Reintroduction of the Mallee Emu-wren to Ngarkat Conservation ParkFrequently asked questions | September 2018

What is the project about?

The endangered Mallee emu-wren has recently become extinct in South Australia, this is due to the impacts of large wildfires and drought.

The project will seek to move 60-80 Mallee emu-wrens from Victoria’s Murray Sunset and Hattah-Kulkyne National Parks back into their former range within South Australia’s Ngarkat Conservation Park, to re-establish a lost population.

Who is involved in the project?

The translocation will draw upon a large team of national experts from the Threatened Mallee Birds Steering Committee, with support from scientists, local community, and critical logistics from regional Rotary groups.

This project is supported the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program and NRM levies, as well as contributions from all project partners including BirdLife Australia, Zoos SA, the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Parks Victoria, Rotary International, La Trobe University, Monash University and Zoos Victoria.

There are many of other threatened species in Australia, why choose a) a bird and b) the Mallee emu-wren?

The Australian Government’s Threatened Species Strategy has identified 20 priority birds, 20 mammals and 30 plants to have improved population trajectories by 2020 the Mallee emu-wren is one of the birds.

In response to the functional extinction of Mallee emu-wren in South Australia and the loss of other critical habitat for other Mallee birds, a Threatened Mallee Birds Conservation Action Plan (CAP) for six nationally-listed species was developed. The CAP identified translocation as a high priority strategy for the conservation of Mallee emu-wren.

The goals and strategies outlined in the CAP are supported by the South Australian Department for Environment and Water, Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning, NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Federal government, Parks Victoria, Zoos SA, Zoos Victoria, Birdlife Australia and threatened Mallee bird experts.

This project will benefit not only the Mallee emu-wren and the learnings from the methods and processes could be applied to other wren species.

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Image credit: Tom Hunt A male Mallee emu-wren

Where in Australia, or elsewhere can the Mallee emu-wren be found?

The Mallee emu-wren is now only found in the three reserves of

Victoria’s largest Mallee parks.

Why is it important to conserve the Mallee emu-wren?

Re-establishing populations is essential to reduce extinction risk and increase the number and stability of the Mallee emu-wren population.

The species is now thought to have disappeared from six of the nine major reserves previously known to have supported them. The remaining populations reside in only three reserves in north-west Victoria.

Any further population declines will increase the relative importance of individual birds, potentially reducing capacity for translocations with in the wild. This may mean that a more expensive captive breeding program, with captive into the wild releases required (such as what had been undertaken for the orange-bellied parrot).

What planning has gone into the project

The project will be undertaken within an adaptive management framework, enabling the partners to refine the capture and release strategy necessary for successful population establishment after the results of this initial trial release are realised. This project is part of ongoing research spanning 10 years which has informed the very detailed Translocation Plan utilised to manage project specifics.

Why are there so many partners in this project?

Due to the cryptic and threatened nature of the species, many aspects of the Mallee Emu-wren’s general biology and ecology are not yet fully understood. This project, and the associated emu-wren captive breeding program being undertaken by Zoos SA, will improve understanding of key elements of the species life history. This will provide a better understanding of key attributes essential for the further development of robust decision-support tools such as population viability analysis. Monash University and La Trobe University are key partners who can contribute research capacity and rigour to the project.

A large team of staff, contractors and volunteers have been working in unison to deliver the novel and complex steps associated, including; the capture of family groups, the transfer between reserves and post release monitoring.

This project will be delivered and coordinated by Natural Resources South Australian Murray-Darling Basin on behalf of the South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board in conjunction with the following project partners:

• BirdLife Australia

• Zoos SA

• Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning

• Parks Victoria

• Rotary International

• La Trobe University

• Monash University

• Zoos Victoria.

How many birds are being translocated?

The project will seek to move 60-80 Mallee Emu-wrens from Victoria’s Murray Sunset and Hattah-Kulkyne National Parks back into their former range within South Australia’s Ngarkat Conservation Park, to re-establish a lost population.

While we are ‘reintroducing a lost species’ it has not been gone for long, but the prospect of it recolonising naturally is highly unlikely due to the distances between where the lost population was and where the current populations in Victoria are. Mallee emu-wrens are poor flyers and are likely hindered by large expanses of inappropriate habitat. We don’t actually have a good idea of dispersal distance, they may be able to travel up to five kilometres in continuous habitat

Where did the birds come from? Why did you take them from there?

