low 1.3. undertake more intensive surveys, especially Bathurst and Melville Island have already been subject high in less accessible areas of eastern Melville Island to intensive wildlife survey management: moderate 1.4. enhance existing fire management (reduce Existing fire regime is not optimal for this species moderate incidence of extensive fires) across much of the islands’ area moderate 1.5. enhance control of, and quarantine for, if unmanaged, these will spread and increase fire moderate exotic invasive grass species impacts monitoring: 1.6. establish monitoring program, compatible there is no existing monitoring for this population, but high moderate with previous survey quadrats the existing baseline survey information provides a robust foundation research: moderate 1.7. re-sample quadrats across subsequent recent clearing and development of plantation high clearing and fragmentation gradient, and analyse forestry provides significant opportunity to assess results responses to habitat alteration and fragmentation review process: moderate 1.8. assess need for any cat control If monitoring data show declining trends, or survey moderate-high data show high abundance of cats (ii) North Kimberley Primary objective: 2. The population trend for brush-tailed rabbit-rat is stable then increasing over the period of this Plan Performance measure: a robust monitoring program detects no decline. Feasibility: if the management actions described in this plan are implemented, then this objective should be achievable. Note that a recently established WA DPW annual monitoring program for brush-tailed rabbit-rat and other critical weight range mammal populations will allow assessment of population trends and report on the effectiveness of prescribed fire management and cattle culling initiatives. Secondary objectives:
low 1.3. undertake more intensive surveys, especially in less accessible areas of eastern Melville Island Bathurst and Melville Island have already been subject to intensive wildlife survey high management: moderate 1.4. enhance existing fire management (reduce incidence of extensive fires) Existing fire regime is not optimal for this species across much of the islands’ area moderate moderate 1.5. enhance control of, and quarantine for, exotic invasive grass species if unmanaged, these will spread and increase fire impacts moderate monitoring: moderate 1.6. establish monitoring program, compatible with previous survey quadrats there is no existing monitoring for this population, but the existing baseline survey information provides a robust foundation high research: moderate 1.7. re-sample quadrats across subsequent clearing and fragmentation gradient, and analyse results recent clearing and development of plantation forestry provides significant opportunity to assess responses to habitat alteration and fragmentation high review process: moderate 1.8. assess need for any cat control If monitoring data show declining trends, or survey data show high abundance of cats moderate-high (ii) North Kimberley Primary objective: 2. The population trend for brush-tailed rabbit-rat is stable then increasing over the period of this Plan Performance measure: a robust monitoring program detects no decline. Feasibility: if the management actions described in this plan are implemented, then this objective should be achievable. Note that a recently established WA DPW annual monitoring program for brush-tailed rabbit-rat and other critical weight range mammal populations will allow assessment of population trends and report on the effectiveness of prescribed fire management and cattle culling initiatives. Secondary objectives:
draft-recovery-plan-brush-tailed-rabbit-rat.docx