Lake Newland Conservation Park
| Lake Newland Conservation Park South Australia |
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IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
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 Lake Newland Conservation Park
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| Nearest town or city | Elliston |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Established | 1 August 1991[1] |
| Area | 88.8 km2 (34.3 sq mi)[1] |
| Managing authorities | Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources |
| Website | Lake Newland Conservation Park |
| See also | Protected areas of South Australia |
Lake Newland Conservation Park protects a 20-kilometre (12 mi) long hypersaline lake and associated wetland complex lying on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is separated from the sea by sand-dunes. The southern end of the conservation park is about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the small town of Elliston, and the northern end about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Venus Bay. The conservation park was proclaimed in 1991; some additional areas were added in 1996.[2]
Contents
Description
The conservation park has a relatively recent geological history, with Holocene sand-dunes creating a barrier between the Southern Ocean and a depression in the Bridgewater Formation of Pleistocene limestone that is common throughout the western Eyre Peninsula. The dunes continue to encroach on the lake, lagoons and other wetlands in the park which are also fed by freshwater springs in the limestone. Average annual rainfall (recorded at Elliston) is 427 millimetres (16.8 in).[2]
The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.[3]
Vegetation
The park contains mobile sand dunes and sub-coastal wetlands. The vegetation includes areas of previously cleared land with patches of regenerating drooping sheoak woodland and scattered native shrubs. The lake margins are dominated by salt-tolerant Sarcocornia and Tecticornia species. The coastal shrublands that cover much of the reserve are mainly composed of coastal daisybush, with coast beard-heath, seaberry saltbush, long-pod wattle, coastal umbrella bush and cockies tongues. The foredunes behind the beach contain Spinifex hirsutus grassland as well as coast saltbush and knobby club-rush. Swales are characterised by swamp paperbarks and dryland tea-trees over salt-tolerant shrubs.[2]
Other protected status
Important bird area
The full extent of the conservation park is overlapped by an Important Bird Area (IBA) known as the Lake Newland Important Bird Area. The IBA which is a non-statutory arrangement has been identified by BirdLife International because it regularly supports over 1% of the world population of Cape Barren geese, as dry-season visitors from their offshore island breeding grounds, and significant numbers of fairy terns and hooded plovers.[4] Slender-billed thornbills also occur in the park.[2]
References
External links
- Lake Newland Conservation Park official webpage
- Lake Newland Conservation Park webpage on protected planet
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