Nilpena West (Australia)

Dickinsonia fossil at Nilpena – one of the Earth's first animals | Photo credit: Jason Irving / South Australian Department of the Environment and Water

In December 2019, the Wyss Foundation provided a $370,000 grant to The Nature Conservancy Australia to assist in the purchase of a portion of Nilpena Station, a cattle ranch that contains a series of fossiliferous beds that preserve snapshots of the seafloor as animal life unfolded millions of years ago. The fossil beds found at Nilpena Station are considered among the planet’s most extraordinary paleontological sites. A number of threatened native plant and animal species also find a way to survive in this parched Outback landscape, including three mammal and one reptile species, as well as the vulnerable Red River Gum ecosystem. Other funding for the acquisition was provided by the South Australian Government, the Flinders Ranges Ediacara Foundation, and the Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife.

In June 2021, the South Australian government formally declared the 150,000-acre Nilpena West property as the Nilpena Ediacara National Park. As part of this designation, more than 37,000 acres of the park were permanently protected from mining and oil and gas drilling to protect the irreplaceable fossil beds.