Newsletters
May 2006 - President’s Report
Since the last Presidents report in December 2005, the Friends have:
- Held two Executive Committee meetings.
- Sent a comprehensive letter to the Minister for the Environment, Mr Bob Debus, expressing our considerable concern in regard to the then proposed raising of the Tallowa Dam wall by 5-7metres, and the subsequent impact upon the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby (BTRW) colonies along the Shoalhaven and Kangaroo Rivers and in the Ettrema Wilderness area.
- Attended a meeting on site with Tony Collins and another member of the Sydney Catchment Authority, to show them BTRW habitat, vis-à-vis the then proposed raising of the Tallowa Dam wall and the potential impact upon the colonies.
- Attended a “Thank You” morning tea held by the National Parks and Wildlife Service Highlands Area office for the local volunteer groups.
- Been in communication with the head of the Waterfall Springs Conservation Association, Inc. (WSCA) regarding the Friends’ partial sponsorship of an enclosure at WSCA, and the progress of the captive breeding program.
- Been collecting fresh BTRW scats for proposed genetic work on the local colonies.
- Participated in the 50th Anniversary of the Kangaroo River A.&H. Show, being in the Grand Parade with other community groups, and had a new banner and placards made for this event. The Friends also had the BTRW trailer and display at the Show for the remainder of the day.
- Had discussions with the head of the NSW BTRW Recovery Team on the captive breeding program. Members of the Recovery Team have begun to carefully and selectively take animals from the wild for the purpose of using them for breeding more in captivity. In a few years the captively-bred animals will be released back into the wild to boost failing colonies.
- Made a visit to Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria, where they are captively breeding BTRW’s as part of the Victorian BTRW Recovery Plan. BTRW’s are listed as Critically Endangered in Victoria. John Rowntree and Susan Robertson met with 2 people who are directly involved, and were given a guided tour of the facilities, behind the scenes. It was most interesting to find out what is taking place in Victoria to save the BTRW from extinction there. John and Susan also visited the Grampians National Park, where a wildfire burnt out 47% of the park last January. To date it is known that three out of the ten assessed sites for reintroduction of the BTRW have been burnt.
- Used some of the funds granted by the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority, for the first stage of the program of shooting and trapping bait-shy foxes. See NPWS report.
Many thanks once again.
Susan Robertson,
President
NPWS News
The Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby project keeps ticking over in the Shoalhaven. We are continuing our 1080 fox baiting sessions in Kangaroo Valley and Illaroo/Bugong and are monitoring the influence of the baiting on the local fox and rock-wallaby populations. Over the past 5 years we have had over 340 baits taken by foxes and over 85 active bait stations.
With the funding of a Friends/NPWS joint fox trapping/shooting program by the Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority we have been able to address the problem we are facing of bait-shy foxes. Through our monitoring works it appears that there are a percentage of foxes in the area that are not taking 1080 baits. We received funding to conduct 2 sessions of fox shooting and trapping in order to address this problem. We have just completed the first session of works with great results. A total of 33 foxes were shot in the Kangaroo Valley and Bugong/Illaroo areas. The majority of land on which the trapping/shooting was conducted was private land with open paddocks and areas where fox baiting is not feasible. A big thank you to all those landholders who gave our contracted professional shooter/trapper Mark Sobierjski permission to trap/shoot on their properties. Comments from Mark in his final report reveal he believes that the 1080 baiting program is working well and he was surprised he saw as few foxes as he did considering the number of properties he covered. The next round of trapping/shooting is planned for September 2006.
Starting July 2006 we intend to increase our levels of baiting in Kangaroo Valley to one session per month instead of one session every second month. This means that for one week every month there will be 1080 baits out from Monday to Friday in most bait stations. Residents living within 1km of a bait station will continue to be notified prior to each baiting session. Any landholders with inquiries or interested in joining the fox baiting program can contact Melinda Norton at NPWS Fitzroy Falls Office on 4887-8256.
On the state-wide BTRW front, the first four Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies to kick of the NSW BTRW Captive Breeding Program have been captured from the wild. A total of 20 animals from across the state are to be used as the basis for a captive breeding program with the aim of releasing animals back into the wild in about 2009. We are currently deciding whether we can afford to donate an animal from the Shoalhaven area towards the program to help diversify the genetic make-up of the breeding group. We are expecting the be one of the first recipients of animals back into the Shoalhaven when the program is ready to begin releasing captive bred animals into the wild.
The Foundation for National Parks “Green Gully” appeal raised $1.3 million to purchase the Green Gully property, a haven for a number of endangered species including the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby. The 13,000-hectare property located in the Macleay Gorges near Armidale was gazetted by the NSW State Government as national park wilderness on 29 April 2005. It is now part of the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, the second largest wilderness area in the state. Green Gully contains vast areas of open woodland, World Heritage listed dry rainforest and tall old growth timberland, which provide essential tree hollow shelter for many other species including parrots, gliders, quolls, bats and possums.
In Victoria BTRW are listed as Critically Endangered with less than 20 individuals believed to exist in the wild. The genetic make up of the Victorian animals is different enough to require them to have their own captive breeding program. This has been running for approximately 4 years. November 2005 saw the release of the first 2 captive-bred Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies released into the Snowy River National Park. The 2 males were released into a colony believed to contain 2 females. Here’s hoping this is the start of a better future.
