The Coorong community in South Australia has identified dryland salinity, caused by rising watertables, as the highest priority natural resource management issue in the area.
Coorong, with a population of 6,000, is the State’s largest Council area, covering 833,567 hectares in the Upper South East and Lower Murraylands.
The district’s economy is based on primary production with some 553 farms. It also has several large National Parks and Conservation Parks, including the Coorong, Lakes Albert and Alexandrina, which are listed as Ramsar wetlands of international importance.
Currently, 57,000 hectares in the area are affected by dryland salinity, and a further 70,000 hectares are at risk within 20 years.
Other priority issues include native vegetation decline and the associated loss of biodiversity, wind erosion, water quality decline, lakeshore erosion, urban salinity and sustainable agricultural production. The Coorong District Council sees natural resource management as core business.
Coorong Council has been actively promoting environmental management for more than ten years and is seen nationally as a leader in this field. It has attracted $3.75 million of ‘outside’ funding to assist it in this work.
This results in the protection of Council’s infrastructure, assets and rate base, as well as the protection of the environment and the economy of the area. The aim of Council’s Local Action Plan Committee is to develop and implement a plan that addresses the district’s natural management issues.
The implementation of the plan began in 1997, with the assistance of Natural Heritage Trust funding. On ground works addressing dryland salinity and other issues such as erosion, ground water quality, loss of biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, are being carried out.
Fifty thousand hectares of works have been completed in the first five years of the project. The community has enthusiastically embraced the plan, with more than two thirds of all landholders actively participating in the works program.
For further information, contact Graham Gates, Coorong District Local Action Plan Committee Project Officer, telephone (08) 8575 1008.
