What the law asks of an owner
The duties sit in sections 186 to 194 of the Act. Which of them bite depends on how each plant or animal has been declared, and for which area, so a species-by-species answer comes from the board.
| Section | The duty in plain words |
|---|---|
| 186: moving them | In a declared area, declared plants or animals, and soil, vehicles, farm implements or produce carrying them, may not be moved along a public road. An owner may not move them from an infested part of the land to a part that is clean. |
| 190: telling the board | An owner who learns that a notifiable declared plant or animal is on the land must tell the regional landscape board within 24 hours for Category 1, 3 days for Category 2 or 7 days for Category 3. |
| 192: destroying or controlling | Depending on the declaration, an owner must destroy every plant or animal of that class on the land, or control it and keep it controlled, and carry out any measures that are prescribed or specified. |
| 193: action orders | The board, the Chief Executive or an authorised officer may serve a written action order naming the species, the work and a period of at least 14 days to do it, and stating that the owner may appeal to the ERD Court within 14 days. If the order is not followed, the authority may do the work, entering after reasonable notice, and recover the cost as a debt. |
| 194: roadsides | Where a board carries out control on a road reserve, it may, within three months, charge each adjoining owner for the work along their side, up to the middle of the road. |
As at October 2026 the maximum penalty for not complying with an action order is $25,000 (section 193(4) of the version in force since 25 November 2023). The board’s Yorke district fact sheet puts the same power more simply: if a landholder ignores a notice, the board may come onto the property and control the declared plants at the landholder’s expense.
Priority plants in the Yorke district
The board’s fact sheet for the Yorke district names its priority plants there, and other important weeds. Four are Weeds of National Significance, a national list whose management is coordinated across governments, regional boards and landholders:
- African boxthorn
- boneseed
- bridal veil
- silverleaf nightshade
The others it names as declared plants are:
- African lovegrass
- Aleppo pine
- Bathurst burr
- buffel grass
- calomba daisy
- caltrop
- coolatai grass
- creeping knapweed
- fountain grass
- gazania
- innocent weed
- khaki weed
- Lincoln weed
- olive
- polygala
- white weeping broom
African boxthorn shows why fence lines matter on a farm. The fact sheet describes its thorny bushes forming thickets along fences, around watering points and on disturbed ground, where they keep stock out and crowd out good pasture.
Alert List weeds are a separate class: declared plants not yet established in South Australia, which landowners must report if they find them on their land. PIRSA asks for an alert weed to be reported straight away to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.
How weeds reach a farm
The fact sheet lists the usual ways in: machinery, vehicles and animals, seeds caught on clothing or footwear, and seed carried in hay and fodder. It makes the point that stopping a pest plant at the boundary is much easier than controlling it once it has taken hold, and that transporting declared plants or their seeds is an offence.
Pest animals
The board names feral deer, feral goats, foxes, rabbits and wild dogs as the key pest animals in the region, and asks people to record sightings in a mapping app linked from its pest animal page.
On southern Yorke Peninsula, the Marna Banggara project has run fox control across the landscape for about 15 years, and a 25-kilometre fence across the foot of the peninsula is meant to limit foxes and feral cats getting back into the project area. The board expects the predator control to help farming by improving lamb survival, and hopes small native predators returned to the area will help keep rabbits and house mice down.
A first-season checklist from the board’s own material
- Which declared plants are on this land? The board offers landholders a free plant identification service, and its staff help plan control work.
- What is growing along the fences and at the troughs? Those are the places the fact sheet names for boxthorn thickets.
- Is the machinery and fodder coming in clean? The fact sheet asks for vehicles, machinery and fodder to be free of weed seed before they come onto a property.
- Does roadside work need the council first? Landholders are encouraged to control declared plants on the roadside next to their land, but approvals may be needed, so the fact sheet says to contact the local council before starting.
- How is a chemical applied? The board warns that many people use up to five times the herbicide needed, which wastes money and can let the weed regrow from its roots.
Where to check
The board’s pest plant and pest animal pages, its Yorke district fact sheet and PIRSA’s declared weeds pages are linked below with the Act. The levy that helps fund the board’s work is in paddock 2.