Recovery plan for the brush-tailed rock-wallaby - Department of ...

Approved NSW Recovery Plan Brush-tailed rock-wallaby
Given the proximity of many of the sites in the Central ESU to urban areas, and tourism and
recreational sites, community involvement in managing the more accessible BTRW populations
will be vital in ensuring long-term conservation of the colonies in these areas.
9.7.3 Southern ESU (Victoria)
There are no known extant populations in the Southern ESU in NSW. As it is highly likely that
the population in the Grampians in Victoria is also extinct (Seebeck pers. comm.), the small
population in East Gippsland in Victoria is all that remains in the wild. This population appears
to be unable to sustain itself in the long-term, and no source populations are available in the
region or state. The long-term genetic robustness of these populations is threatened by
inbreeding.
The Grampians population, which now appears to be extinct, occurred in the Murray Darling
Depression IBRA bioregion. The East Gippsland population, and historically recorded sites,
occur in the Australian Alps and the south-east corner IBRA bioregions. The Grampians site
appears to be relatively bioclimatically isolated from the East Gippsland sites, and modelling of
past climate changes indicates that the migration of animals to the Grampians may have taken
place within the last 10,000 years (Cavanagh unpub.). There have been other historic records and
sub-fossil remains from both regions, but there are no known extant colonies.
Recovery planning and conservation management in this ESU is directed through the Victorian
Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and ensuing Victorian BTRW Action Plan under the
guidance of the Victorian BTRW recovery team. The Victorian BTRW recovery team has
initiated a captive breeding and translocation program.
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