The Recovery Team

The national recovery team includes government agency managers, scientists and experts from state agencies, university academics, captive management organisations, consultants, and non-government organisations. The team is ultimately responsible for the recovery planning process and provides specialised technical support to the conservation of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby in each of the three Evolutionary Signficant Units: the Southern, Central and Northern groups.

Recovery Actions

• Predator control: Control programs are implemented that aim to reduce introduced predator populations such as the European red fox and feral cat to levels whereby they do not significantly constrain populations of Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies.
• Competitor control: Where warranted, competitor control programs are implemented to reduce competition for food and habitat by introduced animals such as the feral goat and European rabbit.
• Monitoring and surveys: The development and implementation of monitoring and standard survey technique is important to improve knowledge of Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby colony distribution, size and dispersal habits.
• Captive breeding and translocations: Captive populations of Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby can help re-establish, stabilise and ultimately increase the populations of threatened colonies through selective capture and breeding of wild animals, and translocating captive bred animals into the wild.
• Community involvement: A collaborative approach is relied upon when working with landholders, community groups, and volunteers to enable them to become more involved in habitat protection, predator and competitor control, population monitoring, and reporting of sightings.

State Government Agency Responsibilities

Victoria

Department of Sustainability and Environment convenes the Southern or Victorian Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Recovery Team, bringing the skills, resources and knowledge to ensure the long-term survival of the wallabies through captive breeding, threat abatement and monitoring activities. An estimated 20 animals are left in the Little River Gorge area of the Snowy River National Park, East Gippsland and 10 captive bred animals were released as a trial into a previously extinct site in the Grampians National Park, Western Victoria. The captive population is spread across four institutions and currently holds 33 animals.

New South Wales

Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water convenes the NSW Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby Recovery Team and has produced a Recovery Plan for the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby in New South Wales that aims to ensure the sustainability of priority populations and to prevent the extinction of the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby in the wild in NSW. The DECC has identified 31 priority actions to help recover the Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby in NSW that include pest animal control, monitoring, surveys and release of captive bred animals to support declining colonies.

Queensland

The ‘Back on Track species prioritisation framework’ is an initiative of the Queensland EPA that prioritises Queensland’s native species (marine, terrestrial and aquatic species of flora and fauna) to guide conservation, management and recovery.