19 – Parks Australia monitoring for threatened species^255Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the small oceanic island habitats of Norfolk
Island, Christmas Island and Pulu Keeling National Parks. The Commonwealth
marine reserves represent the diversity of the marine ecosystems and habitats
found in the oceans around Australia. They protect important ecosystems such as
coral reefs, undersea canyons and seamounts. The management arrangements for
the reserves varies, and includes joint management arrangements with Aboriginal
people and management in conjunction with local governance arrangements in the
external territories of Christmas Island and Jervis Bay.
There are 130 EPBC-listed threatened species on the terrestrial reserves from a
range of taxa (Table 19.1) and annual work programs for these reserves routinely
prioritise activities that aim to improve the outlook for listed species. These
programs are reserve-specific but often include: prescribed burning to mitigate the
impacts from wildfire and create appropriate habitat for key species (e.g. early dry
season burning in Kakadu, and the fine-scale mosaic burning in the mala
Lagorchestes hirsutus enclosure at Uluru); invasive species control (e.g. feral pig Sus
scrofa control in the wetlands of Kakadu, fox Vulpes vulpes control in Booderee,
and yellow crazy ant Anoplolepis gracilipes control on Christmas Island);
protection of breeding sites (e.g. rat-proofing of green parrot Cyanoramphus cookii
nesting sites on Norfolk Island); protection of isolated or small populations by
creating insurance populations (e.g. seed banking rare f lora at the Australian
National Botanic Gardens, and translocation of the Cocos buff-banded rail
Hypotaenidia philippensis andrewsi to Horsburgh Island); and captive breeding of
critically small populations (e.g. Lister’s gecko Lepidodactylus listeri and blue-tailed
skink Cryptoblepharus egeriae on Christmas Island).
Monitoring considerations
Given the large number of listed threatened species on Parks Australia reserves, a
collaborative project with the National Environmental Research Program was
undertaken to create a decision tool to help prioritise management activities for
threatened species. The tool is based on balancing resource requirements and
conservation benefits from each action. However, even with the help of the new
decision tool, the annual works programs that focus on threatened species are
resource intensive and expensive given the remoteness of most of the reserves and
the vast size of places such as Kakadu. Additionally, at times programs can be
experimental such as training northern quolls Dasyurus hallucatus to avoid cane
toads in Kakadu or using acoustic monitoring in marine parks to identify species
richness. For these reasons, it is vital to accompany management programs with
monitoring to assess their effectiveness and facilitate adaptive management.
Deciding which species to monitor requires consideration not just of natural and
cultural values, but also socioeconomic and tourism values, as well as the need to