Impact-causing kangaroo populations threaten landscape and community resilience across South Australia. Improved support for stakeholders is vital to address this threat and capitalise on opportunities to secure an environmentally and economically sustainable long-term solution.

The Kangaroo Partnership project promotes research, development, innovative/novel land management practices, cultural knowledge and education sharing for key stakeholders and the wider community.

This project will also build on the coordinated partnership approach successfully developed by the previously funded Kangaroo Partnerships Project (KPP), and further refine and target project efforts on kangaroo management priorities best addressed by the strengths of the project network.

Project description: 

Impact-causing kangaroo populations threaten landscape and community resilience across South Australia.

The negative impacts of overabundant large native herbivores have been recognised for decades. However, the drastically changing climate, and shifts in urban community understanding, have deteriorated management efforts of kangaroos. This has exacerbated the negative impacts and limited pathways to solutions. Therefore, the methods and approaches to addressing this sensitive issue need to align with community values and be self-sustaining. These include:

• Tangible projects that explore and trial future-facing pathways for kangaroo management;
• Coordinated land manager engagement and support to manage kangaroos at a broad landscape scale;
• Facilitated knowledge sharing opportunities for NRM organisations, government departments, landholders and relevant stakeholders to support alignment at a state and national scale;
• Strategic community engagement to increase public understanding of kangaroo management and social license for solutions to these issues.

The SA Drought Hub contributions towards the Kangaroo Partnerships Project will increase the capacity of the project to rach and work with more farmers and pastoralists and assist them to achieve the objectives above. To achieve this, SA Drought Hub funding will support the following activities:

• The establishment of demonstration and trial sites
• The delivery of learning and upskilling events
• The development of information resources
• Stakeholder communication

Key achievements and results: 

Outreach and engagement have been positively met by community members, district representatives and local/regional businesses. Key achievements from the project in 2024 include:

• First Nations engagement has resulted in a large amount of interest and support for one of the project goals: for greater inclusion of communities and First Nations people n the care and management of Country;
• Producers have been supportive of any initiative to manage kangaroos with many volunteering their lang as trial or demonstration sites;
• Kangaroos appear to outnumber stock on some properties with the problem amplified with growing aridity;
• Producers found the presence at district meetings and at farm visits to be a reassuring sign of coming change.