A ‘sister-site’ of sorts to Mt Vandyke – the Booderee National Park eastern quoll experiment begins… again!

Further to our recent Eastern Quoll Hub update in SW Victoria, it was great to see the news of quolls being released once again into Booderee National Park, situated within the Jervis Bay Territory (which is a small coastal territory associated with the ACT, on the NSW south coast).

Although the release of Eastern Quolls into Booderee has been attempted previously, the difference this time is that the founding animals are being released into an introduced-predator-free fenced area at the Booderee Botanic Gardens, rather than being released directly into the wild.

You can learn more about the story here, or view the ABC News video below.

At roughly 80 hectares in size, the Booderee free ranging enclosure is around double the size of NGT’s fenced reserve at Mt Vandyke, but the two sites have a number of similarities. For example, they are both modestly sized predator-free fenced areas embedded within much larger National Parks subject to feral predator control. This means that in both cases, the fenced area can potentially be used as a staging point for wider releases (and also allow for the ongoing supplementation of any population that might establish outside the fence).

This means that when we eventually progress habitat restoration works at Mt Vandyke to the point where mammal releases occur, including the eastern quoll, we will have a very interesting ‘sister-site’ in NSW to compare notes with – which is very exciting news. We also have the advantage of being a few steps behind them, which will allow us to learn from their experiences in shaping our own plans.

We wish them luck, and – I hope you will agree – collectively, we have a very interesting few years ahead!

We gratefully acknowledge our generous supporters, donors and partners for making the purchase and on-going restoration of Mt Vandyke a reality, including: