Dryandra Woodland National Park, spanning over 28,000 hectares, is one of the jewels in the crown for fauna conservation in Western Australia. The woodland comprises a mix of wandoo, mallet and jarrah trees, supporting a rich diversity of native species, including the woylie, numbat, chuditch and malleefowl. DBCA manages foxes and feral cats at this site using baiting and trapping methods. These efforts have seen the recovery of woylie and numbat populations to a point that they are used as source populations for establishing new populations across Australia. 

The Cape Arid Western Shield site, located east of Esperance, encompasses significant portions of Cape Arid National Park and Nuytsland Nature Reserve and is home to the last known wild population of the critically endangered western ground parrot.

Covering over 216,000 hectares, this site consists of coastal sand heaths, low granite hills and saltbush and bluebush woodlands, host to a rich and diverse array of over 1100 plant species and more than 160 bird species. To reduce the threat to the ground parrot and other vulnerable native animal species, DBCA intensively manages foxes and feral cats at this site via aircraft and ground baiting, plus trapping.

Kalbarri National Park, situated on the Midwest coast of Western Australia, is a significant conservation area home to threatened native species, including chuditch, black-flanked rock wallaby and malleefowl. The chuditch population was reintroduced to the site through translocation in the early 2000s, while the rock wallabies were first translocated in 2016.

Covering over 194,000 hectares, the park surrounds the lower reaches of the Murchison River, which has cut a magnificent 80km gorge through the red and white banded sandstone. This river is critical to wildlife in the area. To protect animal species like the chuditch and rock wallaby, DBCA is managing foxes and feral cats at this site. 

The Upper Warren is an essential part of the Western Shield Manjimup cell comprising of southern jarrah forest. The diversity and abundance of threatened native species, including numbat, chuditch, woylie, western ringtail possum, quokka, tammar wallaby and many more species, makes this site crucial for conserving a wide range of native wildlife in Western Australia. Quite simply, this area is a rich and diverse fauna stronghold. DBCA intensively manages foxes at this site via aircraft and ground baiting. DBCA’s Forest Ecology Research Team is also researching feral cat management and predator-prey relationships in the Upper Warren to inform management of the threat posed by foxes and feral cats. 

Landscape-scale feral predator management is delivered at these and other fauna recovery sites, primarily through 1080 baiting.

The baiting program is delivered to areas of Western Australia where it is needed most. A prioritisation process is employed to identify key native species based on their conservation status, distribution, vulnerability to introduced predators, and the likelihood of recovery with introduced predator control.  

The baiting program is reviewed and adjusted over time to continually improve the outcome for native wildlife.

Other fox and feral cat management methods, including fencing and trapping, are used in specific locations to protect extremely vulnerable native species. 

Western Shield management has successfully reduced fox numbers in the south-west by over 80% (Marlow et al., 2015). This reduction has facilitated the recovery of numerous native species, including the woylie, chuditch and numbat.  

Woylies, chuditch, and brushtail possums have experienced a threefold increase in baited areas of forest compared to areas that are not fox-baited (Wayne et al., 2011).  

Once threats like predators are under control, it becomes possible to reintroduce threatened species into areas where they had disappeared.

Since 1996, 140 translocations have been carried out for 27 native animal species, including 20 mammal and five bird species. For instance, from 2016 to 2018, several translocations of rock wallabies were conducted in Kalbarri National Park through partnerships in an intricate logistical operation. Recent monitoring suggests that the initially released rock wallabies have survived well, with their young producing joeys. Consequently, the population is expanding and occupying previously unoccupied cliffs in the gorge. 

Research and monitoring are fundamental to the delivery of Western Shield. Ongoing work conducted by DBCA aims to identify key knowledge gaps, investigate, assess and enhance the effectiveness of different management strategies, and continuously improve management programs.