Gum Lagoon Conservation Park is an 8765 ha nature reserve

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...

 about 40 km south-west of Keith

Keith, South Australia

Keith is a small farming town in the south-east of South Australia. It is approximately 225 km from Adelaide at the junction of the Dukes Highway and the Riddoch Highway. It is sometimes referred to as the 'lucerne capital of Australia' due to the high number of lucerne growers in the region...

 in the Upper South East region of South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

. It lies about 20 km inland from the southern end of the Coorong. It contains an isolated block of mallee woodland important for Malleefowl conservation.

History

Some 2700 ha formed the core of the reserve when it was originally proclaimed as Gum Lagoon National Park in August 1970. It became the Gum Lagoon Conservation Park in 1972 upon the proclamation of the National Parks and Wildlife Act. It gradually expanded in area through subsequent ad hoc and opportunistic land acquisitions.

Description

The reserve contains ranges of calcarenite

Calcarenite

thumb|250px|The [[Pietra di Bismantova]] in central [[Italy]] is an example of calcarenite formation.Calcarenite is a type of limestone that is composed predominately, more than 50 percent, of detrital sand-size , carbonate grains...

 dune

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...

s and interdunal flats, with slow-moving surface water drainage systems and blocks of remnant vegetation. The vegetation includes tea-tree scrub

Shrubland

Shrubland, scrubland, scrub or brush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity...

, wet heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

land and mallee woodland

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is a Major Vegetation Group which occurs in semi-arid areas of southern Australia. The vegetation is dominated by mallee eucalypts which are rarely over 6 metres high...

. The main feature of the park is the Duck Island Watercourse which runs along a wide interdunal flat studded with ephemeral swamps and isolated sandhills. The average annual rainfall is 500 mm.

Flora and fauna

The reserve’s vegetation includes Banksia ornata

Banksia ornata

The Desert Banksia is a species of shrub in the plant genus Banksia which grows up to 3 m tall. It occurs in western Victoria, and in South Australia, where it is common on the Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island and east of Adelaide, but is apparently absent from Yorke Peninsula.It tends to grow...

shrubland, Melaleuca brevifolia low shrubland, Eucalyptus arenacea open woodland and Eucalyptus diversifolia open mallee, while the wetter areas are characterised by Red Gum woodland and aquatic herblands

Herbaceous plant

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

.

Eleven floristic communities have been identified, containg 375 indigenous plants, including four which are nationally threatened or rare. Native animal species include 12 mammals, 19 reptiles, five amphibians and 141 birds. Also recorded are 62 exotic plants, eight feral mammals and five introduced birds.

Birds

The reserve has been identified by BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 as an Important Bird Area

Important Bird Area

An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...

 (IBA), principally because it supports an apparently sustainable population of the vulnerable

Vulnerable species

On 30 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 9694 Vulnerable species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and sub-populations.-References:...

 Malleefowl

Malleefowl

The Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken...

, with an estimated population of 13-14 nesting mounds. The biome

Biome

Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...

-restricted Purple-gaped Honeyeater

Purple-gaped Honeyeater

The Purple-gaped Honeyeater is a species of bird in the Meliphagidae family.It is endemic to Australia.Its natural habitat is Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation.-References:...

has also been recorded.

Sources

• BirdLife International (2011) Important Bird Areas factsheet: Gum Lagoon. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 04/07/2011