Landowners in the southern Illawarra are being offered motion-detecting cameras as scientists try to help the spotted-tailed quoll, a vulnerable species believed to be moving through a ‘‘conservation corridor’’ in the area.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A partnership, including the National Parks Association will show landholders how to use the cameras, and train them in the use of pest animal poisons, at free workshops in Robertson on April 18.
The spotted-tailed quoll, Dasyurus maculatus, also called the native cat or tiger quoll, is a cat-sized native carnivorous marsupial that lives in moist forests of the Illawarra escarpment.
Its numbers have been in decline to the point where it is listed as endangered nationally, and vulnerable in NSW. In this region the fox has been lined up as a threat to its livelihood.
Great Eastern Ranges (GER) partnership facilitator David Rush has written to landowners about the project, which is based on a belief that the area east of Robertson is something of a ‘‘bottleneck’’ through which native fauna, including quolls move.
‘‘Quolls require large home ranges or territories but we also know that there are a lot of foxes in this area too,’’ Mr Rush said.
‘‘It is likely that the foxes are competing with Australia’s largest marsupial carnivore for similar food and habitat resources which are further threatening this declining native mammal species.
‘‘Controlling foxes and rabbits in this area would be of great benefit to the quolls by reducing competition for food and resources otherwise available to the quolls.’’
The workshops are available to landowners in the Robertson and Tongarra areas between Robertson, Jamberoo and Albion Park.
If enough quolls are found, Mr Rush said the Illawarra Shoalhaven GER partnership would push for funding to conduct major works, in conjunction with University of Wollongong researchers, to improve quoll habitat and control feral animals in the area.
UOW researcher Elira Reynolds has also been studying quolls in a similar area, and has found foxes among the most common animals caught on her cameras.
Quolls and foxes were not seen in the same area, suggesting the fox had a direct impact on quoll habitat.
This work took place on public land, and Mr Rush said the new camera study hoped to fill in the gaps by studying animal populations on private land.
The workshop is a collaboration between the Illawarra Shoalhaven Great Eastern Ranges Partnership, Office of Environment and Heritage, South East Local Land Services, the National Parks Association and University of Wollongong.
Contact Mr Rush on davidr@npansw.org.au or 44294453 for more information.
