Spring Gully Conservation Park

Spring Gully Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Skilly Hills, west of the Clare Valley in South Australia. It provides views to the west across the northern end of the Adelaide Plains. There are walking tracks ranging from easy to quite steep within the park.The conservation park was originally created to protect the only stand of Red Stringybark trees in South Australia - E. macrorhincha is widespread in eastern Victoria and eastern New South Wales. Spring Gully Conservation Park now also protects White Spider Orchids and other smaller plants below the canopy in the grassy woodland ecosystem.Thousands of the red stringybark trees died following the very dry period from mid-2007 to early 2008 and the record heat-wave of March 2008. The leaves of others died, while the trees survived and later produced epicormic shoots; as of mid-2009 many of these had also died. An apparently small section of the park (20ha) was burned in a lightning-ignited bushfire on 20 November 2009, further stressing some of the trees.The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category III protected area.