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Each year the Eyre Peninsula Natural Resources Management Board enters into a Service Level Agreement with the

Department for Environment and Water (DEW) for the delivery of the Board’s programs plus services provided by

business support and the regional management team.

Details of the Board’s programs can be found in the Board’s Business Plan (2017-2020).

This report provides a quarterly update of each program, including:

Program highlights this period

Local government engagement for this period

Upcoming priorities for the next period

Each milestone is assigned a status, based on its current progress.

On track to deliver

all milestones.

On track to deliver most milestones.

May be some delays.

Unlikely to meet milestones.

Further details of each of these programs can be found on the Natural Resources Eyre Peninsula website or by

contacting Ben Smith (Senior NRM Officer – Southern) for projects in the Port Lincoln City Council and District

Councils of Tumby Bay and Lower Eyre Peninsula areas on 08 8688 3111.

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Landscapes Milestones Status

Conserving and protecting species and ecosystems

Improving community skills, knowledge and engagement in landscapes NRM

Program highlights this period

Completion of NLP funded Protect and Regenerate Endemic Vegetation (PREV) project (southern and eastern

region). Southern achievements included:

o Finishing all landholder fencing and revegetation projects, including a planting morning with 10 indigenous

Port Lincoln High School students to learn about all aspects of revegetation, from seed collect and

propagation to site preparation and planting and direct seeding.

o A massive effort was also undertaken by the Tumby Bay Area School primary students, who planted 600 EP

Blue Gums to rehabilitate a creekline site.

o Over 1,000 hectares of weed control was also undertake in key Eyre Peninsula Blue Gum Woodland

(EPBGW) areas. One of these sites was at Lipson where feral Aleppo pines were removed and the site

revegetated by staff and fire crew.

o An EPBGW management plan was also produced, by consultant Rick Davies, providing priorities and

directions forward for on-ground works.

Photo 1: Fencing of remnant vegetation Photo 2 (group): School children helping with tree planting

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On-ground works for the NLP funded Whibley Wattle (Acacia whibleyana) Recovery Project was also

completed by June 30, including:

o A new remnant patch that was recently discovered and an existing creekline containing Acacia whibleyana

was fenced off from stock.

o Two new revegetation areas was also fenced and revegetated, one with students from Tumby Bay Area

School planting Whibley seedlings they had propagated.

o Whibley seedlings were also planted at 5 other landholder properties.

o An additional 400 plants were also discovered, increasing the total to 1,800 Whibleys.

o Weed control was also completed at key sites, and

o A management plan for Acacia whibleyana was completed by the University of Adelaide.

Photo 3 and 4: planting of acacia whibleyana seedlings on a landholder property near Moonlight Bay.

Local government engagement for this period

Staff presented to members of the DC Tumby Bay highlighting the completion and significant achievements of

the Acacia whibleyana and EP Blue gum projects, as well as other NRM activities in the council area.

Roadside markers for significant sites were created and erected in the District Council of Tumby Bay to highlight

the presence of Acacia whibleyana on their roadsides.

Photo 5: Fred installing one of the new roadside markers

Upcoming priorities for the next period

Commencing Bushland Condition Monitoring (BCM) program.

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Coast & marine Milestones Status

Improve community skills, knowledge and engagement in coast and marine ecosystems

Program highlights this period Key staff completed AUSMAP training in microplastic monitoring, which we plan to incorporate into our long

term marine debris monitoring sites eg. Bolingbroke. We are now accredited and able to support the community

in this monitoring technique.

Rachael Kannussaar attended the Beach Nesting Birds conference in Victoria, and represented EP at the

national Hooded Plover Recovery team meeting.

Local government engagement for this period No activities for the period

Upcoming priorities for the next period New NLP Saltmarsh Threat Abatement and Recovery (STAR) project commencing focusing on Coastal Samphire

and Shorebirds (a regional project).

