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

Approved NSW Recovery Plan Brush-tailed rock-wallaby
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) (now DECC) researched the
effectiveness of NPWS and community fox baiting programs around BTRW colonies. In
Kangaroo Valley, a community baiting program was implemented with NPWS in 1994. NPWS
implemented a monthly 1080 baiting and monitoring program from March 1997 to 2001 around
four BTRW colonies in Broke and Milbrodale in the Hunter Valley. Three unbaited sites in the
Hunter and Hawkesbury area were also monitored. Continual systematic monitoring of five
colonies (three baited and two unbaited) has been conducted since 1998 (Rummery et al 1997).
Only limited analyses could be run on the combined data of Hunter Valley and Kangaroo Valley
because monitoring in Kangaroo Valley began after monitoring in the Hunter Valley, and four
years after the commencement of baiting in Kangaroo Valley. There was no significant
difference in abundance over time between baited and unbaited colonies when data for both the
Hunter and Kangaroo valleys was combined. However, analysis of the Kangaroo Valley data
indicated that baited colonies were declining at a much slowly rate than unbaited colonies
(Norton et al 2002). However, as the sample size was very small, the significance should be
treated with caution.
There was a variable response in the baited and unbaited colonies in the Hunter Valley study,
which led to difficulties in interpreting data. Some unbaited sites experienced less of a decline
than the baited areas, suggesting there may have been differences in predation pressure between
the colonies before the baiting programs were implemented (Rummery et al 2000).
Predation by the red fox was listed as a key threatening process under the Threatened Species
Conservation Act in March 1998. The listing was based on the potential impact of foxes on nine
threatened species listed under the Act, including the BTRW. A threat abatement plan (TAP) for
predation by the red fox was prepared by the NPWS in 2001. The TAP proposes actions to
reduce the impacts of fox predation on threatened species, and conserve biodiversity. The
BTRW has been identified as a priority species for investigation and action under the fox TAP
and a number of priority areas have been identified (see Table 6).
The objectives of the Fox TAP (NPWS 2001) are to:
1. Ensure that fox control programs undertaken for conservation purposes in NSW focus on
threatened species which are most likely to be affected by fox predation.
2. Ensure that fox control programs minimise the impacts of fox predation on targeted
threatened species.
3. Provide an experimental basis for validating the priority species for fox control and for
measuring the effectiveness of control programs.
4. Provide support for the implementation of the TAP.
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