Cute and furry native species hunted from their western NSW homelands by introduced pests will at last make a return, covered by new protection against the bad guys.
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Locally extinct mammals will be re-introduced inside predator-free enclosures as part of what’s been called an exciting ‘re-wilding program’.
The NSW government on Sunday named Pilliga Nature Reserve to Coonabarabran’s north as well as Mallee Cliffs National Park in the south-west and Sturt National Park in the far north-west as the three parks chosen.
Environment minister Mark Spearman said the parks were all in western NSW and were selected for their suitability for a range of species to be reintroduced.
It comes after the NSW government announced recently it would partner with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and the Wildlife Restoration and Management Partnership led by the University of NSW to deliver the project.
The UNSW led partnership will undertake the project at Sturt National Park while the AWC will work at Mallee Cliffs National Park and Pilliga Nature Reserve.
“The final list of species for each park will be confirmed following further discussions, but among the species likely to be included are the greater bilby, brush-tailed bettong, burrowing bettong, greater stick-nest rat, bridled nail-tail wallaby, numbat, western barred bandicoot and western quoll.”
Member for Barwon Kevin Humphries, in whose electorate two of the parks are located, said the reintroduction program was an exciting initiative for the communities around the Sturt National Park and Pilliga Nature Reserve.
“I’m looking forward to seeing this roll-out in the parks and I think we’ll see a really good outcome which can be enjoyed by generations to come,” Mr Humphries said.
The Mallee Cliffs National Park is located in Murrumbidgee and local member Adrian Piccoli said it would be wonderful to see the reintroduction of the small native animals into the Mallee Cliffs National Park where they have not been sighted in many years.
Pest animals will be removed from fenced areas before the mammals are introduced and intensive pest control programs in adjacent park areas will be a key feature.
All aspects of the program, including fence locations and construction, are still being finalised through contract negotiations and will be subject to standard environmental impact assessment processes.
Thirty-seven western quolls were reintroduced to South Australia’s Flinders Ranges National Park in May.
The marsupial carnivore once covered 70 per cent of Australia but habitat decline and attacks by feral animals have seen it confined to Western Australia.