2004
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About the fact sheet
The Bounceback program is helping to restore the natural ecology of national parks and surrounding properties in the Flinders Ranges.
Since the mid-1800s, excessive grazing, weed infestation and introduced predators have combined to damage the fragile environment of the semiarid Flinders region in South Australia. As early as 1900, many small to medium sized mammals and some reptiles had all but disappeared from the area. Even when stock was removed from the region's national parks, threatened species continued to decline because there was little regeneration of native plant communities or improvement in soil conditions and animal habitats.
In response, National Parks and Wildlife South Australia initiated the Flinders Ranges Bounceback Program to protect the native species that have persisted in the region and make it possible to reintroduce some species that have become locally extinct. Activities in the region's national parks include removal of foxes and feral goats, destruction of rabbit warrens, regeneration of native plant species, protection of habitats, and monitoring programs. In areas surrounding the parks, the focus is on control of wheel cactus and feral goats and rabbits,removal of foxes and protection of endangered species.
Bounceback brings together people managing national parks, private sanctuaries, pastoral properties and Indigenous Protected Areas. In this way the program creates an integrated approach that will have the best chance of restoring the fragmented ecosystems, controlling pest plants and animals, and increasing the diversity of species found in the Flinders Ranges.
Ecological recovery in this semiarid environment will be a slow process, but Bounceback is already showing some positive results. Within the national parks, achievements include a major reduction in the number of feral goats and rabbits, an increase in the number of yellow-footed rock wallabies, a trial reintroduction of the brush-tailed bettong to the Flinders Ranges National Park, and land reclamation using saltbush. Among the program's off-park results are reduction of feral goat numbers on several properties and the elimination of foxes adjacent to the park.
Bounceback has also established companion projects and partnerships with a wide range of organisations. In recognition of these achievements, Bounceback won the 2001 Banksia Award, in the category of Land, Bush and Waterways Management.
See also