About us

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice is a part of the Depart­ment for Envi­ron­ment and Water and the Gov­ern­ment of South Aus­tralia. NPWS acts in accor­dance with the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Act 1972.

NPWS recog­nis­es the val­ue and impor­tance of work­ing in part­ner­ship with Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers to man­age parks and reserves in a cul­tur­al­ly sen­si­tive and eco­log­i­cal­ly appro­pri­ate way. A large por­tion of the reserve sys­tem is man­aged through co-man­age­ment – a part­ner­ship between the State Gov­ern­ment and Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers that com­bines tra­di­tion­al knowl­edge with con­tem­po­rary park management.

South Australia’s parks, includ­ing nation­al, con­ser­va­tion and recre­ation parks and marine parks, con­serve irre­place­able plants and ani­mals, dis­tinc­tive land­scapes and unique cul­ture. They range from small pock­ets of pre­cious native veg­e­ta­tion in urbanised or agri­cul­tur­al land­scapes to vast areas in the north of the state. They con­serve a diverse range of habi­tats and land­scapes, includ­ing heath­lands, wood­lands, deserts, beach­es, coasts, marine ecosys­tems, caves and places that reflect our dis­tinc­tive cul­ture, such as Abo­rig­i­nal sites, mines and ruins.

The appeal of South Australia’s parks lies in their unspoilt nat­ur­al val­ues, rich cul­tur­al her­itage and dis­tinc­tive land­scapes. Our spe­cial places and nat­ur­al val­ues lie at the heart of sus­tain­able nature-based tourism and recre­ation. They attract mil­lions of vis­i­tors each year, with many vis­i­tors com­ing from inter­state or over­seas. They are cen­tral to the lives of South Aus­tralians and pro­vide sig­nif­i­cant social, eco­nom­ic and health ben­e­fits to rur­al and urban communities.

We work in part­ner­ship with oth­er gov­ern­ment and non-gov­ern­ment organ­i­sa­tions and com­mu­ni­ty groups, catch­ment man­age­ment author­i­ties, pri­vate land own­ers, friends groups, vol­un­teers, licensed tour oper­a­tors, lessees, research insti­tutes and the broad­er com­mu­ni­ty. We work to main­tain the fun­da­men­tal appeal of parks through good plan­ning, care­ful man­age­ment and respon­si­ble use.

Our chal­lenge is to ensure that parks con­tin­ue to con­serve spe­cial places and nat­ur­al val­ues, while also enabling peo­ple to enjoy the ben­e­fits they bring.