Helping biodiversity can be as simple as a fence

Judy and John care for a piece of Heritage Agreement bushland amidst a very agricultural landscape. The land has been in their family for two generations and has one of the state’s earliest Heritage Agreements, established in 1989. A Heritage Agreement is a voluntary arrangement that landowners enter into, to protect areas of native vegetation in perpetuity.

Funding from the Heritage Agreement Grants Program helped Judy and John to have a new fence installed along one side of the area in 2025, to keep out sheep. The previous fence had become badly degraded and sheep from an adjoining paddock were making a meal of the understorey vegetation. 

Fewer small plants meant less food and shelter for native animals, reptiles, insects and birds that depended on the plants. In turn, there was less to eat for animals further up the food chain. There were flow-on effects for the area's whole array of life and biodiversity.

Less than a year later, the effect of the fence is clear. Ground level growth flourishes, including tender orchids, ferns and fresh eucalypt shoots.

Judy said, “because it's been so wet this year, the amount of plants that have come up and the bulbs that we've seen this year are just amazing.” Weather conditions of drought followed by plentiful rainfall have made this before-and-after comparison particularly striking.

A rare remnant

This piece of scrub is a window into what may have been in the local landscape before European settlement. It’s known as ‘peppermint box grassy woodland’, a critically endangered type of ecological community found mainly in South Australia. Most remnant areas of this now-rare woodland are on privately owned land, with Heritage Agreements providing an important means for their protection in perpetuity.

What lives in the woodland?

The peppermint box tree which dominates this landscape is a small eucalypt with minty-scented leaves. But there's much more to this unassuming scrubland.

More than 60 native plant species, 60 native bird species and 20 reptile species have been recorded in SA’s peppermint box grassy woodland sites. They’re also important habitat for many invertebrates including spiders and butterflies.

On Judy and John’s property, animals observed include western grey kangaroos, euros, brushtail possums, bats, echidnas and birds including tawny frogmouth and vulnerable species, the diamond firetail finch and blue-winged parrot.

The biodiversity of peppermint box grassy woodland also has benefits further afield. It can provide 'ecosystem services' to adjacent farmland, supporting beneficial insects that naturally manage agricultural pests and assist with crop pollination.

John tells a story of when he and family spent considerable time and effort extracting an echidna from a disused mine shaft in the area... only to find it back down there the next day. He learnt that echidnas are actually quite capable climbers and it could come and go as it pleased!

Heritage Agreements are important wildlife corridors

In addition to being an important habitat in itself, Judy and John's Heritage Agreement area is a valuable stepping stone for wildlife, particularly birds, between habitat in the Mount Lofty Ranges and the southern Flinders Ranges.

Of course, looking after the Heritage Agreement since the 1980s has involved more work than a single fence. Judy’s aunt, from whom they inherited the property, originally had the area fenced. Many fence repairs have taken place over the years, and control of invasive weeds like olives and Salvation Jane has been an ongoing effort.

Interested in the Heritage Agreement Grants Program, or establishing a Heritage Agreement?

In August 2026 the Department for Environment and Water launched a second $6M Heritage Agreement Grants Program (2026-2030), for landowners with Heritage Agreements over native vegetation across South Australia. You can find out more including eligibility and how to apply here: Native Vegetation Heritage Agreement Grants Program.

For information about Heritage Agreements that protect native biodiversity on private land, visit this page: Protecting vegetation with a Heritage Agreement.

Read about another Heritage Agreement property here: How this family's beloved patch of hills bushland was protected in perpetuity