The Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board works with community, industry and other government agencies to sustainably manage our region’s natural resources, with an emphasis on protection and restoration of our soil, water management, biodiversity, and pest plant and animal control.
Our goal is to create positive and meaningful change that will deliver sustainable environmental and productivity benefits for our region. Through proactive conservation, collaborative partnerships and innovative solutions, we strive to safeguard our natural heritage and productive landscapes while empowering our local communities to ensure a thriving environment for generations to come.
The Eyre Peninsula landscape region takes in approximately 8 percent of South Australia, covering an area of 80,000 square kilometres. It extends from Whyalla in the east, along the Gawler Ranges in the north, to the edge of the Nullarbor Plain in the west. The region includes over 3,000 kilometres of coastline spanning from the upper Spencer Gulf to the Great Australian Bight, including 182 offshore islands.
The Eyre Peninsula has a population of approximately 58,000 with major centres being Whyalla and Port Lincoln. Cropping and grazing are main land uses (80%) and main industries are agriculture, manufacturing and mining, fishing and aquaculture, retail, health and community services, and tourism.
Eyre Peninsula is made up of diverse landscapes from arid areas and farming land to coastal and urban areas. Find out more in the five subregional descriptions that group together areas of similar landscape and land uses.
The involvement of the region’s community has and will continue to be central to implementing landscape change. The community’s contribution is broad and diverse, and it includes on-ground action, information sharing through community networks, working in partnership with the Board to develop and deliver projects, and participation in decision-making such as the preparation of our regional landscape plan. We also have Board members who represent their local communities and an annual Grassroots Grants program to encourage the community to work on local landscape issues.
The agricultural area of Eyre Peninsula ranges from broad-hectare agricultural production with largely mixed cereal and livestock grazing on annual pastures to intensive cropping in the more reliable rainfall areas with pulse and oilseed crops in the rotations. Annual rainfall varies from a reliable 600mm at Port Lincoln to a highly variable 270mm west of Penong.
Soils vary from shallow calcrete and calcareous loams to dune-swale and sandy plains with a range of management issues affecting the sustainability and profitability of framing enterprises.
On average, the region produces 40% of the State’s wheat crop, 24% of barley, and 22% of oats.
There is a scarcity of drinkable water resources on the Eyre Peninsula, hence fresh groundwater is the main source of water for public water supply, irrigation, stock and domestic use. Fresh groundwater is generally confined to discrete areas within limestone aquifers, which occur in the southern and western extents of the region. Most of the region’s fresh groundwater is prescribed under the Landscape South Australia Act 2019, and take is regulated through the Water Allocation Plan (WAP) for the Southern Basins and Musgrave Prescribed Wells Areas and associated water licences.
Pest animals and plants can pose significant threats to agriculture, the natural environment and public health and safety on the Eyre Peninsula.
The Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board works closely with land managers to find ways of reducing the number of pests, help restore native biodiversity and reduce losses in the agricultural industry.
Eyre Peninsula is home to 511 native animals and 1900 native plant species including 41 listed species and four threatened ecological communities. We have already lost nine native animal species and three plants species. Some of our native plants and animals on Eyre Peninsula are endemic (occurs nowhere else in the world). In many cases Eyre Peninsula is the western limit in a range of eastern species, and the eastern limit for western species.
The EP Landscape Board aims to conserve biodiversity at the landscape scale to minimise these threats and eventually increase biodiversity and the health of our environment.
The history of the Eyre Peninsula is deeply rooted in the stewardship of the Barngarla, Nauo, Wirangu, Kokatha and Mirning nations. These five nations are represented by the Barngarla Determination Committee, Nauo Native title claimants, Wirangu Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, Gawler Ranges Aboriginal Corporation and the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation.
The Board is committed to supporting the involvement of Aboriginal people and organisations in the management of the region’s landscapes and in recognising Aboriginal culture and knowledge of natural resources in the landscape.
Local Government is a key stakeholder within the region. We strive to maintain effective working relationships with the region’s 11 Councils, the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association and the Regional Development Board, as these relationships are critically important to the Board.
The 11 Councils are City Council of Whyalla, Port Lincoln City Council, District Council of Lower Eyre Peninsula, Tumby Bay District Council, District Council of Ceduna, District Council of Streaky Bay, District Council of Elliston, Wudinna District Council, District Council of Cleve, District Council of Kimba and District Council of Franklin Harbour.
Find out how we are working with the community to safeguard Eyre Peninsula’s natural and productive environment.
Eyre Peninsula’s contributions to our national NRM snapshots