Mallee emu-wrens are being moved from two of the remaining Victorian population strongholds of western Murray Sunset and Hattah-Kulkyne National Parks where stable populations are

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Image credit: Tom Hunt Zoos SA staff member releasing a bird

present in good habitat, to locations in South Australia where good habitat is present, but from which the species has been lost in the recent past. These sites previously held Mallee Emu-wrens prior to wildfire and have now regenerated to contain high quality habitat.

Western Murray Sunset is the preferred of these two sites as it is geographically the closest to the release sites. However, to reduce impacts at the source site and to maximise the genetic heterogeneity of released birds, at least a third the individual birds will be sourced from Hattah–Kulkyne National Park.

Are there any impacts on the birds/population at the site you took them from?

The project is translocating a relatively small number of individual birds (a maximum of 80 individual birds or one percent of the global population) and expert opinion concludes that the impact on the current population at this time is likely to be negligible.

The Threatened Mallee Birds Steering Committee is of the view that now is the appropriate time to trial translocations for this species, while healthy source populations are still available. A single large fire in either western Murray-Sunset or Hattah–Kulkyne National Parks would significantly hamper the capacity to undertake future translocations.

Why re-establish the Mallee-emu-wren in South Australia if they are doing so well in Victoria?

Adopting a translocation strategy reduces the risk of losing the remaining populations in a single wildfire event, by re-establishing a geographically dispersed population.

How did you select the times of the year to translocate the birds?

The months of April and August have been selected translocate birds for the following beneficial reasons.

During April:

• Would not disrupt the birds’ impending breeding season.

• No dependant young present.

• During the non-breeding season, pairs join neighbours to form socially cohesive groups that forage collectively over larger areas. The social familiarity and possible relatedness of neighbourhood groups may make these suitable units to target as their cohesion may facilitate the establishment of release site residency, thus mitigating the dispersal of individuals who might otherwise leave the release site looking for mates or avoiding aggressive territorial disputes.

During August:

• Prior to the commencement of the breeding season

• Individuals are easier to catch; birds are more evenly distributed, easier to locate on territories.

• Catch and translocate established breeding pairs; breeding territories appear to typically establish in late July, therefore we could expect pairs caught together are previously established or newly established pairs. The familiarity of the pair bond may reduce their inclination to disperse widely in the short-term at the release site compared to groups of non-breeding individuals.

• Minimise the time between reintroduction and commencement of breeding; already established pairs might commence breeding sooner than individually released birds. Prompt breeding by these newly released individuals will achieve short-term goals, and help accomplish translocation success criteria.

• No dependant young are present during this period; if any nests are present, it is unlikely they will contain nestlings or even eggs at this stage. Whilst the exact timing of egg laying is unknown and likely varies from year-to-year dependant on preceding weather conditions eggs and nestlings have not previously been detected in the month of August. Pre-capture surveys will inform the team if the birds appear ready to breed early and the capture period can be brought forward. The Mallee emu-wren is multi-clutched and if a nesting attempt fails (or is disrupted due to translocation) the female is expected to re-nest.

Other considerations were ensuring; favourable weather conditions, sufficient source of food and water and low fire risk.

How and why did you select the site you are releasing them into?

Release sites have been targeted to avoid areas prone to pressures and risks to a newly establishing population with a high priority given to establishing separate reserve populations to reduce the risk of population loss to wildfire.

A number of potential release sites were considered, all holding records of previous Mallee Emu-wren occupation. Results suggested that the condition of habitat in certain areas of Ngarkat Conservation Park varied, and that some areas were more suitable for Mallee emu-wrens than others. One of these higher quality areas was selected as the proposed release site. The areas selected have large masses of Triodia grass in which the Mallee emu-wren lives, and the return of these birds will re-establish a valued component of the local ecosystem. The site is well connected to a number of other areas of suitable habitat, allowing for natural recovery post-translocation. The release site is also sufficiently geographically removed from the Victorian populations of Mallee emu-wrens.

These birds are tiny, how will you monitor them and keep track of them to ensure the translocation was a success?

The bird’s cryptic, inconspicuous behaviour makes it difficult and time consuming to follow them in their habitat. Due to these constraints and small sample sizes, occupancy-based monitoring combined with area-searches have been identified as the preferred monitoring approach for both source and release sites.

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The initial movement of the Mallee emu-wrens will be monitored closely in an attempt to follow the fate of individuals and each treatment group and to keep track of birds in case of dispersal off-site.

Why are they still present in a location only a few hours away, but extinct in SA? What are the differences?

There are many factors which impact on the viability of populations such as: fire, habitat loss and fragmentation, small population sizes increasing vulnerability to threats, drought, and predation and grazing impacts.

