Following on from the Fire presentation we were lucky enough to meet and hear from Joe Terry. Twenty members and non-members attended.
Grampians Ark Project is led by Coordinator Joe Terry has been in this role since June 2024 having taken over from Kailee Savoia. Joe is assisted by two rangers.
Currently:
860 continuous bait stations and 160 seasonal bait stations
Deploy 15,000 1080 baits per year
Bait take of 3% average
Equates to 450 foxes controlled per year, but this is an estimate
125 foxes shot or trapped this financial year
1500 soft jaw (aim foxes) and cage trapping (aim cats) nights per year
Over 10,000 camera traps night per year – over 1 million images
75 Candid pest ejectors deployed at any one time
Ground and aerial shooting program targeting herbivores and predators
Community baiting program involving 38 neighbour properties – in the Victoria Valley
Then the 2024-2025 bushfire which burnt almost 136,647 hectares about 67% of the national park.
Recovery Actions
Moora Moora Brush tail rock wallaby (BTRW) – supplementary aerial and ground feeding program which is ongoing.
This was a devastating hot fire at Moora Moora.
Helicopter food drops started one week after the fire along the whole of Wall.
Immediate photos showing that the Moora Moora brush tailed rock wallabies were surviving and reproducing along the entire Wall
5 helicopter feeding programs followed by 3 Drone aerial feeding operations.
Ground feeding is continuing with water and food and will continue until there is enough natural food.
Asses Ears Brush tail rock wallabies – supplementary aerial feeding and implementation of a new management plan for the newly discovered colony.
The Asses Ears BTRW were only just spotted and then 24 hours later a fire went through this area.
An aerial helicopter and drone supplementary feeding operation initially for 3 weeks.
Unburnt vegetation is nearby, so aerial feeding has ceased.
20 cameras have been put out to monitor remotely via 4G and solar panels.
Scat and Habitat analysis
Over 800 scats have been collected, and a PhD student is working on this project to determine where these BTRW have come from.
The results of the analysis of 80 scats have just come in and they have the same genome as the Moora Moora BTRW indicating they are from the same group.
The landscape is so big that they could easily hide in the gorges and cliff lines.
Easily spending $250,000 on this feeding program.
Small Mammals
There are 4 indicator species: Smokey mouse, Heath mouse, Long Nosed Potoroo, Southern Brown Bandicoots.
All known locations of these species have been fire affected. Except one population of long nosed potoroos at Lake Wartook. This remnant population is being flooded with fox baits for protection.
Since the fires Smokey mice have been seen in the Victoria Range, but not in the Mt William Range.
Bandicoots have been spotted.
Deakin University long term small mammal study conducted by Prof John White.
32 of the 36 small mammal monitoring sites were fire affected.
Habitat pod deployment
Assembled by volunteers
360 initially went out into the field
Another 500 went out on Wednesday 6/8/25.
Cameras have been set up to see what is happening. Initially there were no animals due to the fire burning them, but now that the vegetation is resprouting more animals are moving in.
Bandicoots have been spotted near the Habitat Pods
This project will find out how effective the pods are over 2 years. They have a predicted lifespan 18-24 months
Predator control
This has been enhanced throughout the park with high intensity baiting, trapping and shooting.
Feral Cats are becoming a big problem in the park. They don’t kill an adult BTRW, but they harass them reducing their access to food and water. They can kill a joey.
Soft jaw traps for foxes are deployed around the BTRW colonies.
New predator management plan for the Asses ears BTRW including Candid pest ejectors, trapping and baiting.
There have been 3 rounds of targeted aerial shooting operations in the park with 90 foxes, 130 deer, 17 goats controlled. There were 12 Sambar deer.
Monitoring
Increased 4-fold with 207 cameras deployed.
Monitoring of both the Moora Moora BTRW colony and the Asses Ears BTRW colony with 4G connected remote cameras. Using a system that relays images from the cameras to a 4G home station. This uses solar panels and batteries
Scat and habitat surveys at these locations.
Great Gariwerd Bird Survey results indicated a reduction in bird species throughout the burnt areas.
110 surveys completed and 47 species only seen. Compared to last year when 66 species seen. Some bird species were just not seen this time around.
Stake holder participation
Museums Victoria and Deakin University.
Deakin University last year caught 599 animals including 1 bandicoot
This year there has been only 30 live catches.
Community Fox baiting projects0- one in the Victoria Valley. Hoping to have 4-5 community baiting program surrounding the Park.
Working with Project Platypus
Translocations of animals.
Consideration of translocations of Long nosed potoroos and increasing the number of BTRW colonies.
Camera monitoring at Redrock as a possible translocation site.
Done in consultation with Parks chief scientist Dr Mark Norman.