Protecting Threatened Plants

The project will focus on a suite of threatened and culturally significant species, including:

• Spidery wattle (Acacia araneosa)

• Slender bell‑fruit (Codonocarpus pyramidalis)

• Purple wood wattle (Acacia carneorum)

• Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum)

• Large‑flower groundsel (Senecio megaglossus)

• Alpine Hovea (Hovea purpurea)

• Threatened orchids including:
  - Bayonet Orchid (Caladenia gladiolata),
  - Woolcock’s Spider-Orchid (Caladenia woolcockiourm),
  - Mount Remarkable Leek-Orchid (Prasophyllum validum), and
  - Mt Bryan Greenhood (Pterostylis despectans).

These species represent a mix of shrubs, trees and orchids with different ecological requirements and threat profiles.

Photo: Sandlewood (Santalum spicatum) Rob Brandle

Why we need to act

South Australia’s Flinders Ranges support a unique suite of plant species found nowhere else in the world. Some of these plants now persist only in isolated or declining populations.

This work will help determine where active intervention is needed and where existing threat management is already reducing threats to these species.

Photo: Woolcock’s Spider-Orchid (Caladenia woolcockiourm)

Threats to the species

The major threats to these iconic plants are:

• overgrazing from native and feral herbivores,

• extended periods of drought, and

• land clearance.

In the semi-arid ranges, overgrazing poses the greatest threat to many of these species. Browsing by feral herbivores removes the lower growth of the plants and leads to a decline in the health of mature individuals. Seedlings of these iconic plants are often decimated by feral herbivores, which, over time, results in the loss of these important plants from the landscape.

Photo: Spidery wattle (Acacia araneosa)

Solution and approach

Population monitoring and genetic health assessment

Over the life of the project, conservation teams will:

• Survey known and potential sites to confirm plant locations and population extent,

• Monitor population size and condition, including recruitment, age structure and overall health,

• Assess threats such as grazing pressure from introduced herbivores,

• Control threats through landscape-scale herbivore management,

• Collect and curate high‑quality data to support long‑term monitoring and reporting, and

• Develop management recommendations and action plans to help stabilise or expand populations.

Through targeted surveys, monitoring and threat management, the project will build a strong evidence base to guide conservation action and support recovery of these species into the future.

Photo: Sandalwood (Santalum spicatum)- SASCC

Creating Three Safer Havens 

A master project in collaboration with the Department for Environment and Water (DEW). 

The aim of the project is to continue to develop and create three unfenced safer havens for the reintroduction of eleven (11) threatened and culturally significant species across three (3) national parks whilst maintaining habitats, increasing climate resilience and ensuring populations are nationally recognised in semi-arid South Australia.