Wallabies living on the edge
From the Autumn 2008 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.
It is a blur of speed as Dr Deborah Ashworth DECC Biodiversity Conservation Section Metro Branch, left, Dr Todd Soderquist, DECC Biodiversity Conservation Unit North West Branch, and project officer, Melinda Norton transfer a captured wallaby to a bag. Photos by Howard Spencer.
They are small furry and cute.And they are also living on the edge in more ways than one.
They are brush-tailed rock wallabies, and count yourself lucky if you have seen one in recent years.
Brush-tailed rock wallabies are on the endangered species list in New South Wales, and are considered vulnerable nationally.
This small but agile species has become somewhat of a specialist in the habitat it favours, and while it might be inhospitable to people who find the usually steep cliffs the wallabies call home hard going, it is not so difficult for its greatest predator, the red fox.
“Forests NSW has been monitoring populations of these animals for some time, and is an active participant in the fox threat abatement plan,” said Forests NSW Central Region ecologist, Adam Fawcett.
“The brush-tailed rock wallaby is known to exist from Queensland to Victoria, usually associated with escarpments along the Great Dividing Range.
“But over time their preferred habitat has become fragmented, if not lost altogether through various means.
“We find them in the sandstone cliffs along the escarpment in areas such as the Pokolbin State Forest, and Heaton State Forest near Cessnock.
“They like areas with caves, fissures and ledges, and they come out to browse on grass and vegetation nearby.”
But according to Adam, the effect of land clearing has forced these animals to retreat to core refuge habitat, making them highly susceptible to the effects of predation by foxes, and to competition for food from introduced species such as goats.
They also live in small family units, so losses have a high impact on the viability of the groups, which recent studies have suggested can have noticeable genetic differences between populations just several hundred metres apart.
Adam and forest assistant, Alf Britton, have been helping the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC) in a recent relocation project to shore up a population of rock wallabies at Kangaroo Valley as part of the Shoalhaven Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby Protection Program.
This involved catching two males and a female from the Pokolbin area, where monitoring had suggested there was a thriving community, to add to the Kangaroo Valley site where it was believed only one female was surviving.
“We captured nine animals over a two-day and night program,” Adam said.
“The animals were all weighed and micro chipped, and the three selected for relocation were fitted with radio collars so their movements can be tracked over time.
“Ongoing surveys by Forests NSW as part of the Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby draft recovery plan have identified several healthy colonies in the Hunter Valley.
“This has allowed us to assist with the recovery of rock wallabies in Kangaroo Valley.
“Since release, ongoing monitoring by DECC has suggested the Hunter Valley animals are settling nicely into their new home down south. Meanwhile we will be monitoring the colonies they came from to ensure there is no detrimental impact on Hunter capture sites and these colonies remain healthy.”
Visitors to the Heaton Lookout in Heaton State Forest will also have a good chance of seeing one of the wallabies early in the morning or late in the afternoon as they emerge from their rocky crevices to feed.
“The wallabies often sun themselves on rocky shelves on the cliff faces, and Heaton is probably one of the easiest areas to access to see these animals in their natural habitat,” Adam said.
Howard Spencer - Public Affairs & Media
