As the popularity of caravanning and camping continues to puts pressure on fragile coastal areas, more and more places are putting an even greater emphasis on conservation work.
In South Australia, the Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board has just announced that a number of popular camping areas have been ‘earmarked’ for conservation management works across the next three years.
The Port Lincoln Times reports works will be carried out at Fitzgerald Bay (north of Whyalla), Point Gibbon (just south of Cowell), Redbanks (just north of Arno Bay), Farm Beach (near Wangary), Greenly Beach (near Coulta), as well as Speeds Point and Perlubie Beach near Streaky Bay.
The works will be done through the ‘Eyes on Eyre’ project, which was awarded $710,000 of funding earlier this year from the State Government’s Landscape Priorities Fund.
Important conservation work will be carried out at a number of campsites. PIC: Lara Jameson / Pexels
The Eyre Peninsula Landscape Board said the funding would help with activities including:
The board’s Planning and Assessment Officer, Andrew Freeman, said this funding would assist the community of Eyre Peninsula to look after its ‘sensitive’ coastal environments, and the improved infrastructure would also provide a better visitor experience.
“These are all spots that get a lot of traffic during peak holiday times and it can certainly be a challenge to manage visitors and their impact – whether they are locals or from further afar – along with conservation,” he told the Port Lincoln Times. “We have seen the negative impact that visitors can have on our local environment – especially in recent years when people were holidaying closer to home – so we need to find a way to let people explore our coastal areas in a more environmentally-aware way.”
Mr Freeman said progress had been made on some council projects such as online camping booking systems being put in place to work to manage camping numbers in a ‘sustainable manner’.
The Port Lincoln Times reports that the Landscape Priorities Fund boost is in addition to a $500,000 Parks 2025 grant that was gained by Regional Development Australia Eyre Peninsula.
The paper says this fund saw Walkers Rock, Sheringa Beach, Point Gibbon and several campgrounds in the lower Eyre Peninsula such as Fishery Bay, brought onto the online system which is licensed and managed by the Eyre Peninsula Local Government Association.
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It sounds like a good idea, planting to stop erosion & replacing native vegetation.
Many popular camping areas have been denuded of trees by firewood gatherers.
Online booking is a disaster waiting to happen