Adelaide Shores (West Beach)
The West Beach dunes are familiar to not only local Adelaide residents who visit this stretch of beach or use the Coast Park Shared Use Trail, but also the thousands of visitors that annually use the Adelaide Shores Caravan Park directly adjacent.
Building on four years of on-ground works in the dunes from 2002 to 2006, the current project will protect indigenous vegetation (remnant and recently revegetated), conduct staged removals of African Boxthorn (Lycium ferocissimum), target other control priority weed species, and continue to replant local native species.
African Boxthorn became dominant in the dunes area after a wastewater irrigation system was installed in the 1970’s, providing favourable nutrient-rich conditions for the plant and other exotics to thrive. The irrigation system was turned off in 2003 which has assisted in the restoration of the dunes. Since then, 26,500m2 of African Boxthorn has been removed as part of rehabilitation works and in excess of 36 thousand indigenous plants have been established.
The project is part of the Adelaide Metropolitan Coast Park, a State Government initiative which is a linear park extending approximately 70km along the metropolitan coastline from Sellicks Beach to North Haven.
