Bounceback
Bounceback is one of DEWNR's major conservation programs aimed at protecting and restoring the semi-arid environments of the Flinders and Gawler Ranges and Olary Hills of South Australia.
The program works across a range of landholdings, including national park reserves, privately managed sanctuaries and pastoral properties in these regions. Most of the national park reserves where the program operates are ex-pastoral leases now owned by the South Australian Government. They are managed for conservation purposes as part of the National Reserve System.
Bounceback is a long running landscape scale conservation program that aims to protect and restore the semi-arid environments of the Flinders (southern, central and northern), Olary and Gawler Ranges in South Australia.
The landscapes of South Australia’s semi-arid ranges have evolved over tens of thousands of years. Here, change in condition is a natural part of how things work. This is boom and bust country where native plants and animals, and the ecosystems of which they are a part, are adapted to survive recurring, climate-driven disturbances. Populations decline during periods of adversity, but rebound when conditions improve. We call this capacity for recovery, resilience.
Unnatural disturbances can alter the health and resilience of natural systems, diminishing the capacity of native species to recover, even when conditions are favourable, which is why Bounceback is critical in protecting this semi-arid environment.
Operation Bounceback was launched in the early 1990s when a small group of rangers and wildlife managers recognised the need for decisive intervention to protect the semi-arid ranges of South Australia from further species losses and ongoing habitat destruction. Today, DEWNR, volunteers, landholders and local communities continue to work together to reverse some of the impacts of the last 150 years.
Bounceback operates on National Park Reserves, Aboriginal owned and managed lands, private sanctuaries, and pastoral lands. Most of the properties within the Bounceback footprint, including all protected areas, have a livestock grazing history. Several of the reserves within the Bounceback footprint are now co-managed by the South Australian Government and the Traditional Owners of the land.
View the Bounceback footprint map (336kb pdf).
South Australia’s Strategic Plan has two goals which the Bounceback program specifically addresses and contributes to, including:
- Lose no species
- Establish five biodiversity corridors.
More information:
DEWNR acknowledges the Adnyamathanha, Barngarla, Ngadjuri, Nukunu and Kokatha peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands, waters, plants and animals, in the areas where Bounceback operates. People involved in the Bounceback program strive to work cooperatively with the Aboriginal peoples to conserve country, plants, animals and culture and strive to achieve reconciliation in our daily work.
