The Sturt National Park in the far north-west corner of New South Wales is being transformed into an environmental sanctuary, thanks to a project dedicated to bringing back native animals that once called the area home.
The 10-year Wild Deserts program, headed by the state government and the University of New South Wales, has seen 27 wild, native golden bandicoots relocated from the shrubs of the West Australian interior.
With the help of Ruth Wongawol and Valdera Morgan, two Indigenous Martu rangers from WA, ecologists Reece Pedler and Rebecca West have guided the animals' journey to successful reintegration into a pest-free enclosure.
The Martu Wiluna women – who are rangers for the Tarlka Matuwa and Piarku Martu Aboriginal Corporation – watched over the animals, as they travelled in a box on a plane to reach their destination.
By attaching tiny radio transmitters around the animals' tails, the team can track their movements and monitor their behaviour.
"Tracking them gives us a chance to weigh them, check if they've been eating enough and we'll also check those pouches to see if we've got any babies," Dr Pedler said.
Native animals promote healthy country
The tiny mammals haven't inhabited the area for more than a century, after they were hunted to extinction in the region when foreign predators were brought to Australia.
"Rabbits invaded this area in the 1890s, and shortly after cats and foxes.
"[Add] some of the effects of European colonisation with sheep and cattle and we lost many of these amazing species."
Dr Pedler said the native animals were an essential part of keeping the desert's ecosystem healthy.
"They play a really important role in helping water infiltrate the soil and trap seeds and leaf litter and things like that," he said.
"It's just really important to have them back in this landscape both for their intrinsic value and for the role that they play in this ecosystem."
Rain a blessing in the desert
Rebecca West, who worked in partnership with the Wild Deserts program for the past five years, said she had never seen this part of the country look so green.
The program's restoration project involves a whole suite of animals that are known to once occupy the area, including the crest-tailed mulgara, the greater bilby, and the Shark Bay bandicoot.
"In the coming years we have the stick nest rat, the burrowing betong, and the western quoll," Dr West said.
High hopes for reintegration with predators
Researchers say an ideal end goal for the animals is to have them thriving beyond a pest-free exclosure, which is designed to help them adapt to the land without the risk of predators.
One option to achieve this is a slow integration method, involving a 10,000-hectare halfway zone containing a low density of feral cats.
"That can be used a stepping stone to getting them into the wider landscape of Sturt National Park and beyond," Dr West said.
While the project has successfully reintegrated and re-populated these native animals in the area, the ecologists admit getting them to thrive beyond the fence is an ambitious task.
"There's a lot to learn and a lot to manage, and it's really the holy grail of in this re-introduction science."
