How South Australia is restoring lost biodiversity

If you need a refresher, biodiversity is the interconnected web of life on Earth – encompassing all the plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms we share the planet with and the ecosystems they form. 

Unfortunately, biodiversity is under threat across the world. The United Nations reports that nature is declining more rapidly than ever before and species extinctions are accelerating.

In South Australia, rules around land clearance were not established until the 1980s, but by that time more than 70% of our state’s native vegetation – critical for biodiversity – had been cleared in our agricultural regions.

Since European colonisation it’s estimated that 73 species – 41 plants and 32 animals – have become extinct in South Australia. Another 1,100 species are threatened with extinction (and this is thought to be an underestimate). 

While losing individual species may not be immediately noticeable, it can have wider and cascading effects on others that relied on it for food or shelter.

It’s critical that we protect our biodiversity. It gives us everything we need to live, including the air we breathe, the food we eat and the materials we build with, modern medicine, while also underpinning the economy.

However, it isn’t enough to preserve and protect what we have left. Wherever it’s possible, it’s important that we try to restore what we’ve lost.  

Wondering how that is possible? Find out more.

Why do we need to restore biodiversity?

Restoration is critical as we approach the limits of what the Earth can handle.

The concept of “planetary boundaries” was developed by scientists to calculate Earth’s ability to cope with human activities.  

It considers what we use and take from the planet – such as biodiversity loss, fresh water and land use – alongside what we introduce into the natural system – like greenhouse gases, plastics and other chemicals – to calculate the safe level (or boundaries) we can operate at.

As of 2023, we have exceeded six of nine of these planetary boundaries.

You may have also heard about Earth’s Overshoot Day – this marks the day each year that humanity’s demand for resources exceeds what the Earth can regenerate in that year. In 2025, that date was 24 July.

Overall, this means that we humans are living beyond the means of our natural world. Restoring biodiversity is like giving the planet extra resources, reversing some of the damage we have done.

It will also boost the resilience of our ecosystems and nature’s ability to sequester carbon – imperative to protecting and helping us respond to threats like climate change.

How SA is restoring lost biodiversity

The good news is that there are plenty of projects underway to restore species populations, their habitats and ecosystem function.

1. A haven for threatened species

Off South Australia’s spectacular west coast, an island refuge is being created for nationally threatened species.

Flinders Island – offshore of Elliston on Eyre Peninsula – is transforming into a safe haven. The island is in the midst of an eradication program removing pest animals including rats, mice, cats from the island. Once this is complete, threatened species will be introduced, some of which previously inhabited the island.

The 'built-in’ biosecurity of the island, and the support of visitors and the community adhering to biosecurity procedures, ensures the island will remain pest free, providing the ultimate predator free habitat for our native threatened species.

The project is jointly funded by the Australian Government, the Department for Environment and Water and the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board in partnership with the island’s owners, the Woolford family.

The Woolford family are dedicated to creating a haven for threatened species and is working with a skilled team to enhance the island’s ecosystem.

2. Building resilience in our ranges

Bounceback – led by the Department for Environment and Water – is South Australia’s longest running landscape-scale biodiversity program, protecting and restoring the semi-arid environments of the Flinders, Olary and Gawler ranges.

Since inception more than 30 years ago, key projects have included:

• Bringing the yellow-footed rock-wallaby (Andu) back from the brink of extinction – populations in Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park have increased tenfold.
• Implementing a coordinated pest animal management program across 900,000 hectares, which has enabled the recovery of iconic and threatened plants and the restoration of habitat across the semi-arid ranges.

Thanks to a partnership with The Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME), the program has also been able to:

• Reintroduce the western quoll (Idnya) – extinct in South Australia for more than a century – to Ikara-Flinders Ranges and the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges national parks.
• Re-establish brushtail possums (Virdla) in the northern Flinders, where they were last seen in 1950s.
• Reintroduce red-tailed phascogales in Gawler Ranges National Park, where they are now breeding and establishing themselves in the wild.

Bounceback’s successful partnership with FAME has also recently been extended to improve SA’s network of unfenced, predator-free safer havens for endangered species and deliver multiple conservation outcomes.

Some of the projects that will be undertaken include relocating bilbies, restoring bassian thrushes, protecting critical populations of threatened plants and increasing the climate resilience of semi-arid habitats.

3. Giving threatened fish a fighting chance

Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu are working hard to recover some small but significant species of freshwater fish.

In Back Valley Creek, near Victor Harbor, they’re collaborating with Nature Glenelg Trust and local landowners to protect a genetically distinct, isolated population of southern pygmy perch.