Ngarkat Conservation Park historically supported dense populations of Mallee Emu-wrens prior to the combined effect of drought and a series of extensive wildfires during 1990 to 2006. Ngarkat is also a heathy habitat, which is both more prone yet simultaneously dependant on fire to maintain good health. Murray Sunset and Hattah in contrast is comprised of mallee habitat types, which are less prone to frequent wildfire and have not suffered the same frequency and scale of fire as those habitats in Ngarkat. Further to this, some of the habitat around Hattah Kulkyne National Park is protected somewhat by the Raak plain and Murray River.

How will future extinction from Ngarkat be mitigated?

Natural Resources SAMDB has worked very closely with partners on the Threatened Mallee Bird Conservation Action plan as well as fire management authorities (Country Fire Service and Department for Environment and Water Fire Management Unit) to target a number of key factors that contributed historically to the loss of this species. These include, but are not limited to; informed planned burning both on public and private land to provide a better base of defense; development of fire modelling tools to predict and prepare for expected fire behaviour; identification of key ecological assets to inform fire planners and responders about the location, status and importance of threatened species hotspots; education of fire responders to facilitate better immediate on ground decisions; and improvements in relationships between fire planners/responders and technical experts to allow for streamlined information flow in time critical scenarios.

Whilst the risk of wildfire is always real, it is also important to note that in this heathy system the Mallee Emu-wren is dependent on fire to maintain good habitat health. This distinction admits that fire management within Ngarkat Conservation Park focuses on attempting to manage its scale and frequency so that Mallee Emu-wren can move around the landscape as these patches blink on and off with suitable habitat type. Rather than excluding fire in general. The actions noted above are specifically designed to allow more control over fire regime to something more suitable for this species.

The effects of future droughts are very real and likely to be more frequent and extreme given climate change predictions. Mallee Emu-wrens are very tolerant of dry conditions as they have no need for free standing water, however previous droughts contributed to the localised extinction of Mallee Emu-wrens by causing premature die back of vegetation and stifling regeneration of post fire habitat. Because of this site selections for reintroductions have preference those in consistently wetter parts of Ngarkat. Fire management practices can also be tweaked to minimise and offset these consequences somewhat. For instance ecological fire management guidelines for the Mallee Emu-wren utilised by planners strongly suggests burning Mallee Emu-wren habitat near the end of its usable period during favourable seasons so to increase subsequent regeneration quality.

What ethical considerations are in place to ensure the birds captured arrive unharmed?

The project has a number of contingencies in place, including criteria to stop the project, to ensure that the welfare of the birds is given highest priority and that the project does not impact on existing populations. The project has had to pass through a number of approval processes specifically designed to provide an unbiased assessment of the project risks, and ethical considerations of the birds. Because this project is occurring across

How is this project being funded and how much is it costing?

The nationally endangered Mallee emu-wren will be brought back to South Australia, thanks to funding from the Australian Government’s Threatened Species Recovery Fund.

The Threatened Species Recovery Fund builds on the Australian Government’s commitment to supporting threatened species

Image credit: Tom Hunt Post-release field monitoring

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For more information

Natural Resources SA Murray-Darling Basin GPO Box 2834 Adelaide SA 5001 T: 08 8532 9100 E: samdbenquiries@sa.gov.au

https://www.naturalresources.sa.gov.au/samurraydarlingbasin/projects

Image credit: Trevor Worsley Mallee emu-wren during release

recovery through the Threatened Species Commissioner, and the implementation of the Threatened Species Strategy and Threatened Species Prospectus.

The grant is administered through the National Landcare Program and delivers tangible benefits for Australia’s threatened species, as well as helping to grow community involvement in their recovery.

The South Australian Murray-Darling Basin Natural Resources Management Board together with project partners from across Victoria and South Australia, have received more than $200,000 from the Federal Government Threatened Species Recovery Fund grant to resource phase 1 translocations of the threatened Mallee emu-wren (Stipiturus mallee) back to South Australia.

In addition to Threatened Species Recovery Fund grant, the project is also funded with cash and/or in-kind contributions from all project partners.

What can the birding and citizen science community do to help this project?

Respect the time and space needed for the newly released populations to establish in Ngarkat Conservation Park. Please refrain from attempting to locate the birds as it will cause them undue stress while they are still establishing post release.

Visitor access to the release site will be restricted until the end of June 2019. During this time only management and personnel monitoring released individuals will be allowed access to the site. This will reduce any additional stress on released birds from excessive visitation or vehicle traffic.

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