East meets West NatureLink

The East meets West area is nationally important for its biodiversity. The flora and fauna within this area has been isolated by the sea and arid lands for sufficient time for species to evolve that are found no where else in the world. Many eastern Australian species are at their western limit and many western Australian species are at their eastern limit in this area.

The East meets West program covers approximately 21 million hectares. The program aims to:

• Reconnect habitat in central and northern Eyre Peninsula by creating a link for biodiversity through Eyre Peninsula to the Western Australian border using a system of core protected areas and buffer zones;
• Enable species and ecosystems in this region to survive and continue to evolve and adapt to changing climatic conditions;
• Integrate protection and management of terrestrial, estuarine, coastal and marine habitats.

Progress so far

East meet West Naturelinks Plan

The NatureLinks East meets West Corridor Plan Draft (1.64Mb PDF) was released by the Minister for Environment and Conservation in early October for a three month public review period.

To ensure that everyone has had an adequate opportunity to provide comment on the draft plan in the New Year the Department for Environment and Heritage has decided to extend the public review period until Friday 23th February 2007.

You are welcome to make a written or e-mail submission. Written submissions should be addressed to:

Chris Morony
Senior Policy and Planning Officer
Department for Environment and Heritage
GPO Box 1047
Adelaide SA 5001

Email submissions to eastmeetswest@saugov.sa.gov.au

Please note your submission will become part of the public record and available to anyone who requests a copy unless you specifically request otherwise. An analysis of public submissions will be available for public viewing on the Department's website following the adoption of the final corridor plan.

Strategic planning for on-ground works

Work has commenced to assess the adequacy of landscape connectivity, to identify priority remnant areas to manage and to re-establish areas of habitat that link to protected areas. The aim is to produce maps and associated documents to guide those undertaking on-ground works to assist in the conservation of threatened species and communities at a landscape level.

Gaps in knowledge

The Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH) has identified that there are gaps in our knowledge on the distributions of species and ecological communities in this area. The Biological Survey for Eyre Peninsula due for completion in July 2006 will assist in providing further baseline information on distribution and relative abundance of the majority of fauna and flora species in the area.

Malleefowl are a flagship species for the area from Eyre Peninsula to Esperance. A flagship species is a species where actions to assist in that particular species' recovery have maximum flow-on benefits for other species who make up part of the same 'ecological community'. To provide further information on Malleefowl on Eyre Peninsula several surveys of Malleefowl mounds are currently being undertaken by regional DEH staff, Greencorps, community volunteers and Animal Plant Control Board staff. See Biodiversity Conservation Programs of Eyre Peninsula and Far West (previously Ark on Eyre) website.

There are also plans for small animal surveys on private land and ant surveys next year.

Threats to habitats and species

Management of total grazing pressure has been identified as a high priority. The West Coast Integrated Pest Management project has a focus on the on-ground works to achieve strategic biodiversity and production outcomes. As there is also a lack of knowledge on the numbers of herbivores in the Great Victoria Desert, an aerial survey of camels in the area is proposed.

After the successful reintroduction of Brush-tailed Bettongs into Venus Bay Conservation Park releases of Bilbies are now occurring. The area is well situated for landscape based recovery programs with links into other native vegetation connections to the north which then extend via reserves and parks to the WA Border.

Environmental weeds are a significant threat to threatened species and ecological communities and significant work is occurring in Southern Eyre Peninsula to control bridal creeper in areas of high conservation value. Areas considered having high conservation value include Threatened Species sites, Heritage Agreement areas and Conservation and National Parks.

Marine Planning

There will be strong connections between the terrestrial and marine environments in the implementation of the NatureLinks principles. The Government has commenced a Marine Planning Program and as it progressively rolls out across the State the outcomes from this program will contribute to the implementation of NatureLinks. The area identified for East meets West has a significant marine area containing some important marine habitats. Marine planning for this area is planned to commence during 2005 - 2006 with Marine Protected Areas to be developed following the marine planning process.