__NOTOC__ Mount Willoughby Indigenous Protected Area is an

indigenous protected area An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisation ...

in the Australian state of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

located in the gazetted localities of Mount Willoughby and Evelyn Downs about north-west of the town of

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. A blower truck ...

. The indigenous protected area (IPA) was declared on 22 August 2002 at the meeting of the Tjirilya Aboriginal Corporation after a period of “two years of consultation and planning” with the declaration being “subsequently ratified by senior

Traditional Owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

.” The lease for the land which was previously used for pastoral purposes including the grazing of cattle and sheep was purchased for the Tjirilya Aboriginal Corporation by the

Indigenous Land Corporation The Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) is an Australian federal government statutory authority with national responsibilities to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to acquire land and to manage assets to achieve cultura ...

in 1996 in “recognition of its cultural significance to the local Aboriginal community and the potential for small business operations such as ecotourism.” The IPA occupies land within the southern parts of the localities of Mount Willoughby and Evelyn Downs and shares a boundary with the Tallaringa Conservation Park, a protected area managed by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

, to the west. Land within the IPA is located on the boundary between two

bioregion A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, Human settlement, human settlements, and ...

s - the

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explore ...

and the

Stony Plains Stony Plains, an interim Australian bioregion, comprises , and is part of two state/territories of Australia: the Northern Territory and South Australia.

. In 2003, a survey was carried out within the IPA by the state government on behalf of the Tjirilya Aboriginal Corporation and under the auspices of the Biological Survey of South Australia. This survey recorded “75 bird species, 14 native mammals, 47 reptiles and one frog species” as well as the rare desert flower, the daisy ''Erigeron sessilifolius''.” As of 2004, the IPA was proposed to be managed as two zones with one being a “Resource Protected Area” and the other being a “conservation, tourism and recreation area.” Management works were reported as including “monitoring of erosion, protection of fragile areas and management of feral animals and stock, monitoring of sensitive vegetation communities, weed eradication and recording of sites of cultural significance.” A small business operation was proposed to be established in order to “provide funds for environmental management and community employment.” The IPA is classified as an

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

Category VI protected area.

References

External links

Webpage for the Mount Willoughby Indigenous Protected Area on the Protected Planet website
{{Aboriginal South Australians, state=collapsed Indigenous protected areas in South Australia Protected areas established in 2002 2002 establishments in Australia Far North (South Australia) Great Victoria Desert

See also

References

External links