This small fish, about 7cm long, is at risk of extinction with recent surveys revealing that 90% of this population was confined to small, isolated pools.

Recovery efforts are focussed on habitat restoration along the creek to improve water quality and vegetation, as well as installing livestock exclusion fencing and alternate stock water sources, to prevent further degradation by year-round stock access.

To help the southern pygmy perch through summer dry spells, more than 200 fish have also been moved to safe surrogate dams owned by local landholders.

The Murray hardyhead – another small freshwater fish – was once widespread across the Murray-Darling Basin but has experienced a dramatic decline due to habitat degradation and predation by introduced species.

To protect this native fish, Landscape Hills and Fleurieu is working with partners through its Back from the Brink program to expand a breeding program across multiple waterbodies and develop secure refuge sites in surrogate dams on private properties.

4. Bringing the southern bell frog back from the brink

The southern bell frog was once a common sight across much of southeastern Australia but became locally extinct in the lower Murray during the Millennium drought.

Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu has been working with partners to re-establish the species in the region through their Back from the Brink project, which focusses on breeding the southern bell frog in captivity and re-introducing populations to managed sites.

Foundational habitat work has been undertaken on private land at Clayton Bay and Currency Creek to create the optimal environment for a future southern bell frog release and breeding success.

Meanwhile, at the Clayton Bay southern bell frog captive breeding facility, Nature Glenelg Trust and volunteers continue essential work including the construction of new quarantine infrastructure, funded by Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu, to treat frogs prior to their introduction into the captive population.

The Back from the Brink project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust, and delivered by the Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.

5. Re-vegetating native sheoaks on Eyre Peninsula

The Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board has been working to restore native sheoaks across the region.

Leading up to winter, they collaborated with schools and communities to plant more than 500 tube stock at sheoak restoration sites in Streaky Bay and Lake Newland Conservation Park.

They also partnered with 2 private landowners and the Department for Environment and Water to establish 162 hectares of drooping sheoak grassy woodland environment across sites from Streaky Bay to Lake Hamilton.

In great news, sheoak revegetation sites across western Eyre Peninsula are showing positive germination after steady rain!

Sheoak grassy woodland is a critically endangered ecological community, largely found in western Eyre Peninsula. It’s estimated that only 3% of this community remains compared to the vast areas it once covered.

The Drooping Sheoak Grassy Woodland project is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners Panel.

Did you know: An ecological community is a naturally occurring group of native plants, animals and other organisms interacting in a habitat.

6. Restoring habitat to 're-bird' the Mount Lofty Ranges

Did you know that while the Mount Lofty Ranges represent only 1% of South Australia, it is home to over 50% of the state’s bird species?

Unfortunately, many of these bird species are at risk, with 78 species listed as declining and 12 already regionally extinct.

ReBird the Ranges is a collaboration between conservationists, researchers and government with an aim to restore woodland bird populations and habitats across the Mount Lofty Ranges.

The local community is also encouraged to take an active role in species recovery, through hands-on habitat restoration and supporting conservation projects.

Some projects underway include:

• Revegetating heathland in Deep Creek National Park to support the western beautiful firetail, Mount Lofty Ranges chestnut-rumped heathwren and Mount Lofty Ranges southern emu-wren
• Reconstructing 550 hectares of grassy woodlands at Frahns Farm, led by Bio-R, with tens of thousands of grasses, shrubs and trees planted each year thanks to the help of dedicated volunteers.
• Revegetating low-rainfall grassy woodland in priority areas of the eastern Mount Lofty Ranges, to support the diamond firetail, hooded robin, restless flycatcher, jacky winter, southern whiteface, chestnut-rumped thornbill and brown treecreeper.

Understanding SA’s new biodiversity laws

In a win for our natural world, South Australia recently passed its first Biodiversity Act 2025.

Among many things, the new Act will boost restoration efforts by:

• Mandating the development of a State Biodiversity Plan, which will identify and map priorities for conservation
• Expanding ways to recognise and incentivise private land conservation and restoration through biodiversity agreements
• Enabling the development of action plans for threatened species, threatened ecological communities or critical habitats
• Incorporating First Nations’ knowledge in respect to culturally significant biodiversity entities when preparing action plans for threatened species or ecological communities and in the State Biodiversity Plan
• Supporting voluntary investment in nature, particularly by monitoring and reporting on the trend and condition of the state’s biodiversity.

While the new Act has been passed, it will take about 2 years to develop the supporting regulations and policies required to bring the laws into force. You can keep up to date with the development and opportunities to have your say by subscribing.

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