Health check-up for Australia’s oldest national park

Australian Community Media

The Royal National Park, Heathcote and Garawarra reserves have received an EcoHealth scorecard. Video via NSW Parks and Wildlife Service.

Transcript

00:00In 1879, Royal became Australia's very first national park.

00:08Nearly 150 years later, Royal National Park is on the doorstep of the country's largest

00:13city.

00:14It's a great place to visit and a vital refuge for wildlife.

00:16To help protect Royal into the future, we've undertaken the first comprehensive audit of

00:21its ecological health.

00:22A first in the world, a first in New South Wales and a first for New South Wales National

00:26Parks and Wildlife Service.

00:28We're measuring populations of native species, including threatened wildlife like pygmy

00:32possums and koalas, as well as vegetation.

00:35We're measuring the extent of threats, such as the number of feral foxes and deer, and

00:40the areas affected by weeds and the impacts of wildfires.

00:43We're also measuring water quality and soil health.

00:46Measuring eco-health is a massive scientific exercise.

00:50At Royal, it involved NPWS ecologists setting up a network of 40 monitoring sites across

00:55the park.

00:56Each site has four camera traps and acoustic recorders, and also dedicated bird, bat and

01:01vegetation surveys, collectively gathering a huge amount of information about the reserves.

01:06There were over 1 million camera trap images in total, 2,600 bird records captured, and

01:13there's over 2,000 records of plants that have been recorded as well as part of the

01:17program.

01:18The results are in, and we've now published the first ever ecological health performance

01:23scorecard.

01:24That has some good news.

01:25Royal is a stronghold for the threatened pygmy possum and for our bats.

01:29We've recorded some species for the first time in Royal, such as Kreff's glider and

01:34yellow-bellied sheath-tailed bat.

01:36There are few weeds away from the disturbed areas, and water quality is mostly good, and

01:40there are some challenges.

01:42Fox activity is high, and there are high numbers of deer in some parts of the park.

01:47There are likely six mammal species that have disappeared since European settlement.

01:51Some of those we might be able to reintroduce, as we did with the platypus.

01:55Importantly, the scorecard results are already improving the way we manage Royal.

01:59We have increased fox baiting and deer control, and will focus our energies on key areas.

02:04We are looking at new ways to address issues like myrtle rust, and our fire management

02:09will be better informed than ever.

02:11This type of systematic monitoring will now happen on a regular basis, providing a clear

02:15picture of how the health of Royal is changing over time.

02:19This is a world-leading initiative, which we are rolling out across almost a third of

02:23our national parks estate.

02:24It is a big investment in science to ensure New South Wales has the best managed parks

02:29in the world.

02:30This degree and intensity of monitoring is actually a missing piece for reserve management

02:35right across the globe, and for New South Wales to be leading the way in this program

02:39is incredibly important, and it's an incredibly exciting program to be involved in as a park

02:44manager.

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