Set among the rolling sand dunes and green sea of growing scrubs in the arid far north-western corner of NSW lies two enclosures where bandicoots, mulgaras and bilbies roam.
The mammals, that were once locally extinct in the Sturt National Park are now thriving in their feral-free zones, with researchers amazed by how quickly they have repopulated.
“It’s wonderful to see these animals back in their original home, prospering, and restoring this desert ecosystem to some of its past magnificence,” University of NSW Wild Deserts Project Leader Professor Richard Kingsford said. “As well as mulgara and bilbies, 13 Shark Bay bandicoots translocated in May last year have not wasted time either.”
A bilby is released into the feral-free zone in the state’s far north-west.Credit:
“The population is estimated to have doubled, only six months after they were released. Each female bandicoot can have two young and the six females translocated have already had two litters each since arriving at Sturt National Park.”
There are plans to reintroduce a fourth species to the national park, the golden bandicoot, in 2022.
Professor Kingsford said the project highlighted how conservation could work when threats were managed.
“Ultimately the threats of cats, foxes and rabbits and goats is something everyone can agree on. That is why I think we see such a strong investment in this sort of approach. But it shows if you did focus on other threats, like climate change and water resource development and land clearing, you could also achieve widespread conservation,” he said.
The Mulgara are among two other mammals that roam around the feral-free zones and have been busy repopulating the area.Credit:
It comes as the NSW State of the Environment 2021 report, published earlier this month, found the number of NSW species at risk of extinction now sits at 1043, with an additional 18 threatened species added in the past three years. A further 116 ecological communities, a group of naturally occurring plants or animals living in a unique location, are also listed as threatened.
Among those listed as threatened in the three years to December 2020 is the Mahony’s Toadlet, a small frog. Work is under way to learn more about the frog and how best to protect them.
The term “threatened” is broad and encompasses species that have been deemed vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered. While some species find themselves threatened in NSW, it does not mean they have the same status in other states, territories or federally.
Modelling predicts only 496 of the 991 terrestrial species listed as threatened are predicted to survive in 100 years’ time. The report noted that management and conservation efforts will not be enough to save many species without addressing key threats such as habitat removal and climate change.
A scientist measures a bandicoot at the feral-free zone. Credit:
NSW Environment Minister James Griffin said the Sturt National Park feral-free zone was just one of seven programs doing similar work across the state.
“Sturt National Park has been an ideal location with incredible rainfall over the past year and it is heartening to see locally extinct species thriving in their natural habitat.”
“The evidence across the globe is clear, we’re not doing enough to reduce pressures on our biodiversity and NSW is not immune. Strong leadership and conservation solutions like the rewilding of Sturt National Park are required to effectively address the challenge of biodiversity loss,” he said.
“My focus is to improve the outlook for our native plants and animals, reverse the decline and, over time, reduce the number of species listed as threatened or locally extinct – a challenging, long-term task but a necessary one.
“Eventually, we want to see these species thrive beyond the fence and to do that we will also need to do more to tackle the problem of feral cats which kill more than 1 billion native animals each year.”
There are plans to establish another four feral-free zones in national parks, which would provide a conservation benefit to more than 50 threatened species.
ANU ecologist professor David Lindenmayer added while the feral-free zones were a good path towards conserving animals, both state and federal governments needed to do more. This included bolstering funding and ensuring collaboration between scientists, conservation groups and politicians.
He added that ongoing data collection was needed to ensure accurate population numbers were kept.
Nature Conservation Council Chief Executive Chris Gambian said ending land clearing, native forests logging and massively reduce water extraction would help the extinction crisis.
