Protected areas of South Australia, consisting of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of 2018, South Australia contained 359 separate protected areas declared under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, the Crown Land Management Act 2009 and the Wilderness Protection Act 1992. Together, they cover a total land area of 211,387.48 km2 (81,617.16 sq mi) or 21.5% of the state's area.
Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia. It is located 697 km north of the state capital of Adelaide within the gazetted locality of Lake Eyre. It contains both the North and South sections of Lake Eyre as well as sections of the Tirari Desert.
Chadinga Conservation Park, formerly the Chadinga Conservation Reserve, is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the Chadinga Dunes on the western side of Lake MacDonnell, in the locality of Penong. The park is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.
Lake Alexandrina is a coastal freshwater lake located between the Fleurieu and Kangaroo Island and Murray and Mallee regions of South Australia, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) south-east of Adelaide. The lake adjoins the smaller Lake Albert and a coastal lagoon called The Coorong to its southeast, before draining into the Great Australian Bight via a short, narrow opening known as Murray Mouth.
Lake Torrens is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf.
Lake Albert, also known by its Ngarrindjeri name, Yarli, is a notionally fresh water lake near the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia. It is filled by water flowing in from the larger Lake Alexandrina at its mouth near Narrung. It is separated on the south by the Narrung Peninsula from the salt-water Coorong. The only major town on the lake is Meningie. Lakes Alexandrina and Albert are together known as the Lower Lakes.
Lake Frome National Park, formerly Lake Frome Regional Reserve, is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia about 750 kilometres north-east of the state capital of Adelaide, in the Northern Flinders Ranges. It covers the full extent of Lake Frome, an endorheic and ephemeral salt lake. It has an area of 2,582.40 square kilometres (997.07 sq mi).
Innamincka Regional Reserve is a protected area located in the north-east of South Australia which includes the town of Innamincka. The regional reserve was proclaimed on 22 December 1988 under National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 over a parcel of land previously part of the Innamincka Pastoral Lease to recognise it as "a place of major conservation importance" whilst permitting ongoing mining and agricultural activity. It was the first "multiple use reserve to be administered by a nature conservation agency" to be declared in South Australia under the category of regional reserve provided for in the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. It is partly located on land that was included on the List of Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention under the name Coongie Lakes in 1987. In 2005, a parcel of land was excised from the regional reserve to create the national park now known as Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park. It also includes the Innamincka/Cooper Creek state heritage area. The regional reserve is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.
The Coongie Lakes is a freshwater wetland system located in the Far North region of South Australia. The 21,790-square-kilometre (8,410 sq mi) lakes system is located approximately 1,046 kilometres north of the Adelaide city centre. The wetlands includes lakes, channels, billabongs, shallow floodplains, deltas, and interdune swamps. It lies on the floodplain of Cooper Creek, an ephemeral river flowing through a desert landscape in the Lake Eyre Basin which rarely, after occasional large floods, empties into Lake Eyre. The wetland system has been recognised both as being of international importance by designation under the Ramsar Convention with a listing on 15 June 1987 and being nationally important within Australia with a listing in A Directory of Important Wetlands in Australia (DIWA). Its extent includes the regional town of Innamincka, the Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park, the Innamincka Regional Reserve, the Strzelecki Regional Reserve and the Coongie Lakes Important Bird Area.
Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park is a protected area located in the north-east of South Australia about 110 kilometres north-west of Innamincka.
Gum Lagoon Conservation Park is an 8765 ha protected area about 40 km south-west of Keith in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia. 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.
Lake Newland Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on the west coast of the Eyre Peninsula about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of the town of Elliston. It was proclaimed in 1991 in order to protect Lake Newland, a hypersaline lake, and an associated wetland complex. It lies in the traditional lands of the Wirangu people.
The Desert Uplands is an interim Australian bioregion located in north and central western Queensland which straddles the Great Dividing Range between Blackall and Pentland.
Chowilla Regional Reserve is protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the gazetted locality of Chowilla about 250 kilometres north-east of the state capital of Adelaide.
Wills Creek Conservation Park is a protected area located on the Yorke Peninsula adjoining the north west coast of Gulf St Vincent in South Australia immediately east of Price. The conservation park which was proclaimed in 2006 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, is considered to be ‘a significant coastal wetland/estuary area supporting mangroves and intertidal habitats’ and that two creeks located within its boundaries, Wills and Shag Creeks, are ‘known fish nursery areas’ and ‘an important habitat for seabirds’. The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.
Torrens Island Conservation Park is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located on Torrens Island in the Adelaide metropolitan area about 17 kilometres north-northwest of the state capital of Adelaide and about 3.9 kilometres north-northeast of Port Adelaide.
Butcher Gap Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Limestone Coast of South Australia overlooking Lacepede Bay about 6 kilometres south of the town of Kingston SE. The conservation park was proclaimed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 in 1990.
The Adelaide International Bird Sanctuary National Park is a protected area in South Australia established by the South Australian government on the northeast coast of Gulf St Vincent, between Parham in the north and the southern end of Barker Inlet in the south. Its purpose is to rehabilitate land used as salt pans, protect habitat for international migratory shorebirds, manage water quality in adjoining parts of Gulf St Vincent, create "green" space, develop niche tourism and create opportunities for indigenous people.
Lake Robe Game Reserve is a protected area located about 6 kilometres south of the town of Robe in South Australia. It covers the saline lake, Lake Robe, and some surrounding land and also immediately adjoins the northern boundary of the Little Dip Conservation Park. It was proclaimed on 4 November 1993 to protect "valuable habitats for a variety of waterbirds, and terrestrial mammals notably the hooded plover, sharp-tailed sandpiper, and the swamp rat " and to manage recreational duck hunting activity. The area is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area.
A Regional Reserve is a type of protected area used in South Australia that allows the use of natural resources in conjunction with the protected area's conservation function. This class of protected area was first used in 1988 for the Innamincka Regional Reserve and as of 2015, there are seven regional reserves that cover an area of 93,400 square kilometres (36,062 sq mi) or 9.5% of South Australia's land area.
