated the Nullarbor region as its next priority campaign area. The need to secure core protection and the development of criteria to establish strategic linkages are key issues to be addressed. 

NatureLinks - the South

We will support the efforts of conservationists to introduce the Wildcountry philosophy into Australia to produce an Australia-wide comprehensive system of interconnected core protected areas, each surrounded and linked by lands managed under conservation.

The state government has now embarked on a bold vision for conservation with the launch of its NatureLinks program to implement the WildCountry philosophy in South Australia. The Government adopted a broad scale strategic approach to nature conservation, and launched "East Meets West" as the first practical application of its program. East Meets West is also operating on the West Coast and complements the Western Wilderness Corridor in its scope. It aims to integrate biodiversity protection and management over an area of 21 million hectares. Already the Ark on Eyre project has 170 land holders and two Animal and Plant Control Boards helping to reduce feral animal numbers in the area around Venus Bay Conservation Park. This accommodates ground-breaking work in reintroducing species such as the Bilby into the area. There are now plans to emulate this successful community-government cooperation program elsewhere on the Eyre Peninsula.