Pest plants & animals Milestones Status

Monitor and facilitate management of priority pest plants and animals

Program highlights this period Fox and rabbit surveys undertaken along Parnkalla Trail in Port Lincoln

The southern team have assisted staff in the eastern district with Boxthorn control at a number of key sites.

NRM staff assisted the National Parks aerial baiting program by injecting close to 2,000 baits with 1080 to work

towards eradication of foxes within our priority parks.

Survey and control of all known Fountain grass sites across Southern EP are complete. A total of 5 NRM staff

committed 65+ hours to controlling the plant across 7 priority sites.

7 landholders voluntarily controlled Fountain grass on private land. A chemical incentive was offered to

landholders with the combined total amount of chemical given capable of mixing 4000 litres of spray mix.

Survey and control of all known Feather top grass

sites across Southern EP are complete. A total of 3

NRM staff committed 35+ hours to controlling the

plant across 5 priority sites.

NRM staff have been working closely with PIRSA staff

to plan a rabbit control workshop to be held in Port

Lincoln. The aim of the workshop will be to promote

our upcoming RHDV1-K5 release in early spring. Early

signs indicate that the workshop will be well

attended.

Survey and control of Bridal Veil has begun and will

continue into August.

Photo 6: Fountain grass seen during site visit

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Planning for our annual Boneseed program has begun with plans to start survey and control in the next few

weeks.

An ecological private land prescribed burn was attempted with the aim to assist in control of Boneseed.

Unfortunately the conditions did not allow us to get the desired result on the day. The burn will be revisited in

the 2019-2020 prescribed burn plan.

Photo 7: use of fire to control priority Boneseed site

NREP have set up 3 fly traps in 3 different locations in an aim to collect samples to be analysed for active

calisivirus in the region. Samples have been collected fortnightly and will be sent to CSIRO for analysis.

NRM staff have continued to progress current compliance cases.

NRM Staff have continued to provide landholders with 1080 fox bait free of charge to assist with control of foxes

in the district.

NRM Staff have continued to identify plants for landholders and provide advice regarding control where

necessary.

Photo 8: Boxthorn control

Photo 9: Fountain grass control

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Photo 10 and 11: Fox bait production at Coffin Bay

Map – priority pest plant control for the period

Local government engagement for this period No activities for the period

Upcoming priorities for the next period Coordinated K5 rabbit virus release across the region. Workshops will be held in conjunction with PIRSA in Cleve

and Port Lincoln in August for landholders to find out more about the virus and how we can effectively release it

across the region.

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Sustainable farming Milestones Status

Improve community skills, knowledge and engagement in Sustainable Agriculture

Program highlights this period Southern district NREP staff continue to support the region’s Sustainable Farming program through the provision

of advice, assessment of risk and the facilitation and collation of information relative to the seasonal conditions,

biosecurity, soils and salinity issues.

NRM Staff have continued to provide landholders with 1080 fox bait free of charge to assist with the control of

foxes in the district.

Southern District NRM Officers provided considerable assistance to landholders providing advice and support to

those with soil conservation problems.

Photo 12: taken during a site visit showing a good level of cover on a property that has had historical soil drift)

Local government engagement for this period No activities for the period

Upcoming priorities for the next period Ongoing monitoring of properties that have been identified as having soil erosion issues due to recent climatic

conditions.

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Communications & engagement Milestones Status

Effective communications, volunteer management and citizen science

Effective community engagement and education programs

Program highlights this period Southern staff supported the Lower Eyre Coastcare Group to coordinate ‘Greenly Day’, a community planting

day at Greenly beach to celebrate National Tree Day. This is a coordinated effort between NREP, Coastcare and

the Lake Wangary Primary School.

Year 8 students from Cummins Area School visited the Tumby Bay mangroves and learnt about their adaptions

and importance in the ecosystem, and identified the threats.

Local government engagement for this period No activities for the period

Upcoming priorities for the next period Unknown at this stage