Europeans brought a new set of cultural beliefs and behaviours that substantially changed the natural landscape. This map shows how the native flora and associated fauna have been modified, particularly in areas favoured for rural and urban development.
Like much of South Australia , the City of Onkaparinga has witnessed extensive clearance of native vegetation for agriculture, urban and coastal development that has altered the land, caused the loss of habitats and the decline of plants and animals (both land based and marine). Remaining (remnant) native vegetation and associated fauna are confined to small, fragmented areas making them more vulnerable to threatening processes such as surrounding land use activities, environmental weeds and pests, bushfire and bushfire prevention measures.
Apart from a few native species such as Eucalypts, possums and magpies that have been able to adapt to a modified landscape, most are now mainly concentrated in government parks and reserves or on private land less suitable for rural or urban activities (ie. too steep or prone to inundation). The City has most of its remaining native vegetation confined to its ranges along the eastern boundary, a central spine from Happy Valley Reservoir to Blewitt Springs and McLaren Flat, coastal patches including Aldinga Scrub and Moana Sands Conservation Park and along east west watercourses (eg. Onkaparinga and Sturt Rivers ).
