Ecologists and rangers at Sturt National Park are working around the clock in preparation for the reintroduction of seven locally-extinct native creatures.

The Wild Deserts project in far north-west New South Wales and north-east South Australia will see animals that have not existed in the region for 200 years returned.

A fence line is cleared for one of the Wild Desert exclosures in Sturt National Park. ( Supplied: Wild Deserts )

That list will include bandicoots, the greater stick-nest rat, burrowing bettongs, the crest-tailed mulgara, the western quoll and, the first to be introduced in 2019 — bilbies.

Construction has started on two 20-square-kilometre exclosures and volunteers have been busy trapping mammals and collecting samples.



Starting from the bottom

In preparation for the establishment of the exclosures a plant, animal and invertebrate collection has been underway to get a baseline species record to compare as the project progresses.

There was jubilation at the site last year when a crest-tailed mulgara was trapped in an area it had not been recorded in more than 100 years.

The latest round of trapping delivered no such luck. Very few mammals, but lizards, seemed to be thriving.

An ecologist for the project, Rebecca West, said while there were no mulgaras found the survey did provide important information.

"We've had less captures than last year when we did the trapping. I think that's because of a very long and hot dry summer," she said.

Ctenophorus fordi, the Mallee military or Ford's dragon — a lizard with many names is but one of many lizards recorded during trapping at Sturt National Park. ( Supplied: Archer Broughton )

A new trapping site on the South Australian side of the park provided a noticeably different result.

Even with the drought, Ms West said the difference in species and the presence of mammals was obvious.



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"You tend to get fewer kangaroos and fewer cats and foxes [in SA] because of the dingoes. That's the other side of the dog fence," she said.

"We've only caught mammals on that side of the fence, which would suggest that they're struggling here because of the presence of those animals."

Ms West said she expected the whole ecosystem would benefit from a boost in native mammal numbers.

"Also, once we add the locally extinct mammals — we call them 'ecosystem engineers' — we expect they'll really help things to grow and lots more seedlings to establish," she said.

"I think we'll see some really interesting changes over the next few years."

A central netted dragon trapped at Sturt National Park. ( Supplied: Archer Broughton )

Hope in a hopping mouse

One discovery the project was happy to record in the latest round of trapping was a dusky hopping mouse.

The species, once considered extinct in much of Australia, is rarely recorded in western NSW.

Wild Deserts project coordinator Reece Peddler said the introduction of calicivirus in rabbit populations had seen a massive increase in the native rodent population in South Australia.

"In the Strzelecki desert these have undergone a massive increase in their distribution," he said.

"If you live in that part of the world you'll almost certainly see hopping mice running across the road. It's hard to avoid them."

Ms West said she expected the hopping mouse would thrive in the Wild Desert exclosures.

"We're going to be catching a lot more hopping mice in years to come once we've put up our fences and eradicated those feral predators," she said.

The dusky hopping mouse at Sturt National Park. ( Supplied: Thomas Burley )

Building better survivors

Stage one of the project will see the construction of the two massive exclosures where seven mammals will have a staggered reintroduction safe from introduced species.

Mr Peddler said the next stage would see a larger 100-square-kilometre area fenced off with low, controlled numbers of feral predators, in the hope of improving the native mammals survival skills.

"The theory is recognising that although there's lots of work going in to control cats and foxes, we'll never be able to get rid of them completely," he said.

"So [we're] trying to work on the native pray species and get them a bit more savvy to what these feral predators are.

"Hopefully they'll learn these [survival] skills and pass those on to their offspring."

Rebecca West, an ecologist with Wild Deserts, checks a species trap at Sturt National Park. ( Supplied: Archer Broughton )

Tourism opportunity

The project has funding for ten years and is a partnership between the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the University of New South Wales, and consultancy Ecological Horizons.

Ms West said a visitor's platform and nocturnal tours were in the works for the project, along with opportunities for eco-volunteering.

"The idea is that it'll be a place the community can come and join and share in," Ms West said.

"They're very keen that visitors to national parks can engage with these projects and try and understand what we're doing as an organisation."