11/03/2023
Eyre Peninsula has one of the highest rates of land clearing and mammal extinctions in Australia. Post World War II, the Eyre Peninsula was heavily cleared for agriculture. Now, 39% of our remnant native vegetation remains and over 56% has been cleared for agriculture/development. Most of what remains is areas that are unsuitable for farming and therefor weren’t cleared. This fragmentation of habitat has resulted in the local extinctions of the Western Quoll, Numbat, Western Barred Bandicoot, Burrowing Bettong, Tammar Wallaby, Southern Brown Bandicoot and the Brush-tail Bettong, not to mention the endangerment of many other species. Much of what is now barren, treeless plains on the West Coast of the Eyre Peninsula was once open forests and woodlands.
As inhabitants of this land, we have a responsibility to nurture and care for it, as it does us. We can do this by supporting local, small scale producers. We can say no to unnecessary development and ‘profiteering’. As farmers, we can take a regenerative approach to agriculture, revegetating our land and focusing on plant nutrition for crop yield and health, rather than relying on chemicals. We can plant native plants on our own properties and provide homes for wildlife. We can acknowledge and take note of how indigenous Australians lived in harmony with the land for many thousands of years. And we can spread our love for Mother Nature.
Pictured is a Numbat. These quirky little creatures once inhabited the entire Eyre Peninsula and much of Southern Australia. There numbers are now fewer than 1000.
