Threatened Species - Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby

• Managing Key Threats
• The Short Term Objectives
• Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby Colonies in South Australia
• Operation Bounceback
• Authors
• Contact

Managing Key Threats

Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby (Photo: Tony Robinson)

Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby at Plumbago (Photo: C Arnold)

A conservation management program was established to protect vulnerable and declining Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby colonies in the Olary Hills, Central Flinders Ranges and Gawler Ranges (South Australia). The first stage of this project, focusing on fox control and feral herbivore control around rock-wallaby colonies commenced in 1993. The aim of the project is to improve habitat quality to achieve a substantial and sustained increase in these rock-wallaby populations. The longer-term objective is to develop a rock-wallaby management program for South Australia in which landholders and government undertake appropriate respective components. A coordinated approach delivers a program which can be sustained in the long term (> 20 years) and incorporates a system of integrated pest management that provides a platform for restoration of key ecological communities in arid regions.

The Short Term Objectives (10-20 years)

• Determine the consequences for Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies of removing, or controlling, one or more of the species' predators and competitors
• Ascertain the most cost-effective and efficient methods of vertebrate pest control for long-term application
• Determine what the optimum parameters are for these methods (ie how often, and at what times of the year, how intensively and over what area)
• Establish regional demonstration areas for the implementation of a coordinated predator and competitor control program
• Implement a system of integrated pest management capable of enabling the restoration of populations of locally extinct vertebrate species as an indicator of successful restoration of key ecological communities and
• Monitor the impact of rabbit calicivirus disease (RCD) on predator numbers, diet and behaviour as a response to RCD outbreaks in the study sites where predator control occurs and in areas where no predator control programs are in place

Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby Petrogale xanthopus Colonies in South Australia

Click on map to view known population trends and the locations of Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby colonies in South Australia. Data was collected by Peter Alexander, Department for Environment and Heritage and Peter Copley, Department for Environment and Heritage(1) between 1980 and 2000.

Distribution maps of Flinders Ranges National Park and Blinman Area, Central Flinders Ranges and Olary Ranges show Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby numbers between 1980 and 2000. Estimated population sizes for the Flinders Ranges National Park and Blinman Area, Central Flinders Ranges and Olary Ranges (Plumbago and Bimbowrie stations) based on information derived from the annual winter aerial census of Rock-wallabies (Lim Correction Factor applied [2]).

Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby (Photo: C Arnold)

(1) Copley P B,1983. Studies of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby, (Petrogale xanthopus) (Gray),I. Distribution in South Australia. Australian Wildlife Research D;
47-62 (2) Lim L, Robinson A C, Copley P B, Gordon G, Canty P D and Reimer D, 1987. The Conservation and Management of Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby, (Petrogale xanthopus) Gray, 1854, Department for the Environment and Planning, South Australia, Special Publication No 4.

Operation Bounceback

An ecological restoration program which has been running in the Flinders Ranges National Park, and on pastoral properties in the Flinders/Olary bioregion, since 1992. Bounceback aims to develop and implement a best practise model for the management and rehabilitation of semi-arid ecosystems, demonstrating how conservation can be integrated with the sustainable use of rangelands.

The program is characterised by a shift away from conservation programs focused on a single species such as the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby, to a landscape scale approach, where every element of an ecosystem is considered. Bounceback links an integrated feral animal control program to natural recovery processes, weed control, strategic revegetation and fauna recovery initiatives.

Initial emphasis was placed on the recovery of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby. However, following the arrival of the rabbit calicivirus disease, Bounceback has capitalised on the opportunity to restore key components of ecosystems in the Flinders Ranges to their original condition. A dramatic reduction in grazing pressure has been achieved through control of goats and rabbits. Combined with the virtual elimination of foxes and suppression of feral cat populations, this has enabled a significant recovery of native plant and animal communities. This success has led to Bounceback being extended to the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park an other land holdings in the Northern Flinders region, resulting in a program that continues to make a significant contribution to the conservation of biodiversity in the Flinders/Olary bioregion.

Authors

Peter Alexander, Assistant Director, Operations, Department for Environment and Heritage
Peter Copley, Senior Ecologist, Threatened Species, Department for Environment and Heritage

Contact

Peter Copley, Senior Ecologist, Department for Environment and Heritage