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Northern and Yorke - Natural Resource Management region

Regional summary

The Northern and Yorke covers an area of about 3,780,000 hectares and comprises Yorke Peninsula, the Lower, Mid and Upper North, southern Flinders Ranges and parts of the Adelaide Plains and Barossa Valley. The region supports a population of more than 90,000 people and encompasses 14 local government areas.

The Northern and Yorke's natural resources include productive agricultural lands, extensive native grasslands and coastal and marine systems. These assets are under threat from rising saline water tables, soil erosion, inappropriate land management practices and poorly informed land use decisions. Native vegetation is estimated to cover approximately 34 percent (more than 1,280,000 hectares) of the region, most of which is highly fragmented and in a degraded state.

Approximately 4 percent of the region's native vegetation is protected as national park or under heritage agreement. The region contributes about 25 percent of the state's agricultural production.

Priority issues

Key natural resource management issues in the region include:

• unsustainable use of water supplies and disruption to natural water regimes
• contamination of water supplies
• degradation and fragmentation of natural ecosystems and ongoing loss of native plants and animals
• coastal and marine degradation
• processes limiting primary production, including declining soil health, nutrient availability, soil salinity, and wind and water erosion

Regional plan

The Northern and Yorke Integrated NRM Committee was responsible for developing the Northern and Yorke regional plan, in consultation with the local community. This plan was based on a whole-of-region approach and addresses significant NRM issues incorporating social, environmental and economic aspects.

Once the regional plan was accredited, the Northern and Yorke Integrated NRM Committee was responsible for developing the regional investment strategy. This is essentially the business plan that attracts investment from the Australian and state governments and details the specific actions, costs and timeframes required to implement the regional plan.

A number of positive steps have already been taken to protect and manage water, soils and natural biodiversity, and a large number of community groups and regional bodies have been involved in this work.

• Northern and Yorke plan - accredited September 2003

Current activities

NRM priority	Activities addressing the priority
Unsustainable use of water supplies and disruption to natural water regimes	studies of small groundwater basins are underway in the following areas- Booborowie, Brady Creek, Burra Creek, Walloway, Willochra Basin, Spring Creek and the west coast of the Yorke Peninsula. This will help ensure that this resource is not over-committed
Contamination of water supplies	groups are undertaking community water monitoring projects in the Broughton-Wakefield area to raise awareness of water quality issues monitoring stations are being installed on the Rocky River, Skillogalee Creek, Spring Creek, Pine Creek and Willochra to study surface water flows
Degradation and fragmentation of natural ecosystems and ongoing loss of native plants and animals	rehabilitating the habitat for six species of threatened orchids, the Pygmy Blue Tongue Lizard and the Spiny Daisy a biological survey is being undertaken to determine all the significant areas of remnant habitat in the NYAD region to identify priority areas for rehabilitation
Coastal and marine degradation	seagrass changes are being mapped on the Yorke Peninsula to determine the key stresses on the marine environment
Threats to primary production	support is being provided to farmers to control wind and water erosion by establishing windbreaks and putting in diversion banks and flood control dams

Contacts

Further information can be obtained by contacting the Regional Facilitators for South Australia.