Desert Camp Conservation Reserve

Desert Camp Conservation Reserve South Australia
IUCN category VI (protected area with sustainable use of natural resources)
Desert Camp Conservation Reserve
Nearest town or city	Keith.
Coordinates	36°28′33″S 140°22′51″E / 36.4759°S 140.3807°E / -36.4759; 140.3807Coordinates: 36°28′33″S 140°22′51″E / 36.4759°S 140.3807°E / -36.4759; 140.3807
Established	11 November 1993 (1993-11-11)
Area	8.82 km2 (3.4 sq mi)
Visitation	‘rarely used’ (in 1997)
Managing authorities	Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources
Footnotes	Coordinates Nearest town Managing authority
See also	Protected areas of South Australia

Desert Camp Conservation Reserve is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located in the state’s Limestone Coast in the gazetted locality of Marcollat about 44 kilometres (27 mi) south of the town centre in Keith.

The conservation reserve occupies crown land in section 55 of the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Marcollat on the eastern side of the Riddoch Highway which runs from Keith in the north to Naracoorte in the south. It is also bounded to the north by Rowney Road which runs from Bordertown in the north-east to Kingston SE in the south-west and which stops at the Riddoch Highway and resumes about a 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the south.

The crown land was dedicated as a conservation reserve on 11 November 1993 and placed ‘’under the care, control and management of the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources.” Its name is derived from the Desert Camp Conservation Park which is located to the immediate west on the western side of Rowney Road.

The conservation reserve was reported in 1997 as being “the largest block of remnant vegetation in the Hundred of Marcollat” and which “accounts for over half of the remaining native vegetation in blocks greater than 25 hectares in that Hundred.”

It was reported in 1997 that the following eight distinct vegetation associations have been identified within the conservation reserve with at least 248 recorded species of native plants including 17 listed as “rare or threatened in the south east”, 10 listed as “either threatened or rare in South Australia” and the Metallic sun-orchid (Thelymitra epipactoides) which was “considered endangered nationally:”