The Roots of Resilience Project is our new conservation project funded through the Grassroots Grants program of the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board in South Australia. With $10,000 in funding, the South Australian Seed Conservation Centre (SASCC) will focus on safeguarding six threatened plant species within the Northern and Yorke region, particularly near the Clare Valley.
The project will aim to secure seed from the following target species: Acacia spilleriana, Leptorhynchos elongatus, Swainsona procumbens (pictured above), Mentha satureioides, Senecio macrocarpus, Euphrasia collina subsp. osbornii, Swainsona behriana and Ptilotus angustifolius. These invaluable collections will be processed and held in long-term storage at the SASCC at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, ensuring they are available for use in community-led threatened flora recovery projects and grassroots habitat restoration efforts.
While seed collection is the primary focus, the project will also deliver important additional outcomes. Dedicated survey work will target all known remnant populations, as well as historic sites not seen for decades, and will search for new populations. Data from these surveys will be entered into the State Herbarium and the Biological Database of South Australia informing future threatened species assessments.
Partnerships, such as with the Clare Valley Private Lands Group, will ensure these species are included in local habitat restoration projects, addressing current gaps in seed availability. Plants propagated from the banked collections will be used to create insurance populations and to bolster small, declining populations, providing a genetically robust in situ resource for future collections.
By integrating these threatened species into community-led restoration, the project will also raise their profile, fostering local stewardship and empowering landowners and communities to play a leading role in their conservation. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-2026.